How to Get & Use Channel Partner Data

The barriers to collecting and using channel partner data are vast. Everyone touching the channel has their own versions of data, different systems, collection methods and details desired. Navigating how and where to find the data, then collect it and ultimately put it to good use is the task at hand.

A word to the wise before diving in: Have a purpose

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Above all else, knowing why you need channel partner data and how you’ll use it is critical to collecting the right stuff. Especially when you consider information is a valuable commodity no one ever seems to have enough of—even the most sophisticated programs. It can also quickly get time consuming and expensive, so a little focus goes a long way (i.e., don’t create efforts to collect every piece of data you can if you only need to understand a specific group of dealers or MSPs to create program impact).

The Benefits of Data Collection

The most common and high-level data needs in the channel will help to:

This is only the beginning of a lengthy list of opportunities where you can apply data to your channel strategy. Some companies have full data in place to address these objectives already. They’ve collected a host of engagement, enablement, sales, investment, marketing, characteristics and customer data in one place to address one or all the items listed above.

If you’re sitting in this camp—congratulations! You should definitely feel like you’ve won the channel partner data lottery. A good next step here is to apply this data using segmentation, ecosystem mapping and insights to improve your partner strategy.

Focus on Improving Partner Data

Partner data collection has remained relatively the same over the last decade—a standard collection of name, contact information, partner type (VAR, MSP, Integrator, etc.) and basic tax information. You may also be collecting some basic information about the number of sales staff they have, which products they sell for you and the size of deals they’re bringing in.

Unfortunately, this level of data isn’t enough to provide concrete insights to those prevailing uses of channel partner data mentioned above. In fact, 76% of companies would like to improve the data they capture according to the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF). To get smart with your channel programs you need more data.

76%

76% of companies would like to improve the data they capture —IRF

Low Data Sophistication Can Have Disadvantages

There are two levels where partner data collection gets ugly:

1. Getting partner-sourced data that lives in their systems (or worse—in the minds of their people).

2. Connecting each piece of data to tell a complete story.

In the first, you'll go to the source, collecting information your channel partners may or may not have in a system ready to hand you. Not to mention years of ingrained distrust fanned by the personal fears that once a vendor gets customer information— they’ll steal that relationship. Companies who run partner programs will need to make their intentions clear and help partners understand what’s in it for them. All the better if system integrations and automation can be added to ease data collection.

The second unpleasant level of partner data collection is what we call the common denominator. Even after you get the data sources together there is often no unique identifier.

Pro Tip

A data escrow is one way you can begin building trust. The specialized data protection service ensures details of CRM and PRM systems are held with a neutral third party. This allows companies to find overlapping customers and prospects with their partners, while keeping their data private and secure.

What will help you weave the data story together and combine partner claims or sales data with the customer profile in your CRM? And match it with the dealer profiles as well as the behavioral data points in your portal. And add the quoting and deal registration sources being submitted in your PRM.

The common denominator—the unique identifier.

Often this is a second-level challenge that doesn’t appear until it's time to use the data. And if you’re outsourcing—it's no longer your problem. However, putting thought and strategy behind this single point of data collection will be a huge win for any channel data strategy.

Setting the Stage: Where Are You With Partner Data?

Every channel is on their own journey and the sophistication level of a program can be thought of like a sliding scale. In many cases data is siloed and often not even saved in the same place or CRM—it may even be manually entered sales data which is only as good as the partners entering it and often inaccurate.

Everyone can make their way to a 10 on this data sophistication scale. No matter where you currently fall, minor improvements are possible with some effort and focus. Even moving two steps forward, you can find yourself ahead of your competition and answering some of the toughest questions posed by channel program stakeholders.

Try the self-evaluation on the next page to see where you fall on the spectrum.

Sophistication Spectrum of Partner Data Collection

0

Duplicate & Inconsistent Data

> Handwritten

> Completely disparate systems with multiple sources of truth

> Unclear collection timeframes

Basic

Data Collected

Everything from the prior levels included in the following ones or improved upon.

