How do you avoid channel conflict and ensure fair deal registration?

Effective communication and establishing a coherent strategy from the outset are pivotal to the success of any partnership. When a well-defined methodology for deal registration is established, clearly communicated, and documented from the start, reinforced by comprehensive training and ongoing enablement efforts, and facilitated by a portal for tracking purposes, it sets the foundation for a successful collaboration.

Internal training of your resources is also critical to ensure there are no missteps from representatives at your organization.

Defining a clear set of Rules of Engagement is a must. Every sales organization should have this written down and should train and enable their team to know it and follow it at all times. There needs to be a source of truth to everything, which is normally your CRM, so your rules of engagement are built around that source of truth. Who owns an account, who owns an opportunity, who works on an opportunity, who gets credit for closing an opportunity, how do you resolve potential conflict in certain scenarios, etc.

Defining clear rules and expectations in channel sales is crucial for ensuring smooth collaboration and mutual success. It involves establishing transparent guidelines on roles, responsibilities, sales targets, and performance metrics for both the company and channel partners. Clear communication about pricing, discounts, and support services is essential. These well-defined rules create a cohesive and productive partnership, minimizing misunderstandings and conflicts while fostering a collaborative environment that benefits all parties involved.

Providing incentives and rewards in business ensures fairness and motivates teams. By offering bonuses, commissions, or recognition, employees are encouraged to perform at their best. Fair incentive structures align with performance, boosting morale and productivity, leading to a more equitable and motivated workforce. Such practices enhance overall team satisfaction and promote a healthy, competitive environment.

Treating partnering is an investment is critical in order for it to work. Compensation neutrality is key, and shows your sales team and your partners that your company is serious about building partnering motions.

Compensation drives behavior. Comp Neutrality is a must. Without comp neutrality, even the best strategy is put in a position to fail. Internal alignment is the first step and key to a successful GTM strategy.

Tooling is a basic investment that you must make not only for deal registration, but also scale out other areas of partnering. The more documentation that exists when building a partnership creates better habits by your internal teams, the partner, and allows better overall tracking to ensure there is growth in the partnership.

This points back to setting clear and well defined Rules of Engagement and having them built around a source of truth (usually the CRM). How will opportunities be registered and recorded? Having external tools to handle Deal Registration, such as a PRM, for partners is critical. You must give 3rd parties a way to ensure that they can register opportunities and that those registrations end up recorded in your source of truth. This will allow you to have all the information in one place and clearly show who owns a deal, who gets compensated for a deal, etc. Data hygiene is very important to ensure this works.

There should be monthly and quarterly reviews of escalations that exist with partners, and programs and rules should be adjusted twice per year in order to improve processes.

You'll find that maintaining a fair and efficient deal registration process is crucial to avoid channel conflict. A vital strategy is to conduct regular audits of deal registrations and swiftly resolve any discrepancies. This approach ensures transparency and trust among partners. Additionally, prioritize continuous training for both your internal team and partners on your registration system and policies. This prevents misunderstandings and fosters a culture of cooperation. Regularly reviewing and updating these policies in response to market changes also keeps the system fair and relevant, thus minimizing conflicts. This approach, based on experience, proves effective in maintaining harmony in channel partnerships.

Channel and partner sales training should be included from day one for sales teams, and it should reflect in the everyday sales culture.

I spent 12 years in Channel Sales before moving to the Manufacturing/SaaS environment, back to VP of Channels for two LARGE corporations. The direct sales team ALWAYS wins the battle. Suddenly the direct sales team already has the account listed as a “Corporate Account” list that isn’t kept “up to date” since they only update their list at the end of the month. The damage control is IMPOSSIBLE! The ONLY solution is to work with partner only sales and the channel partner uses support (as needed) from the partner OR if the opportunity is significant enough … the Manf rep can get involved! Just my opinion.

To avoid channel conflict and ensure fair deal registration, establish clear guidelines for deal eligibility, transparently communicate criteria, and implement a systematic review process. Regularly assess and adjust these parameters based on market dynamics and partner feedback. Foster open communication channels, provide training, and leverage technology to automate registration processes. Encourage collaboration and resolve conflicts swiftly through a structured escalation mechanism. Regularly revisit and refine the program to align with evolving business needs, ensuring equitable opportunities for all channel partners.