In essence, they allow vendors to financially reward partners that are helping them grow market share and revenue. It is therefore no surprise then why deal registration programs have become pivotal in preserving partner margins.

The 3 main issues in channels business that deal registration can address are:

Achieving better visibility into the entire opportunity universe

This is turn improves planning and forecasting as well as positively influences deals early in the sales cycle.

Reducing a partner’s margin erosion through extra discounts

This supports the investment in prospects with longer sales cycles as well as protects against ultimately losing the deal due to competitive price dumping.

Preventing channel conflict

Everyone knows the value of keeping deal disbursement among the channel harmonious and appropriate.

Channel analysts and consultants agree that companies implementing deal registration systems are invariably looking to solve at least one of the above issues. However, they stress that vendors must thoroughly think-out aspects of their channel processes and relationships that may not necessarily be on the top of their mind or at their fingertips. With so much at stake, a poorly crafted or enforced program can cost vendors big-time. How to prevent this? Experts say to follow the following deal registration best practices:

• Understand the partner’s perspective
  Empathy goes a long way and it always helps to think in your partners’ shoes. For many channel partners, the growing popularity of deal registration programs is forcing them to weigh the benefits of participation (for example, pricing incentives) against the cost of internal resources required to administer participation.
  
  As program success is directly correlated to partner adoption, vendors should carefully consider the partners’ perspective and automate as much of the process as possible. In addition, vendors should also provide partners with the ability to track registration status online and in real time. This will reduce inefficient status-check phone calls and emails which in turn benefits both parties with reduced program support and administrative costs.
  
• Align the program with corporate objectives
  It is essential to understand  how key program elements can drive the partner behavior required to help the company achieve its overall goals. Deal registration elements fall into 5 overall categories:
  
  • Eligible products:
    Focus on the products and services that best support overall corporate objectives. For example, if a vendor needs to jumpstart market share for a new product introduction, then the product should allow registrations of new product deals, and incentives should offset partner investments to come up to speed on the latest technology. On the other hand, if maintaining market share for well-established, low-margin products is a goal, then the program incentives should be skewed to reward partners for disclosing deals earlier in the sales cycle.
    
  • Deal Size
    A minimum revenue amount for eligible deals should be established.
    
  • Disclosure
    Ensure that you establish a minimum number of days during which the deal must close in order to be eligible and reward disclosure behavior accordingly.
    
  • Closure
    At the same time, establish a maximum number of days during which the deal must close in order to be eligible for incentives. Do select a closure timeframe that is realistic yet provides incentive to get the deal done.
    
  • Eligible partners
    Partner eligibility criteria that are aligned with the other elements of the program especially those dealing with product and/or market mix and deal size should be established.
    
    
• Provide privacy protection for unapproved deals
  A lot of deal registration programs fail because the company’s most important partners refuse to register hot and strategic deals. Always remember that a partner’s customer and prospect data are their livelihood, and hence fiercely guarded. Registering their data leaves them exposed, yet by not doing so, a vendor is unable to decide whether or not to approve the registration.
  
  In order to break this stalemate, both sides have to yield a little. Partners should always be able to register deals with a high degree of confidentiality. On the vendor’s side – if the vendor approves the registration, only then can detailed information be exposed. However, if the vendor does not approve the registration, the details have to remain confidential and the privacy of the deal is protected.
  
• Publish and enforce program rules
  To ensure the success of a deal registration program, effective communication and the consistent enforcement of programs, rules have to be high on the list. Vendors should create simple yet clear criteria for deal registration submissions and approvals. All information pertaining to this should be published clearly and supporting processes in place. In addition, the rules should be communicated within the context of the registration process to avoid misunderstandings.
  
• Automate and integrate the process
  Many deal registration programs fail because only one part of the process has been automated – registration. Yet, more often than not, the success of the program is not measured by the number of deals registered, but rather by the number of registered and approved deals that resulted in revenue. Vendors looking to increase channel revenue should look at the full lifecycle of a deal. This means automating and integrating the entire registration-to-closure process.
  
• Identify deals in all critical sales cycles
  A key factor of a successful deal registration program is providing partners with sales assistance to win the business. Being able to quickly identify strategic opportunities in critical phases of the sales cycle will enable both parties to collaborate efficiently and also allocate resources properly.
  
• Measure, model, and tune the program, then repeat the process
  Program measurement is a key to success. Vendors must have a mechanism in place to track program performance in a timely fashion and ideally, in real-time.

By following the best practices mentioned above, vendors as well as their partners can build deal registration programs that are mutually beneficial. Smart and strongly-enforced deal registration programs help partners build profitable businesses and reward value-based selling by protecting margins. This is turn, motivates them to share pipeline information then increases channel revenue predictability for the vendor, helping improve closure rates through assisted selling. In short, the entire partner community benefits.