Partner Info

> Name

> Location

> Contact info

> Deficient sales data (3–6 months behind)

Partial Partner Info

> Tax info

> Staff info

> Product mix

> Deal info

> Incentive participation data

> Insufficient sales data; manually collected (2–4 months behind)

Moderate Partner Info

> Firmographic info

> Certifications

> Viable sales data; partially automated (1–3 months behind)

> Limited engagement metrics (participation, usage of portal)

Advanced Partner Info

> Specialization

> Buyer type

> Industry/Sector

> Meaningful sales data; mostly automated sales data—some realtime (accurate reporting within 1 month of activity)

> Basic buyer journey understanding (e.g., who holds influence and retention roles)

> Partial engagement metrics (incentives, marketing and sales efforts)

> Partial coverage mapping (partners you have—and need—based on product/buyer)

Sophisticated Partner Info

> Industry/Sector

> Reliable sales data; completely automated—realtime to weekly including top of funnel lead gen)

> Understanding of full path-topurchase for buyers (e.g., where influence, transaction and retention roles play)

> Complete engagement metrics (onboarding, enablement, incentives, marketing and sales efforts)

> Advanced coverage mapping (partners you have—and need—based on product/buyer, specialization, sales output, ideal characteristics)

To reach a higher level of sophistication, you will have to collect all kinds of partner data. And remember not to lose sight of why we’re doing this:

> Current Objectives: Generate sales increases in the program you have in place with your transactional partners though micro improvements

> Short-Term: To improve return on investment and engagement levels

> Long-Term: To inform new ecosystem partner strategies

Keeping your purpose always in view will also help bring clarity on where to go next. Even answering a small question about a single part of your program can net you outcomes worth the investment of time and money in channel data collection. To inform and answer channel strategy questions, we’ll cover three major data collection categories.

1 Partner Sales Data

2

Partner Identity Data

Basics of Channel Partner Data Collection

If you have the option, the best case is simply to have someone else do it for you.

Collecting all this different data is a never-ending process that’s challenging, complex and requires discipline—and you’re probably too busy running a multi-pronged partner program with hundreds of moving pieces to have the time to get this done effectively unless you make it your primary strategic objective. But there is one way you can help that will be critical to starting this process. Specifically, be a voice of leadership—whether you’re working with a vendor, consultant or internal champion to collect and use partner data.

This works best when cross-business unit leadership champions it, ensuring it’s a concerted effort from both sales and marketing. Everyone needs to buy in from your side of the channel. That way, when your partners and team scatter to the wind to do their job, they are carrying the message of how data is required to amplify channel results.

3

End-Customer Data

As you collect data, the most important consideration is what will be identified as your unique identifier across all data sets.

Is it going to be email? Store or user ID?

Cell phone? It might vary for different audiences but think about this early and often. Otherwise, you’ll have many disparate data sets that you can’t work with because you can’t cross-reference people, locations or products.

Start With What You Have

We recommend you start by looping in those who can help you collect information from your existing systems and from your current partners. This might include:

> Channel account managers

> Data infrastructure leads (IT)

> Data and sales analysts

> Partner tech stack administrators

> Program architects

If some of the data points are out of your reach with your current set up, prioritize what you need then work to get there. There are many ways to start collecting more data than you have today.

Deciphering where to prioritize collection is the tricky part. To do so, you’ll want to work backwards.

> What outcome do you want?

> What methodology is required to achieve that outcome?

> Based on what you need, where are the data gaps you need to fill?

Here are some examples:

What outcome do you want?

What methodology is required to achieve that outcome?

Based on what you need, where are the data gaps you need to fill?

Basic Moderate Advanced

See what products my partners are selling and when

Need a claims program to collect data from resellers

See higher returns on sales incentives

See which partners are influencing the sale

Collect date, product/ service line items, price sold, contract terms, etc.

