What is a PRM Software?

In simple words, PRM (Partner Relationship Management) software is a technology solution designed to automate all things partner related. PRM software is used to streamline and optimise the management of external variety of partnerships such as distributors, resellers, and agencies. These partnerships are crucial for businesses to expand their market reach and get more sales, all while significantly driving the CAC (Customer Acquisition Costs) down. PRM provides a centralised platform for communication, collaboration, and performance tracking, enabling businesses to build more effective relationships with their partners through technology.  

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Key functions of PRM software include:

• Partner onboarding: Streamlining the process of recruiting, onboarding, and managing partner profiles up to date. Think of instant updates of the company information, brand guidelines without the need to log in into partner portals to manage the data.
• Communication and collaboration: Facilitating seamless communication and collaboration between internal teams and external partners whether through the key messaging apps or comprehensive built-in features.
• Performance tracking: Measuring partner performance against key metrics and generating reports for data-driven decision-making.
• Sales enablement: Providing sales tools and resources to partners to support their efforts.
• Incentive and commission management: Managing partner compensation programs and ensuring accurate and timely payments.

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The benefits of using a PRM software include improved partner relationships, more possibilities of co-selling, better data-driven decision-making, and increased revenue coming from the partner ecosystem.

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Why is PRM Software Mission-Critical for Modern Businesses?

Without a dedicated PRM system, businesses often grapple with inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and a lack of visibility across their partner programs. Partner teams, including vital partner marketing professionals, frequently operate in silos, juggling disparate tools like project management software, Excel spreadsheets, or shared Google Docs. Some even attempt to contort their CRM or basic partner portals to mimic PRM software functionality, but these workarounds rarely suffice.
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Sounds messy, doesn’t it? 

Our daily interactions with partner teams reveal a common thread: these manual, disjointed processes inevitably lead to errors, missed opportunities, and a frustrating lack of insight into partner performance. Communication breakdowns and misaligned goals become the norm, hindering overall partner engagement. As a result, partner teams fail to reach their full potential, lacking a dedicated tool designed for their unique workflows. Furthermore, without a centralised platform for lead sharing, deal registration, and performance analytics, making informed strategic decisions or identifying emerging growth opportunities becomes a shot in the dark.

Implementing a robust PRM software solution offers clear strategic advantages:

1. Eliminate Silos: Seamless collaboration between your sales, marketing, and partner teams, ensuring everyone is aligned on GTM (Go-To-Market) strategies and deal progression.
2. End-to-End Program Management: Efficiently manage the entire partner lifecycle, from recruitment and onboarding to co-selling, commission calculations, and timely payouts.
3. Exceptional Partner Experience (PX): Provide your partners with the tools, resources, and support they need to succeed and driving significant partner-led revenue. A good PRM tool is often the make-or-break factor in delivering stellar PX. If you're looking into providing a new age partner experience, make sure to explore our custom build digital partner rooms (partner portals).

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Key Features of a PRM Software

1. Partner Onboarding

Partner onboarding helps you automate the whole process of signing partner agreements, exchanging brand guidelines and setting up the foundations for joint collaboration between the teams. A well-designed onboarding process empowers partners to grasp their roles, access essential tools, and hit the ground running with partner sales.Additionally, it provides an opportunity to establish clear expectations and guidelines for ongoing communication and performance management. Without a PRM software, the onboarding process would be significantly more time-consuming and error-prone. Multiple teams would need to coordinate manually, leading to delays (and a lot of frustration among teams!). Imagine a scale-up company onboarding several partners simultaneously - too many moving parts can hinder your partners' ability to quickly become productive and start generating revenue.

2. Lead and Deal Tracking

 A robust PRM system seamlessly integrates with your existing CRM platforms, providing comprehensive visibility into incoming leads and deal statuses. This integration empowers partners to track their progress and performance in real time. It also enables a two-sync between the CRM and PRM platforms, so that you have one source of truth (instant updates in your CRM) on all things partner related. With a PRM software, there’s no need to juggle multiple tools or spreadsheets. A PRM system becomes your one-stop shop for lead management. You can send leads to your partners with a click, track their progress in real-time, and easily receive leads from your network. It's like having an additional platform for all your partners’ leads to fuel your sales pipeline without the need to log into several partner portals (you hear me right, these gated portals are still around…). 

3. Multi-Touch Lead Attribution

Multi-touch lead attribution is a marketing analytics technique that tracks a customer's journey across multiple touchpoints before making a purchase. Unlike single-touch attribution, which assigns credit to the last interaction before conversion, multi-touch attribution models consider the entire customer journey, including interactions with different marketing channels, partner events, campaigns (and others) to determine which touchpoints contributed most to the sale. This provides a more accurate and holistic view of partner and partner marketing teams’ effectiveness, enabling businesses to optimise their marketing strategies and allocate resources more effectively. It provides a great insight into your overall partnership teams’ contribution.

4. Partner Communication 

A PRM system should be your go-to communication hub as partnerships are all about the relationships. Think of it as your ‘virtual water cooler’ in the office, where partners can easily connect, share updates, and collaborate in real-time. But here we’re talking about the technology facilitating this communication. For example, Slack, Google Meets, Teams, and all the other messaging apps. It's like having a personal assistant that keeps everyone in the loop, but gathers data and tracks data through your integrated ecosystem of apps, something messaging apps won’t be able to do.

