How will your sales channel perform next year? It is clear that we all face some tough challenges and decisions over the coming year. With consumers and business becoming more cautious we all need to work that much hard to convince those we are doing business with to invest and succeed. Giving your sales channel the confidence to see through the short-term difficulties ahead of them and stay focused on the longer term opportunity beyond is going to require some innovative thinking if you are to outsmart your competitors.  In short, we all need to be giving our sales partners the right support to ensure they deliver the results we need them to.  That’s where a good online solution can come in. The right approach can help you obtain the highest results possible from your sales channel by helping you develop your channel sales people into the best brand advocates and trusted customer advisors on the market. Taking your brand values and proposition online will help you extend the reach of your organisation deep into your channel network and develop the skills they need to protect your brand and deliver dramatic, rapid results: 

1. Expert product and service knowledge; in tougher time buyers are likely to question your knowledge and compare products in more detail before making a purchase. Make sure your sales teams are equipped to sell on value not price.  
2. Confident objection handling; help your channel beat the competition and understand the key USP’s of your product range.  
3. Clear compliance management; make sure your partners know how to stay the right side of the line by supporting their understanding of compliance knowledge.  
4. Sell the range; help them understand your whole range and incentivise them to learn about expanding your portfolio and the after sale opportunity.  

So how will an online solution help you? 

• Extend your reach; use networked learning to train the right messages to all your channel partners giving you more time to focus on competitors.    
• Maximise your resources; spend your time with the key partners where you need to stimulate growth secure in the knowledge that your online solution is delivering all your key messages across your network 24/7.   
• Measurability; understand clearly how much your channel understands your products and solutions and determine where best to provide support and encouragement.   
• Recall; people remember less than 5% of what you tell them. A good online solution gives you the ability to provide recall and answers to your channel at the click of a mouse at any time.  

Working with a good online partner can give you the tools you need to secure high margin performance from your channel in a tough economic climate and gives your channel the confidence and support it needs.