Sensormatic Solutions, a global retail solutions portfolio, has launched an updated version of its Global Partner Edge (GPE) Channel Program to better equip channel partners with tools to drive business opportunities and growth.
The enhanced program offers channel partners a comprehensive suite of go-to-market support, tools, financial incentives and training resources. The company’s goal is to build a best-in-class program to support channel partners as they integrate into Sensormatic Solutions’ go to market strategy and help them create new opportunities in retail.
The company has upgraded its partner portal — already a one-stop-shop for sales enablement and marketing tools — to include a single sign-on to the technical support portal. A news deal registration program allows channel partners to register opportunities and protects them from others competing against the registered deal. A demo purchase program provides discounts on demo equipment.
The company is also reviewing options to support its channel with an automated partner marketing platform. In the meantime, the channel team has been working with Sensormatic’s global marketing organization on compliance guidelines and enablement so it can help partners customize campaigns and mailers and demand generation tools for their respective businesses, or enable partners to create their own content.
Christine Corso, Global Channel Strategy, Programs and Operations Leaders at Johnson Controls, Sensormatic’s parent company, said a more formalized MDF program is being planned. Currently, the company is supporting requests for help with campaigns or collateral, often targeting sub-verticals in the retail market, as partners pivot away from in-person events.
Sensormatic has also announced an executive sponsorship program that aligns strategic partners with a company leader who will act as a trusted advisor, provide strategic alignment and help grow the partnership. The executive sponsorship program will be extended to “partners that have a proven track record of developing and growing and are willing to make a continual investment with our company and more importantly, the customers,” said David Green, the Global Channels and Unified Commerce Leader at Sensormatic. The program is “about making sure that we can have that joint plan for enablement and selling and supporting of their customer base and ours, respectively, out into the market.” Particularly with the events of today, he added, the sponsorship program is aimed at “really understanding where and what’s on the whiteboard of our partners, what’s important to them, how are they looking to grow and develop and where do we best fit in with our time.”
Partner participation in training programs indicated that channel companies are focused on growing their businesses. “We did a tremendous amount of training over the last seven months,” said Green “We found that both our channel partners and our customers were eager to take advantage of that time to understand what there is in the market today.” Partners and customer too, were eager to understand how Sensormatic was “pivoting with solutions, what they were, how they either sold them or used them, depending upon whether it was a customer or partner,” Green added.
Sensormatic is committed to growing its market share through its channel partner community and expects its revenue from the channel to grow from 10% to 40% over the next year, said Marco Landi, chief sales officer, in a press release. “We believe our channel partners are essential in delivering our solutions for loss & liability, inventory intelligence and traffic insights, including our latest offerings in response to COVID-19 to help retailers protect employees and customers.”
The enhanced partner program “will deliver incremental benefits and new opportunities for our channel partners,” said Green. “We look forward to expanding our joint reach into the global market while increasing our channel centricity; our capabilities combined with the channel are limitless.”