5. Partner Collaboration

To effectively implement a partner onboarding strategy, cross-functional teams must collaborate. This includes technology, partner management, and marketing teams working together to develop a comprehensive plan. This plan should outline API connectors for integration, training materials, and enablement resources. Sales teams can contribute by developing joint business plans and sharing insights on potential deals. Partner marketing can support the process by providing marketing collateral and ensuring effective communication. As you can see, in partnerships the entire GTM team on both sides is usually engaged in several projects with conflicting deadlines running concurrently. Partner collaboration software can greatly facilitate these efforts by enabling real-time collaboration, sharing of lead information, and coordination of marketing activities. Having cross-company collaboration boards is a game changer for partner teams. What has been known as project management software for internal teams, is now completely revolutionised by bringing in external partners to collaborate on the same projects.

6. Scaling Partner Programs

To support sustainable business growth, a PRM system must be equipped to handle the expansion of partner networks. This involves features that streamline the onboarding of new partners, efficiently manage larger groups, and adapt to the evolving complexities of partner relationships. A scalable PRM system ensures that organisations can effectively scale their partner programs to meet increased demand and maintain strong partnerships. Some examples of features that can help scale your program include: viral network effect (partner invites a partner), the ability to send and receive leads through one platform, communication and collaboration features. Last but not least, a timely payout of commissions is an essential part of a successful partner program - everyone wants to get paid for the work done. How to facilitate global payments to different stakeholders is something that can be only done through a secure platform - a solid PRM software should enable that. 

7. Analytics (Tracking your programs’ KPIs)

Your partners are giving you their data. What are you giving them in return? How about a clear picture of their performance? With a PRM system in place, you can track key metrics like deal volume, revenue generated, lead conversion rates, and customer satisfaction. This data-driven approach empowers you to optimise your partner programs, reward top performers, and allocate resources effectively. For example, if you notice a decline in deal volume from a particular partner, you can investigate the root cause and provide targeted support. By continuously tracking and analysing key metrics, you can build more productive partnerships and generate more partner-driven sales.

8. Sales Enablement

A PRM system can significantly enhance sales enablement by providing a centralised platform for sharing sales tools, training materials, and best practices. By integrating with existing CRM systems, PRMs can ensure that sales teams have access to the latest information and resources they need to succeed. Additionally, PRMs can help to streamline the onboarding process for new sales reps, providing them with the tools and training they need to quickly become productive. By empowering sales teams with the right information and resources, PRMs can drive increased sales productivity.

9. Incentive and Commission Management

A PRM system can streamline incentive and commission management by providing a platform for tracking partner performance, calculating commissions, and distributing payments. By automating these processes, PRMs can reduce manual errors and ensure that partners are compensated fairly and accurately. Additionally, PRMs can help to establish easy to understand and transparent incentive programs, while motivating partners to achieve their goals.

10. AI-driven PRM features

AI is revolutionising PRM by automating routine tasks, improving data analysis, and enhancing personalisation. AI-powered tools can automate processes like lead qualification, contract management, and reporting, freeing up valuable time for partner managers. Additionally, AI algorithms can analyse vast amounts of data to identify trends, predict future outcomes, and provide personalised recommendations. This enables PRM teams to make more informed decisions, optimise partner programs, and deliver tailored experiences that meet the specific needs of each partner.

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Benefits of Implementing a PRM Software

Enhanced communication and collaboration among partners, coupled with increased partner satisfaction, drives streamlined sales processes and increased deal velocity. This, in turn, leads to improved sales enablement and partner support, fostering better data-driven decision making through access to real-time data and analytics. By leveraging these insights, organisations can optimise partner performance and increase revenue from partner sales while reducing costs associated with manual processes and errors.

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Choosing the Right PRM Software

Choosing the right PRM software is a critical decision that can significantly impact your organisation's ability to manage partner relationships and drive partner sales. When selecting a PRM solution, it's essential to consider factors such as scalability and flexibility to accommodate future growth, integration with existing systems to streamline workflows, and user-friendliness to ensure easy adoption by your team. It’s also crucial to establish what type of partners PRM can support. Some PRM providers focus only on affiliates only, others can facilitate technology and solution partners altogether. 

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Additionally, evaluating the cost and potential return on investment (ROI) is crucial to make a financially sound decision. By carefully considering these key factors, you can select a PRM software that aligns with your specific partner program.

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Journeybee: Crafting Personalised Digital Partner Portals That Drive Revenue

At Journeybee, we specialise in creating custom-built digital partner portals that serve as a personalised experience hub for each of your partners. We help you transform partner relationships by providing a dedicated, branded online environment where your partners feel uniquely valued and fully equipped.

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From the moment they log into their unique portal, partners encounter a tailored journey: personalised onboarding processes, easy access to relevant sales and marketing resources, and intuitive tools for lead and deal management, all powered by a seamless two-way CRM sync. Our approach is to make your portal the indispensable command center for your partners.

Key advantages of Journeybee's custom digital partner portals:

• Bespoke Portal Design & Content: Deliver a truly branded experience with content and tools specifically relevant to each partner's role and relationship with you.
• Integrated Co-Selling Workspaces: Our portals feature collaborative tools, akin to a private Asana or Monday.com, allowing your internal GTM teams and your partners' teams to work jointly on deals and marketing campaigns within a shared, secure space.
• Self-Service Empowerment: Partners can access training, marketing collateral, and support documentation on-demand through their portal, reducing friction and improving their productivity.
• Clear Visibility & Motivation: Automated commission tracking and performance dashboards accessible within their portal keep partners informed and motivated.
• Effortless Scalability: Onboard new partners into their own personalised portal environments quickly and efficiently. Partners can access their Journeybee portal for free, making it easy to expand your ecosystem.

With Journeybee, you're not just implementing software; you're designing a world-class, personalised digital partner portal that makes it easier for partners to do business with you and significantly boosts channel performance.

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