Full Transcript

Convey MicroCast Series

This is Carolyn Bradfield and you're listening to the Convey MicroCast audio series.  

One of the key concepts every vendor must keep in the forefront of their mind when it comes to keeping sales partners engaged and interested is "out of sight, out of mind".  With so many vendor choices and services out there, it's just not enough to sponsor partner events, go to trade shows and travel to meet partners.   Communication must be continuous, online, and on-going to keep your company top of mindshare. 

Your message fades quickly once you are back on the airplane going home after a face to face event.  Here are some interesting statistics from the training industry:

1.         After only one hour, people retain less than half of the information you presented.

2.         After one day, that drops to 70%.

3.         After six days, 75 % of the information has gone out the door. 

So how does a channel program create a communication strategy until the time becomes right for a partner to notice, pay attention, and get engaged with you?  You have to go online, attract people to your message, and continuously reinforce your value proposition.  Here are 3 simple strategies.

# 1 Be present where your target audience is most likely to look.

Although sales partners might be on Facebook, they are definitely on LinkedIn, researching companies, finding prospects, and looking for business ideas.  They have signed up for email broadcast services like iAgent, Channel Vision or Telecommunications Association.  They subscribe to their Convey master agent portal.  You need to find a strategy for all of these online or electronic outlets to get to the audience that really matters. 

#2 Communicate continuously to ensure that your message will be seen

You never know when someone is going to be online trying to find strategies or services to sell to customers.  You have to continuously feed the content engine to ensure that when someone is on LinkedIn, they find your post in the Channel Partners group, read your email sent from Channel Vision, or find that SPIFF on a Convey master agent portal.  And don't just say the same thing.  Vary your messages, inject new ideas, and communicate in a way that grabs their attention.

#3 Reinforce your message after a live event

You've spent a large portion of your marketing dollars on sponsorships and events, only to have that message fade if you don't do anything else.  After the event is over, keep it alive in your social media posts, Convey content posts, or email broadcasts.  Take that new product announcement, the latest promotion, or the addition to your channel team that you announced at the regional event and go online to reinforce what partners learned when they met you.

The right time to communicate to partners is all of the time and the only way to do this is to have a strong online content strategy that focuses on where your audiences are looking, communicates to them continuously and reinforces your most valuable messages.