How to Train Distributors and Increase Channel Sales

Often underfunded, efforts to train distributors usually take a back seat precisely at the moment they should be upfront with you, the driver. When training distributors is an afterthought, it shows. Your partnership misses key moments to demonstrate value to end-users, distributors and channel sales reps don’t recognize optimal opportunities to sell and your corporate revenue stagnates.

Instead, set distributors – and yourself – up for success with a distributor training strategy that:

• Addresses critical product, technical and sales knowledge gaps.
• Consistently communicates to distributors with training, Q&As, conferences, and timely product- and industry-specific content.
• Encourages partners to create an online presence meets the growing number of millennial decision-makers during their buyer’s journey.
• Is easily-accessible and mobile-ready for all channel partners.
• And reinforces itself by rewarding partners with exciting incentives.

For many vendors, it’s difficult to train distributors because of geography, misaligned priorities, inexperienced partners and so much more. You may be experiencing just one, or all, of these common channel problems now. But don’t take a hands-off approach to channel relations, assuming that it’ll all work out in the end. Ramp up the effectiveness of your channel partner training with strategies that steer you toward channel sales success. Here’s how: