Manage Partner Programs for Channel Managers

Partner programs represent relationships between you, the brand owner or channel company, and different types of qualified partners, such as re-sellers, systems integrators, and distributors.

You can make partner programs global or specific to a country, and you can choose to use a tiered structure in your programs if you want. Partner programs provide benefits to approved partner enrollees.

Channel managers working for the brand owner must first create a program and tier structure to define a partner's position in the program. You can base the partner's position on the partner's investment in the relationship, which you can determine from different criteria such as revenue, competencies, and customer satisfaction.

The partner program structure also provides consistency across the globe, and aligns partners with the correct programs. Appropriate benefits - whether financial, sales, marketing, technical, training, or other types of resources - can be offered to partners according to their level of investment, as reflected in the partners' tiers, to ensure the brand owner's investment in the partners is worth the cost.

You can use the partner relationship management functionality to define a global program structure, with or without tiers, streamline the program approval process, and group partners into that structure. You can also define and assign benefits to partners based on their position in your partner programs. Channel managers gain increased visibility into the partner benefits and program elements. They can promote or demote partners, as needed. You can quickly adjust your partner programs as your business changes and grows.

Channel managers can use the Programs pages to:

Set up a program structure to distinguish and reward your partners, based on their performance and contributions to your business.
Define partner programs with or without tiers, and add benefits from a benefits library to programs or program tiers.
Assign tiers to partner accounts, and enforce country-based and tier-based eligibility when enrolling partners in different programs.

Create Partner Programs

Use these steps to create a partner program.

Sign in with your channel manager credentials and from your Partner Management area, click Programs.
Click Create Program.
In the Name field, provide a name for the program you're creating.
From the Type list, select the type of program you're creating, such as Technology Partner, Re-seller, or Distributor. This is the type of partner you're targeting with the program.
From the Owner list, select the owner of the program you're creating.
If you want to designate the program for a specific country, you can select the country from the Country list. Selecting All will allow the program to be global.
If you want the program to begin or end on a specific date, you can use the Start Date and End Date fields to indicate the date.
If you don't want to publish your partner program, click Save and Close. Otherwise, click Save and Continue.
If you clicked Save and Continue, you can now publish the program by selecting the Publish action.

Create Tiers

Use these steps to create tiers.

Sign in with your channel manager credentials and from your Partner Management area, click Programs.
Click the Tiers tab.
On the Tiers page, click Add.
Provide a name for the tier.
Select a badge for the tier. The badge is an icon used to quickly identify the tier.
Click Save to save your work.
Click Add to create additional tiers. If you have multiple tiers, you can use the ordering arrows, to move tiers up or down.
Click Save to save your work.

Add Tiers to a Partner Program

Use these steps to add tiers to a partner program.

Note: Tiers must already exist before you can add them to partner programs.

Sign in with your channel manager credentials and from your Partner Management area, click Programs.
From your list of programs, select the program you want to add tiers to.
On the program Summary page under the Tiers section, click Add and select the tier you want to add to the program.
Click Save and Close to save your work.

Delete Tiers

Use these steps to delete tiers.

Note: You can only delete a tier after it has been removed from all partners and programs that are using it.

Sign in with your channel manager credentials and from your Partner Management area, click Programs.
Click the Tiers tab.
On the Tiers page, click the X corresponding to the tier you want to delete.
Click Save to save your work.

Create Benefits

Use these steps to create benefits.

Sign in with your channel manager credentials and from your Partner Management area, click Programs.
Click the Benefits tab.
On the Benefits page, click Create Benefit.
Provide a name for the benefit.
From the Value Type list, select the type of value the benefit provides, such as Amount, Number, or Percent.
From the Category list, select the category that your benefit fits into.
In the Description field, you can type a short description of the benefit.
Click Save and Close.
Click Save to save your work.
Click Add to create additional tiers. If you have multiple tiers, you can use the ordering arrows, to move tiers up or down.
Click Save to save your work.

Add Benefits to a Partner Program

Use these steps to add benefits to a partner program.

Note: Benefits must already exist before you can add them to partner programs.

Sign in with your channel manager credentials and from your Partner Management area, click Programs.
From your list of programs, select the program you want to add benefits to.
Click the Benefits tab.
On the program Summary page under the Benefits section, click Add and select the benefit you want to add to the program.
You can use the Tier list to make the benefit specific to a certain tier of the partner program.
Click Save and Close to save your work.

Delete Benefits

Use these steps to delete benefits.

Note: You can only delete a benefit after it has been removed from all partners and programs that are using it.

Sign in with your channel manager credentials and from your Partner Management area, click Programs.
Click the Benefits tab.
From your list of benefits, select the benefit you want to delete.
On the Edit benefit page, click Delete Benefit.
Click Save to save your work.