Need to segment and tier better to see improved results

Collect product/cross sale and partner characteristic data

Need segmentation data of current partners and basic buyer purchase info

Collect partner data on buyer type, specialization, sales data on buyers from the market

1. How to Collect Partner Sales Data

Collecting sales data has many inputs with two general sources, your internal data and your partners’ data.

Partner Sales Data to Collect:

> Products/services sold

> Bundled/cross-sold

> Sales by rep

> Sales team support (who is supporting the sale?)

> Sales cycle and process

> Discounting and concessions

> Pipeline (leads, activity, etc.)

> Renewals, cross-sells, up-sells

Based on the levels of data you currently have at your disposal there are a few options. If you are already getting sell-out data through a unified POS system or integrated CRM/EDI system, you’re ahead of the game and should have a lot of sales data already available to you down to a rep level.

If you only have dealer or partner level sell-out data you’re missing actual order summaries or perhaps individual sales person activity if it’s a shared report at a partner level. If this is the case, you could inquire to add a unique identifier to their systems or turn to collecting information at the rep level through other means.

Pro Tip

Collecting data at a partner entity and rep level lets you craft a push-pull strategy with your incentives. This means creating value and buy-in at both levels, which always results in better outcomes because it keeps both teams aligned. Giving a partner entity owner something based on participation levels with reps can be a big difference maker.

Gaining visibility into your sales activity is essential for improving channel sales efforts and understanding the sales cycle of your product as well as control inventory levels if you’re producing physical products.

Having and using the higher-level sales data at a partner or dealer level will allow you to better create:

> Incentive programs for the dealer owner or partner entity

> Ideal partner profiles (based only on sales and general criteria—we recommend more)

> Insights to understand macro trends through geographies, partner types, etc.

Moving from a dealer or partner level view of sales down to the rep can be difficult but will offer you the opportunity to:

> Optimize incentive programs for participants vs. only dealer owners

> Optimize enablement (training, communications, onboarding, etc.)

> Identify optimal behaviors or characteristics at an individual level

Finding the Right Investments & Forecasting

A client had an internal data team that was self-admittedly disorganized with data never coming to us in the same format or with the same fields. They struggled with standard reporting and making use of data in its disparate sources.

In short, they had the data but couldn’t connect the pieces. That’s where ITA Group was able to assist. Instead of siloing the data we sought to weave them together. We found the bottom 57% of customers only made up 8% of their revenue. The story the data was telling us was these tended to be new customers who would have revenue booms and then trickle off. We advised them their incentive program shouldn’t target any of the lower segment and instead ask themselves—how can we convert new customers into repeat buyers?

A fully functional model (using unbiased random samples of customer data) was crafted for them by our internal data team. The client could tweak the parameters and actually produce a new ROI every time based on their investment choices.

This is just one way harnessing even a small portion of customer and partner data can yield decision-grade insights.

Data Collection Types

Here are some tools you can use to get started addressing your data gaps:

Claims Programs

This is ideal for collecting sales data at a rep level if you don’t or can’t get it using more sophisticated methods. The easier and simpler you make using your claims program and forms, the better results you’ll see. The proper level of incentive to encourage use of the data capture tool is also important. Partners and their sales team need to feel it’s worth their time to do it.

Why Claims?

Claims programs collect valuable sell-out data you don’t normally receive. When you distribute through multiple levels of a channel, it’s a great way to see what your independent dealers are selling. Plus,

> Understand who your best dealers are

> Understand where you may need to focus to grow sales

> Compare sell-out claim data with sell-in to understand supply needs

> Make product decisions based on sell-out volume

> Monetize the data by targeting end users collected through the claims process

> Utilize the program to grow the relationship between your field reps and the independent channel

> Identify commonly sold together items

Using Claims Data to Grow Specific Product Revenue

A manufacturing client needed to understand sales data and also balance how their product mix was sold. But they had little sell-out data to know what was happening through their distributor and reseller network. Before establishing a claims program, they were only able to see:

