For channel partners you can rely on

Who are channel partners

Channel partners are typically a network of organizations or individuals who you rely on to help sell, configure, install and maintain your products for the end customer. Usually they earn a share of the sales price or fees for services and are motivated to work with you because they value your products and brand.

If they don’t know your brand, have little experience with your products, aren’t confident there is a potential fit or anything better than what they are used to - they can be hard people to reach.

Why do you need to train them

As channel partners and the people on the ground working with your customers are external to your organisation, you have little opportunity to inspire or influence their learning journey. Channel partners who represent your brand and service your products need to maintain a high level of quality in order for the products to shine. They need to be aware of how products should be used, maintained and who they should be sold to. They need to be kept up to date with changes, new risks and new opportunities. If a channel partner is not engaged with your brand or doesn’t realise the value your product can offer, enticing them to engage can be a challenge. Organizations can utilize a few different strategies to motivate channel partners, including free lunches and incentive schemes.

Why do channel partners want to be trained

Channel partners have a number of motivations to engage with an organization’s educational initiatives and training opportunities. Typically dealers and vendors are motivated to provide more value to their customers and stay aware of opportunities to help them meet their goals. Having deeper product knowledge demonstrates a more reliable supplier and shows the customer they’re dealing with someone who is well placed to help them solve their problems. Channel partners at the coal face of customer interactions, i.e. the installers, operators and practitioners are often recommending products and solutions to fill immediate needs. They’re motivated to provide more services, improve their reputation for capability and be seen as professional industry operators.

What are the problems in training channel partners

External audiences are always hard to reach unless they’ve been explicitly instructed to engage. Traditional learning platforms that work on the basis a learner will come along, sign in and do all the eLearning courses they’ve been assigned struggle to motivate someone who doesn’t have to do them.

• Getting attention
  You may already have the attention of your audience, in which case this isn’t a problem. But if you exist on the periphery and don’t have huge amounts of traction in your industry or with that channel partner, getting attention can be difficult. Channel partners are likely to engage with their own learning platforms and look for opportunities to upskill and develop capability. Asking them to create an account and remember to log into another can be a challenge.
• Accessing the people on the ground
  A common issue when training channel partners is a lack of access to the people who interact with customers, i.e. the sales team, installers, operators and practitioners. While an organisation may engage with a procurement or marketing team, making the jump throughout the rest of the organisation can be a challenge.
• Staying engaged
  Unless you are regularly the focus of attention, for good or for bad, it is hard to keep someone engaged over time. Many an LMS has been stood up for an external audience, who turns up once, has a look at a course and never comes back.

Solutions to channel partner training

• Make training available
  If the only place that your external audience can access your training material is via your LMS, you’re in trouble. The learning journey has many twists and turns and expecting your audience to know what they need to know and come to you to find it is a big ask. There are a range of places your audience will look for information and inspiration, these include their internal LMS, your website, searches and social media. Use short modules placed in more places to solve problems just-in-time and engage your audience when they need information. If you give them an easy way to learn what they need to learn, they’re more likely to engage with your brand going forward.
• Scenarios and simulations
  Research has shown that installers, operators and practitioners are more likely to respond to a challenge than passively following some content in the hope there might be something useful in there. Use short practical scenarios to give your audience something to consider and an opportunity to demonstrate their professional capability and decision making skills.Simulations can provide a great learning experience that builds confidence by offering the audience a way to practice utilizing a product in a range of situations. Use 3D models to simulate problems and solutions.
• Short and relevant
  Above all, keep learning short and relevant. Get to the learning objectives quickly and if someone doesn’t need to consume lots of content, structure your courses to focus on what they really need to know. You lose attention quickly with any learning that feels like a chore. Focus on the need-to-knows and offer the opportunity to explore more with menus. Avoid anything that isn’t practical to consume quickly in a short mobile learning session.