Survey: Gap Between Channel Partner Goals and Execution Leaving Sales on the Table

Research from parago shows most vendors still executing incentives manually, but need more compelling bundled and tiered incentive programs to motivate effective channel behavior

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Apr 23, 2014, 09:00 ET

PHOENIX, April 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey released today at the Baptie & Company Channel Focus North America with Latin America 2014 event reveals that a majority of technology vendors are falling short on their channel partner strategies, leaving sales on the table. The vendors reported that execution of their most important channel partner strategies — including lead generation and deal registration — is not as successful as it should be.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/7195751-parago-survey-gap-between-channel-partner-goals-execution-leaving-sales

The new channel research report, "Cut Through the Complexity," revealed that this gap in goals versus results is tied to ineffective incentive programs. Eighty percent of vendors are still managing partner incentives both internally and manually. In addition, 74% of vendors cannot implement more complex incentives, even though they would like to.

"In the past, rewarding sales was sufficient to motivate channel partners. Today's complex ecosystems must also incent sales-driving behaviors like lead generation, deal registration, MDF, training and business planning, too, when they result in sales," said Dan Hawtof, parago VP of Business Solutions, Global Channel. "If you believe an activity generates sales, you should incent it. However, our research shows that most vendors don't have an effective incentives program in place to do so."

The full "Cut Through the Complexity: Smarter Incentives Drive Results" parago channel report can be downloaded for free here.

Key findings from the research include:

Results do not match importance: Across all partner engagement activities (including lead generation, deal registration, business planning, creating solutions and more), vendors report that there is a wide gap between importance and success.
Slicing and dicing manually: 80% of channel incentive programs are still managed manually using spreadsheets, limited databases and other labor-intensive tools.
Demand for better incentive resources: 3 out of 4 vendors want to run more complex incentives, but don't have the management tools or staff to handle the data.
Impact of channel transitioning to the cloud: There's been plenty of talk about moving to recurring revenue models. However, only 39% of vendors have made the shift so far.
Sales tunnel vision: Currently, only 1 in 10 vendors incent on channel partner behaviors other than sales. There is a need for more diversified, targeted incentives programs.

This parago channel study was conducted in February and March 2014 via independent online delivery. All respondents are members of the Baptie Channel Focus Community, a resource for channel executives in the IT and telecom industries.

about parago channel

parago simplifies channel engagement for greater ROI with industry leading insights and flexible technology through channel incentives, marketing and partner relationship management. At parago, we:

serve 300+ clients with 3 million partners worldwide 
deliver billions in rewards to millions of people 
are ranked by Ad Age as one of the largest promotional, digital and CRM agencies

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/7195751-parago-survey-gap-between-channel-partner-goals-execution-leaving-sales

SOURCE parago