The leading sales channel enablement tools include Zixflow, Grovo, Impartner, Channeltivity, Litmos, Iconixx Incentives, Optymyze, and Showpad Coach.
Today, sales enablement has become a core component of the sales process. And what helps you in putting a solid sales enablement framework in place? The sales enablement tools!
But sales enablement doesn’t have to stop within the boundaries of your company. You can empower your channel partners (resellers, distributors, and retailers) in the same way you do with your sales and marketing teams.
In the absence of a solid channel enablement technology, your partners will have a tough time understanding customers’ pain points and highlighting the value that your product offers to them. According to 360Insights, 72% of partners struggle to find the connection between their products and the requirements of the customers.
That’s why channel enablement is something that your business cannot overlook anymore. Hence, in this post, I will tell you about what channel enablement is and the 8 channel enablement tools that will help your channel partners to get accurate information about your offerings, allowing them to market it effectively. Let’s begin!
“Business is not about one’s own success or failure, but how successful we make our partners.” – Donald Trump
Channel enablement or channel partner enablement is all about equipping your channel partners with the necessary tools, content, knowledge, and training to successfully sell and promote your products or services. Doing so will maximize their performance and bring revenue through the chosen sales channels.
The goal of channel enablement is to establish strong collaborative relationships with channel partners, align their approaches with your company’s overall sales enablement strategies, and ensure consistent messaging and branding across all channels.
For example, a B2B SaaS company that develops and sells cloud-based CRM with project management solutions can establish a channel partner program that includes resellers and system integrators to expand market reach and increase sales.
To enable and empower its channel partners, the company can implement various channel enablement initiatives, such as training programs, sales and marketing resources (content, documentation, and playbooks), a partner portal, and an incentive system.
This way the software company can provide the required resources to its channel partners, enabling them to impress prospects with tailored outreach and ultimately, driving more revenue for themselves and also for the company.
You should have a pretty good idea about what channel enablement is by now. So, let’s take a look at some of the best channel enablement tools. These tools will assist you in building a concrete channel partner program as well as streamline its operations.
One of the best channel enablement tools in this list, Zixflow is a powerful salesOS that offers various functionalities to allow your channel partners to identify the correct sales engagement model to reach out to prospects.
Since Zixflow is a sales engagement platform with an integrated CRM that enables your channel partners to view and manage client details from a panel, you don't have to pick between a sales engagement platform vs a CRM platform. It not only provides you with the ability to handle data, but you can also send different types of emails (promotional, transactions, or advertising) to your customers directly from the application.
Plus, with the AI Wizard, you don’t even have to come up with the content of your email. Just put the required information in and the Wizard will generate an email for you.
If you are targeting B2B companies using your channel partner program, then you will have to find the right decision-maker in these companies along with their accurate content information. With Zixflow, you can easily find and verify the email address of your prospects. Simply enter their name and the company they work for and the Email Finder will find, verify, and add the email to the sales CRM.
Grovo is a famous microlearning platform that provides you with the ability to bite-sized training content to your partners. Packed with its user-friendly interface and a comprehensive library of training resources, Grovo is an effective tool for channel enablement via microlearning.
Grovo’s bite-sized content includes short, engaging video-based lessons to cover aspects like product knowledge, customer interaction skills, objection handling, and sales engagement strategies. The concise format of the videos makes it easy for your partners to absorb the content in a short amount of time, fitting perfectly into their busy schedules.
Impartner is a PRM (Partner Relationship Management) platform designed to facilitate and optimize the management of partner relationships within your partner program. It provides a centralized hub where you can effectively engage, enable, and collaborate with your channel partners for mutual success.
Impartner lets you streamline your partner onboarding process by providing self-service capabilities. Furthermore, it offers tools and resources in the form of training materials, marketing assets, and content types to engage prospects and successfully promote your product.
Channeltivity is a comprehensive channel enablement solution that provides you with the tools and resources needed to effectively manage and support your channel partners. Similar to Impartner, it also comes with a PRM platform to handle partner relationships and provides a secure portal for partners to access training resources to guide prospects through the stages of the sales cycle.
Channeltivity also offers training and certifications management features, allowing you to deliver partner training programs effectively. It lets you develop training modules, monitor your partners' progress, and offer certificates upon completion. This way, you can be sure that your partners are well-prepared to sell and support your products or services.
Litmos is a well-known learning management software (LMS) that comes with robust features for channel enablement and partner training. It is built for delivering engaging and fruitful learning experiences through an intuitive interface and easy-to-use platform.
Litmos offers creation tools to develop and manage your training course. It supports several content formats, like videos, presentations, quizzes, and SCORM-compliant e-learning modules.
Not just that. With Litmos, you can structure learning paths to guide your partners across a series of relevant courses. These paths ensure logical progression of training, allowing your partners to obtain the necessary skills and knowledge step-by-step to manage several types of sales.
Iconixx Incentive is an incentive management system that you can use to optimize your collaboration with channel partners and incentivize performance. It contains compensation management functionality that lets you create and manage incentive programs for your partners.
It also supports complex commission structures, SPIFs (Sales Performance Incentives Funds,) bonuses, and rewards to encourage partners to achieve sales targets. Plus, it lets your partners register and manage deals within a centralized platform. This way, you can ensure transparency, avoid conflicts, and guarantee fair compensation.
Optymyze is a comprehensive sales channel enablement tool that goes beyond traditional training platforms. It combines sales performance management, data analytics, and gamification to provide a holistic solution for optimizing channel performance and sales engagement.
Optymyze offers robust sales performance management capabilities by letting you create personalized sales plans, incentive programs, and performance targets tailored to each channel partner's unique needs. This way, you can provide clear visibility into targets and progress to motivate your partners and foster a culture of high performance.
Showpad Coach is a powerful microlearning and sales coaching platform that you can use to empower your channel partners with ongoing learning and skill development. It also includes role-playing exercises and coaching feedback to improve your partners’ performance and boost efficiency.
On top of that, Showpad incorporates gamification elements to make the programs more engaging and motivating for your partners. Also, the material is easily accessible on mobile devices, enabling channel partners to learn on the go, understand needs and ask the correct sales qualifying questions, and reinforce their knowledge at their convenience.
Nowadays, having the right tools to empower your sales channel partners is essential for success. That's why in this blog post, I have provided you with multiple tried and tested sales channel enablement tools that have proven their worth in driving growth, enhancing collaboration, and helping you build a customer-centric selling approach.
Remember, success in channel enablement goes beyond just choosing the right tools. It requires a strategic approach that aligns the tools with your organization's unique goals and partner ecosystem.
With the right tools in place, your sales channel partners can become a powerful force, driving growth and reaching new heights of success. And one tool that might allow you to do exactly that is Zixflow.
It is a standout channel enablement solution that offers an intuitive interface that emphasizes simplifying the sales process. It provides robust functionality using which your partners automate workflows with sales cadence and ensure that they don't miss an opportunity to engage with potential customers.
So, if you are ready to empower your channel partners and align them to your sales enablement strategy, get started with Zixflow today. It's completely free!