> Inventory purchased at the dealer level

> Price paid and any discounts or rebates offered by the dealer

ITA Group helped them identify the most valuable inputs to capture to make better decisions about product, incentives and future promotion. After launching their claims program using strong communications to help their partner network understand how to use the program and what was in it for them, they saw a massive increase in sales data, including:

> $1B+ claimed through their system in 2019 alone depicting sales data they wouldn’t have known otherwise, like:

– Rep(s)

– Customer type sold to

– Company name

– Industry

– Product and serial number

– A host of other applied and appended data based on product and dealer info

> 22% lift in profit by using the claims data to target segments with product promotions

> 24:1 ROI on their investment into the claims program

Data Collection Types

Rebate Programs

Rebate programs can be used as both an incentive and data collection method for either your partners or the end customer. Award redemption can require submitting details about the sale or purchase which can be purposefully captured for future use.

Why Rebates?

Rebate programs can incent purchases and collect valuable customer and purchase data you don’t normally receive. It’s a great way to see what’s happening at a customer level, as well as:

> Understand who bought/sold the rebate depending on who is targeted

> Compare rebates turned in with reported sales data

> Capture promotion impact

Pro Tip

From a marketing standpoint, rebates are a great way to gain intelligence and arm sales reps with a tool to close the deal. Rethinking the strategy (or having any strategy at all) around rebate offers can set up a company for future success.

Understanding End-Customer Lifecycle With a Rebate Program

Another client in the manufacturing industry whose product is used by commercial clients and consumers needed a better way to identify their end customers.

Without running a rebate program they only had access to high-level purchase information made by their dealers.

Working with ITA Group, the client ran a customer rebate through their independent dealer channel, which included survey questions about their buying habits. This additional insight helped them identify their customers and accurately map their future purchases.

They also used this information to empower initiatives like:

> Segmentation of customers to spur promotions:

– A consumer indicates they are buying again in six months or have a secondary need

– ITA Group helps immediately hit them with the right offer to close the deal for our client on additional sales

> Knowing when the life of a product is wrapping up ensures we can position the client’s brand when the next purchase becomes top of mind for the customer

> Finally, it drives ROI—even after factoring in as many expenses as needed beyond the rebate program itself (including national media campaigns, POP materials, award costs, operations and more) they’re seeing a 369% ROI

As a bonus, this solution kept our client’s dealers cash-rich because they charged full price at the point of sale—it’s incumbent on the consumer to get the best price after the purchase using the rebate.

2. How to Collect Partner Identity Data

Collecting partner data at the organizational level and the participant or employee level is important to crafting better partner experiences and program strategies.

Partner Firmographic & Specialization Data: This data is to organizations as demographic data is to individuals— both are used to segment and target those with an ideal message and offer.

> General (and current) firmographic information (i.e., company, contact information, partner type, tax data)

> Specialization with your products (e.g., certification, training, self-identified,etc.)

> Vertical and industry expertise

> Make up of partner employees (e.g., SEs, technicians, success managers, etc.)

> Digital presence

> Buyer type

– Determine ideal customer profile

– Identify solutions based on client challenges

> Sentiment surveys (about your brand, products/services, partner program)

> Other products and services they offer

> Marketing competencies

> Customer facing roles and post-sales interactions

67 %

of the buyer’s journey is now done digitally

—Sirius Decisions/Forrester

> How they run their business (e.g., recurring revenue, hybrid upfront and recurring, transactional purchases, etc.)

If you’re like most organizations, you’ve got the general partner information down. The next step is to collect more information to help craft better enablement tracks (for all the customer facing roles), create targeted promotions with the partners most likely to adopt and sharpen partner segments. The best way to do this is to start with specialization and focus.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE

Optimizing Incentive Spend Based on Non-Sales Characteristics

A client in the franchise, retail and service space needed insights into their store performance. Ongoing efforts had analyzed trends highlighting growth/stagnation in store purchases as well as operation/service standards, ITA Group recommended focusing their efforts at a deeper level. Specifically at correlations between stores purchasing behavior and the characters set forth in their standards program.

