The key to achieving satisfactory financial results by the partner network is efficient communication and effective cooperation. Learn about the 4 conditions that guarantee successful management of an affiliate program and one tool that will help you meet them - the application Partnerwise.

According to ChannelFutures.com, over ¾ of the world's products and services are sold through indirect channels. One of such channels is the partner sales network. However, the vast majority of companies in partner networks are experiencing difficulties - 65% of CMOs do not know how to manage the network's growth, and over 25% of partners complain about problems with settling payments, onboarding and obtaining appropriate qualifications. How to effectively manage an affiliate program? Here are 4 conditions for successful cooperation:

1. Clear terms of cooperation

Every business should operate according to clearly established rules. It is no different in the case of affiliate programs. To define the principles of cooperation, you should start by setting a goal, defining success criteria and methods of measuring it. This will allow us to formulate the main assumptions of cooperation that will be included in the contract. Other, less formal issues will be included in "good practices", most often provided in the form of a separate document or presentation. These rules should define how the affiliate program operates, ensuring its smooth operation and effectiveness.

Acquiring new customers, registering contracts and settlements, reporting new sales opportunities and customer onboarding - each of these processes should be carried out according to established standards. However, many companies do not specify such standards and do not have an established policy for enforcing or monitoring them. It is simply difficult and time-consuming, so cooperation is most often based on manually prepared statements in spreadsheets, which are prone to errors and delays.

Tools that automate collaboration and ensure efficient communication, such as the Partnerwise application, come to the rescue. Thanks to built-in rules and ready-made forms, the application forces you to enter data and report results according to established rules. Partnerwise guarantees that compliance with the rules will be simple, convenient and beneficial to both parties. Your partners will receive a friendly tool that will allow them to properly report results and track financial results, without the need to compile and exchange unnecessary correspondence. However, your company will always receive an up-to-date source of knowledge from which it will be able to identify the most promising partners and optimize its activities in order to maximize revenues. Thanks to Partnerwise, “good practices” will not remain only on paper.

3. Motivation and activation

Typically, partners sell the products and services of more than one company. They may even sell your competitors' solutions. There is nothing to worry about, this is a completely normal market situation in which you have to compete for your partner's attention and loyalty. How to make your partner continue to treat you as a priority? First of all, partners should be provided with onboarding, which may include training, workshops and necessary educational materials, both sales, marketing and technical. In the further stages of cooperation, it is worth ensuring easy access to knowledge, support and experts, but also joint marketing activities, promotions and motivating special campaigns. Partnerwise will enable you to create such a knowledge base and communication platform.

But it is not everything. An affiliate program is nothing more than a network of cooperating people who, in order to work more efficiently and with greater commitment, need support and motivation. Nothing compares to a good, trust-based business relationship. And although the systems will not replace contact, they can significantly facilitate it. By automating everyday, routine activities and simplifying and digitizing processes, you will gain more time for building relationships, obtaining feedback from customers, and identifying the weakest links. If you want your affiliate program to bring the expected results, examine the moods of your partners and respond to their needs and problems.

3. Efficient data exchange and analysis

Scattered communication with partner employees and lack of access to current and complete sales data can be the source of many problems. What are the revenues from customers, what does KPI implementation look like, what are the margins, which channels have the best conversions? Based on such information, both you and your partners can plan and optimize activities and create reliable forecasts. Cooperation works best when both the service provider and its distributor work at the same time, on the same data. And this is what Partnerwise will provide you. If you send results reports periodically, e.g. once a month, it may turn out that at a key moment it will be too late to introduce changes or modify the conditions for the client. Thanks to Partnerwise, you can react to abnormal results in real time. Alerts about irregularities, on-demand reports, ongoing monitoring of sales results - these are tools that will ensure that you have 100% control over your affiliate program at all times. It is not without reason that they say that time is money!

4. Attractive commission system

Affiliate programs should be based on a remuneration system that is profitable for both parties. The initially established cooperation model may turn out to be unfavorable for you or your partner over time. You should have access to all the previously mentioned data and information also to be able to assess the partner's contribution and results and ensure an optimal remuneration structure. Also ensure that you receive additional gratification for above-average results or commitment. Remember that you are not the only manufacturer or supplier on the market and you compete with other entrepreneurs and their partner networks. If you want partners to continue to engage in your program and ensure an increase in sales, ensure remuneration is adequate to the results, but also attractive.

Why Partnerwise?

Effective implementation of the above strategy is not possible without a friendly IT environment that all partners would benefit from. Declaration of business goals, information exchange and data analysis wymagają a system that would provide all partners with access to the same tools, data and communication channels. Using various, non-integrated tools, closed CRMs, preparing statements in spreadsheets, sending documents by e-mail - such cooperation is usually time-consuming and prone to many errors. Above all, however, it does not provide current insight into the results and prevents immediate reaction.

Instead of using manually prepared spreadsheets, it is worth using advanced tools that improve all aspects of partner management - from the implementation process to partner inclusion in the network and payments. Such possibilities are created by the Partnerwise application, which was created by the Qalcwise team based on its own experience and cooperation with partners.

Partnerwise provides: the ability to monitor and manage a network of partners, tracking each stage of sales and supporting its poorly performing elements. In turn, it allows partners to conveniently submit new tasks and sales opportunities and report the results. What distinguishes Partnerwise from similar products are functions that go beyond standard "registration" of events and documents. Qalcwise applications, in line with their name (Calculation-wise), enable the calculation and generation of commercial offers, calculation of forecasts and budgets, settlement of partner commissions, bonuses and retro-discounts, calculation of inventory levels and notification of, for example, the need to replenish them. They also offer flexible acceptance and task flow rules.

Try Partnerwise today and see how easily you can transform your affiliate network into the most effective and efficient sales channel. Contact us if you want to know more: qalcwise@qalcwise.com