This Engagement Agency service helps organizations benchmark their channel engagement strategies and tactics against effective practices and, if necessary, identify the most appropriate solutions and implementation strategies. 

Engaging channel partners presents a unique challenge because in almost all cases the audience consists of independent businesspeople or companies with multiple options from which to choose. In addition, many of them employ salespeople who report not to your company but to their own management. 

Many organizations employ channel engagement tactics, including incentives such as merchandise and travel awards, and SPIFFs; loyalty programs, and training, with no clear return-on-investment, often because eliminating programs would send a poor message or because there is a sense the ROI cannot be measured. The Engagement Agency helps organizations take a strategic step back to evaluate channel engagement efforts in terms of:

•    Alignment with the organization’s purpose and objectives.
•    Degree to which it is achieving your brand’s potential.
•    Return-on-investment and other measures.
•    Effectiveness of digital engagement via smart phones with owners and their personnel.
•    Degree of alignment of communications, learning, rewards, and recognition, and measurement.
•    Utilization of surveys and behavioral information to provide prescriptive analytics. 

The deliverables can include:

•    Creation of a formal channel engagement and assessment strategy with a clear ROI tied to organizational objectives and values.
•    Oversight of implementation and measurement.
•    Managed outsourcing of channel engagement technology or other engagement solutions. 

Senior Advisor

Paul Donehue (Sales and Channel Engagement, Learning)
President, Paul Charles Associations, a leading advisory service for sales and channel engagement.

Reference 

ESM Article: Channel Partner Engagement Best Practices--A Holistic Approach