A framework was designed to control variables and run simulations based on interactions found, leading to:

> Identification of characteristics that correlated to greater sales

> Identification of criteria targeted to owners that correlated to greater sales

> Characteristics that were good but needed to be de-prioritized in incentive structures

> Deeper segmentation to analyze earnings and revenue by store size

All of the partner identity data was collected, analyzed and simulated to craft a new and improved incentive program structure and participant experience focused on store profile versus store sales.

Data Collection Types

Here are some data points you’ll want to collect sooner rather than later that will help you get smarter with your investments and increase your data sophistication level.

Surveys & Quizzes

Surveys can be used to collect a wealth of information at any point. Pulse surveys provide a quick check-in that could be used on a quarterly basis with an incentive program or as a standalone larger intelligence gathering technique. Surveys are a good source of demographic information for participants or to understand a snapshot of market share.

Quizzes are great for understanding mindshare, knowledge of a product and familiarity with processes. The difference being surveys tend to be questions only and quizzes tend to have an answer. This type of quick-and-dirty gathering tool can net you:

> Specific details about program participants

> Partner level data about specialization, training or any additional firmographic information

> Motivational questions about why or how they do something

> Additional data about sales or processes

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE

Increasing Participation by Using Pulse Surveys

Surveys can be a highly effective tool for building partner engagement, specifically because they help encourage partners to be part of the process. Knowing their opinions are valued will do a lot to encourage them to remain part of your ecosystem, an essential aspect to a true partnership.

An auto manufacturer wanted to make their dealer programs more relevant for their participants by tailoring awards and promotions to specific demographic information and also optimize their incentives by understanding why and where they were using the programs in place.

They worked with us to add a series of 1-question surveys within their existing program. It prompted participants to answer a question each time they logged in until they cycled through all the questions. They were able to learn:

> Clear demographic information (gender, age, etc.)

> What motivated them (travel, tech, gear, etc.)

> Why they participated (family, friends, self, necessities, etc.)

This effort was paramount to tailoring their incentive programs and rewards to their dealer network resulting in increased effort and participation. Being able to base those decisions on fact versus a gut feeling was worth every penny.

Data Collection Types (Cont.)

Focus Groups & Interviews

Take the time to listen to your partners. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of what they’re going through and how they make their choices. You’ll learn about your program strengths and weaknesses, and how they feel about your products and partnership. These people can provide you with a real-world sense of exactly where customers need more help or suggest complementary products and services. The sky is the limit and they are a fantastic resource for collecting qualitative data like sentiment, anecdotes, views, etc. We recommend a third party facilitate the focus groups or interviews to collect the most unbiased and unfiltered responses.

Internal Sources

Your own sources of data can be added to your partner analysis. Things like marketing engagement tactics from MDF budgets, program enablement engagement metrics for training, communication, standards, etc. can all be used to add weight and new lenses on how you segment, target and reward partners as well as inform:

> Characteristics/behaviors of high performers

> Enablement material types to focus on

> Preferred communication methods

Appending Data

Having a third party help you append data like digital presence, go-to-market type, staff levels, organizational structures, etc. will also help:

> Help you add information to pre-created profiles around specialization and product strategies

> Improve your digital presence website, SEM, SEO, domain authority, ecommerce, solution/product listings, etc.

