By Jim Holland, Sr. Product Marketing Manager
For high tech and semiconductor companies, it’s a given that indirect channel partners are key to overall success. With so much riding on channel partnerships and a focus on finding, retaining and building relationships, one key facet is often overlooked. DATA.
“Suppliers often lack reliable information about where their offers land once they are released into the channel. For products that require physical distribution, this data is necessary for everything from supplier revenue recognition to crediting field compensation and, ultimately, paying partner benefits. Without trusted information, suppliers err on the side of overpaying their own sales reps and their partners. They also lose their line of sight into the customer base if visibility ends with the channel” stated Forrester Research.
Forrester continues, “Sales-out or point-of-sales (POS) reports are designed to track product that moves from a supplier’s physical inventory through the channel and to the customer. Distributors are required to provide details on the partner to whom they sold an offer as well as basic information they collected on the partner’s customer (e.g. company name, install location). Tier-one partners, who purchase directly from the supplier, provide information on the customer they sold to. This data is then used to pay supplier sales teams, both direct and indirect, by giving quota and/or compensation credit based on the customer sale to a specific location. It is also used by publicly traded companies to report revenue so that shareholders are assured that channel-held inventory is not being used to calculate results. Partner incentives are paid on the basis of this data as it provides details on their sales activities and revenue performance. Improving sales-out data can have substantial impact on supplier profitability by removing errors that produce overpayment of sales compensation and channel incentives.”
How can channel leaders better demonstrate performance while measuring success?
In Using Channel Data Management to Improve Channel Performance, Forrester Research provides several recommendations on how to improve your channels performance. To download the full report, go here. To learn how Model N can automate and improve your channel data and its performance, click here.
