5 Reasons Why Partner Rep Surveys Should Be A Key Part Of Your Channel Communication Program

By Brooke Friendly, Director of Marketing, ChannelAssist

What if you could see into the minds of individual channel reps, establish direct communication with them and build unprecedented engagement that can’t help but drive revenue? Well, it’s possible. And we’re not talking about reaching just top performers – the 5% that already love selling your products. We’re talking about increasing engagement for the other 95% to drive untapped revenue gains.

How can this feat be accomplished?

By conducting smart, strategic and engaging surveys, channel managers can develop a clearer understanding of their reps’ concerns and interests to support the segmentation and personalization of relevant and highly targeted communications.

Partner rep surveys have the power to open lines of channel communication, build loyalty, capture timely data, influence and reinforce desired behaviors and ultimately drive revenue. Surveys are a highly effective channel rep engagement tool because they encourage reps to become part of your community. They learn that their voice has value and consider themselves a partner in your mutual success. And that’s when the sales magic happens.

Here are five reasons why rep surveys should be a key part of your indirect sales channel engagement program. Channel rep surveys have the power to

1. Eliminate channel noise and increase engagement

Channel reps have much more on their plates than just your brands. There are a multitude of companies vying for their attention. Surveys allow you to stand out, by turning rep focus on you, maximizing their engagement, eliminating outside noise and showing that you are there to listen.

2. Open a direct line of channel communication

Unlike channel surveys that only poll management, partner rep surveys remove the many layers of management from the conversation and allow you to gain insights directly from the reps. By surveying individual reps directly, you can understand and influence how they feel about your organization and your brand. This is also your opportunity to gain insights into the sales funnel, understand your positioning in the marketplace, glean competitive data and more. Plus, surveys can supplement your sales training programs, by asking questions that reinforce and validate concepts introduced in training.

3. Quickly address issues

Frequent surveys catch problems while they are still actionable. Whether the issues have to do with individual reps, the entire channel, your products or external market forces such as your competition, surveys gather up-to-the-minute data, allowing you to react swiftly rather than months after issues have emerged.

4. Increase your channel coverage

A good survey campaign drives channel coverage by creating brand champions. By showing reps you value their opinion and are there to listen, they become more invested in your company, your product and your mutual success. The result is highly engaged advocates who lead with your brand and give you more coverage.

5. Drive significant revenue gains

Regular partner rep surveys are a powerful channel communication tool, which give you a clear, timely and accurate picture of your channel’s performance. They can be customized to influence the 95% of reps who aren’t performing as well as they could be. That’s when surveys can really make a difference to your bottom line. A small positive shift in that huge 95% rep base can bring you surprising revenue gains!

Channel rep surveys allow you to measure engagement by the partner organizations and by individual, so you can ensure sales programs are in place to increase engagement. Remember to keep your surveys brief and snappy, and add tactics like gamification, recognition and incentives to maintain rep attention and ensure their participation.

For over 20 years, ChannelAssist has helped organizations drive over $16 billion in revenue by optimizing indirect channel sales rep engagement with their end-to-end development and management of channel incentive programs.