Research

Research can be conducted with current and unaffiliated partner types to understand what motivates them, how they influence the sale, what they find most valuable and how they want to work with vendors. Research studies are a great way to get information about audiences that can’t be captured using short surveys and quizzes, which will help you:

> Understand motivation, the value of products/perks and your go-to-market strategy

> Add firmographic info like staff, service, solutions/ products

> Understand your share of their spending

> Answer any question you have that requires more data

> Figure out where partners fit within the influencer, transactional and retention segments of your ecosystem

Uncovering Behaviors That Improve Efficiency Through Research

A client in the tech industry was struggling to meet SLA requirements with their employees and contractors who service accounts. Across the services they supported there were hundreds of behaviors that occurred during the course of implementation and maintenance. However, they were unsure which behaviors would net the best results to improve the efficiency of their staff and couldn’t afford to run a program incenting change across them.

This couldn’t be solved through a simple survey. ITA Group proposed a research study to understand the role retention, knowledge and behaviors played in positive outcomes for clients and avoidance of SLA penalties. The outcome would be identified behaviors, talent characteristics and processes that could be built into a program to net positive results through SLA fee savings.

3. How to Collect End-Customer Data

Customer data can take many forms. Often it’s used to enhance marketing messages and align partners to customer types to provide the best enablement, and sales and marketing resources.

The most commonly collected customer data for use with partner programs is path to purchase, which accounts for influence during the sales process, what criteria and value they search for, and how they like to buy. Other uses tend to be customer profiling, segmentation and personas.

Brand Product & Service Data

External

> Geographically preferred services

> Buyer types

> Path to purchase

> Buying and product or service preferences

Research

Internal

> MSRP, margins and/or profit

> Business goals (revenue, product mix, etc.)

> Marketing engagement tactics (including agency partners)

Much like collecting partner identity data with research, the same can be done with customer data. Most often used to identify and inform segments, personas, buyer journeys and product decisions—research aimed at customers can solve just about any question.

Growing Market Share Through Research

A technology client wanted to grow market share and loyalty in a specific small business segment of their portfolio. They needed to understand how customers made purchases and what was most important to them.

By partnering with our research firm, they were able to conduct online research with decision makers. This showed them:

> Strengths and weakness of their current product/service

> What customers value from competitive products

> How their customers like to buy

> What support and partner aspects were most important to them

This new data from the research done helped them to focus their product teams on specific features and financing options.

They were also able to implement new pre-sale practices with their partners and train on post-sale support actions that were valuable to their target market, which in turn created more loyal customers and greater market share.

Event Data

Events hold a wealth of data about the knowledge levels, interest and buying stages of a customer. Collecting this data happens—using it sometimes doesn’t. Try to collect and apply this rich customer data to your profiles to collect data like:

> Engagement with specific content or products

> Attendance measures

> Interactions with communication styles

> Vendor or Expo stops

> Pre- and post-event survey data around knowledge or goals obtained

Even if you’re unable to use these at the individual customer level, the findings can be used in aggregate to dictate other go-to-market strategies with your partners, MDF or business building campaigns and enablement tracks for partners to become experts in coveted content tracks.

Focus Groups & Interviews

Hear the voice of your customers by collecting explicit feedback about your products in addition to the partners themselves. It can be a good way to diagnose two possible weaknesses (or strengths) in your go-to-market strategies— the partner and the product/service. We do recommend a third party facilitate these to collect the most unbiased and unfiltered responses.

Internal Sources

Your internal data can be a valuable source of customer information. Especially if you have direct-to-customer distribution strategies. Even in 100% through-channel distribution there are brand-level marketing campaigns going out. Evaluating those can lend insights in to your customers as well. You can evaluate things like customer segments and the price points and margin or concessions needed to win their business. You can also evaluate your current business goals around product mix or revenue and see who is contributing most to your success. Incorporating agency partner results and metrics into your analysis can be beneficial as well.

Winning With Channel Partner Data

Getting and using more channel partner data will pay dividends in nearly every scenario. Becoming fluent in even a handful of the sources to collect data will improve analysis done inside your programs and even on your market strategy.

A last best practice to leave you with is this: Execute on the data analysis.

Don’t collect more and more data and let it sit there unused. Involve experts, hire it in, do what it takes to make use of the second most valuable resource you have (besides the partners themselves)—your data.