A Partner Relationship Management system (PRM) helps maintain open communication between vendors and their channel partners. This means all the information regarding vendor requirements, development funds, customer queries, and partner activity is available at a centralized location. Businesses today must rely on their affiliates to ensure customer satisfaction and continuous growth. As vendors and their partners rely on accurate information, a PRM can be the perfect solution to enter new markets and find reliable channel partners. Find a guide to partner relationship management at workspan.com/guide-to-partner-relationship-management-prm/. However, there are some common challenges that your company must overcome to integrate PRM successfully in its operations. Have a look at the following information to learn more about these issues.
Takes Time to Implement
PRM system at first is always difficult to implement. Firstly, there is a lack of communication among the partners and the vendor, which results in bad information affecting the overall sales. Secondly, there are disputes with the vendor’s marketing development funds (MDF), which affect deal registrations. The lack of communication with channel partners and disputes in MDF will result in poor scalability, decreased partner motivation, and increased costs.
Out-Dated Partner Skills
Your partners will have different skills, which are updated as time progresses. This is the biggest issue with channel partners, as their skills are not automatically updated. As a result, your business suffers as you cannot assign a suitable partner to your customers. Similarly, if a channel partner quits and the information is not updated, the vendor might still be assigning tasks to their account.
Channel Conflicts
This is a common challenge any PRM faces since numerous channel partners are interacting with the customers. As the information is not centralized, various channel partners will contact the same client to resolve the issue. If the problem persists over time, there will be disputes between the vendor and their channel partners regarding certain deals. In extreme cases, the partners will stop working with such vendors to avoid further losses.
Portal Clutter
Most communication between the channel partners and the vendor is done through online portals. Both parties update the information on these portals. However, due to new demands and protocols, the vendor will launch another portal for the same partner as the previous one doesn’t support the latest changes. Due to various portals, a partner will get confused and not understand what the vendor is looking for. Moreover, the partners might not get the right information on time to close the deal if there are multiple portals for the same affiliate.
Live Tracking
For a channel manager, achieving sales quota is everything. In PRM, most vendors will not have the exact data on partners who are driving the sales up. As a result, the managers are unable to allocate proper resources, which directly affects sales and also partnership relations.
PRM systems, if managed properly, can help a business run its channel partners effectively, resulting in increased profit and sustained control. Implement PRM software in your organization to boost partner performance and motivation and improve communication.