8 ideas for marketing your partners online

Many companies operating in B2B base their distribution and business development on an indirect network:

Resellers/distributors,
Prescribers,
Commercial agents,
Installers,
Franchisees,
Dealers…

One of the main commercial concerns of these companies will be to boost network sales. For this, many are implementing a “network animation strategy”.

It is in this context that the Internet proves to be a powerful tool. Many do not think about it, but logo designers near me have asked my web agency for concrete solutions to boost the commercial efficiency of a network.

Here is a summary of 8 ideas to boost the sales of its distributors, or save time and money for the company.

The basic concept; full web applications serve you on several levels

In a previous article on prejudices concerning San Diego web design firm, I mentioned in a first point that agency did not ONLY create websites.

Indeed, the website is only the visible part of a whole tangle of full web solutions, which will allow you to have a complete and integrated vision of your business.

Internet applications must therefore be conceived as an iceberg.

Website: this is only the visible part. The information is public, and accessible to all.

Extranet: you can give your visitors secure & personalized access to access dedicated information that is specific to them.

Intranet: Focused on internal communication, the intranet is a “portal” focused on internal company communication.

CRM: As an extension of your web activities – in direct contact with the market – you can integrate Customer Relationship Management applications. You log and centralize all your customer information, and use it intelligently to strengthen the commercial relationship with your prospects & customers.

ERP: After having sold, it will be necessary to produce and deliver. Full web ERP will allow you to manage all of your activities in a single system. The ERP is interconnected with your other applications, and thus retrieves information & data directly, without double entry.

You can articulate a powerful network animation strategy by building on each “floor” of the iceberg. Complete integration of these solutions will also allow you to automate a good part of the tasks.

Connect intermediaries & final demand

1 – Redistribute leads

Who wouldn’t love to be served new customers on a set? Everyone would love it!

Hunting new customers are becoming more and more expensive for your distributor. Why not help him? Why not impose your products as “the” solution to attract new customers?

Well used, the Internet can be a great lead generation tool; project detection, quote request, documentation request… End customer-oriented, a website can attract qualified & geolocated contacts.

You can then redistribute these business opportunities to your local partners, who will be happy to see that you bring business directly to them.

You thus increase your negotiating power over them,

and go beyond the status of a simple “supplier” to that of a “business facilitator”.

The truck bed manufacturer, CMB, uses this “business model”.

Thanks to the site’s excellent positioning in search engines, each month around thirty qualified contacts are redistributed to resellers.

This service is a real plus for the company when it comes to recruiting new resellers, and thus expanding its sales network. We offer top website design packages for our clients nationwide

2 – Advertise them

What is the use of commercial communication if it is not likely to develop your turnover? Whether on a website or a 4X3 poster, always think about promoting your local partners.

On the internet, you have several possibilities to put your resellers in contact with the final request:

Indicate their contact details, access maps, and practical information (timetables, parking, etc.)

Make it easier to make an appointment with a local partner by offering a dedicated form on your website

Submit a trial offer or a demonstration that will take place at your partner’s

If your product is aimed at a B2C target, you can also offer promotional actions or discounts that will be relayed to your partners

Indicate the stock of your products at your resellers so that the Internet user can directly contact the partner capable of serving him.

The ideas are limitless to ensure the promotion of intermediaries & facilitate intermediation between your partners & final demand.

To easily find your partners, also think about the ergonomics offered to the Internet user; For example, use a clickable geographic map that will allow your visitors to identify the distributor closest to them in less than 3 seconds.

The Moyne Picard company is a French leader in the distribution of forestry equipment.

In addition to redistributing the 1,749 requests for quotes collected each year by the site, Moyne Picard offers Internet users the possibility of consulting the “identity sheet” of its partners on a map of France, where each department can be clicked.

Ideal for potential customers who prefer to see the machine in operation, or even try it out.

Offer value-added marketing and custom web development services to partners

3 – Offer them a site as a sales tool

To structure the commercial discourse of your partners, you can also hire a custom web design company to get your website designed dedicated to face-to-face sales.

Your partners will then be able to rely on your site when presenting your products. Today, we still have a terminal connected to the Internet close to us…

Com Europ Equipment is an importer of green space equipment.

Its catalog contains more than 250 products, and it is difficult to provide resellers with a product sheet for each item.

The website, therefore, exposes the company’s global offer, and the dealers in the field directly use the website to present to their customers the machines that meet their needs.

3 – Fully automate re-purchases.

Do your partners regularly place re-purchase orders? Why not offer them a merchant portal behind secure access, which they can access via a login and password?

This service is available 24/7 for your resellers. For your partners who want more accurate inventory management, the E-commerce channel is very relevant.

For you, you have perfect control over cash (deposits paid by credit card or several times without charge), and you stand out from other suppliers. Provided, of course, that you are organized to serve both Internet orders and those that go through more traditional channels.

The integration of your for your information system web activities can also save you a lot of time. If your e-commerce site is coupled with your CRM and ERP sales management, you automate the network animation & repurchase as much as possible.

Internet order -> CRM customer file history -> Sending production order -> inventory management -> 360 ° global reporting

Information flows smoothly from one stage to the next, throughout your business. You thus have a global view of the company and structure your processes. You save the human costs associated with the administration of re-purchases.

Armory Martin is a leading online hunting gun armory. The company also distributes its products through a physical network.

In addition to offline orders, hundreds of orders are placed through the website, and sometimes for simple re-purchase.

The integration of the merchant site with the commercial management of the company made it possible to save 420 hours of administrative work over the past year.

4 – Give them access to technical & marketing resources

So that your partners achieve more revenue with your product, help them sell it!

You can provide a 100% secure space dedicated to your partners on your website. On this extranet, your intermediaries will be able to find personalized “sales aids” such as:

Competition analysis,
Arguments,
Installation guide,
Commercial documentation.
etc …

These marketing nudges can make all the difference. Indeed, if your intermediary has an easier time selling your product rather than that of your competitor, it is obvious that your performance will be fine.

Sieph is a manufacturer of swimming pool shutters. Based in the Rhône-Alpe region, the company sells throughout France and works with local partners who can ensure the sale, coasting, installation, and web design services for small business.

To help them work better with the brand, the manufacturer has created an extranet dedicated to professionals where they can find: their negotiated prices (specific to each partner), installation guides, forms & best practices for measuring, technical and commercial documentation for each product, etc…

In terms of results, the company reduced its paper printing budget for its installers to 0; no more shipments of coasting sheets, multiple prints & stocks of commercial brochures, etc…

Educate and develop the skills of its partners

5 – E-learning

Need to train partners remotely? Think about E-learning.

Your website can become the receptacle for a multimedia training module, and an “unlimited” documentary base.

BM Support is a commercial performance consulting firm.

During the work sequences, the consultants use the website as an E-learning & knowledge validation tool. Behind an extranet, quizzes are offered, as well as summaries of training content.

A tool as simple & flexible to use for participants, as for the consultant who collects responses directly via his email.

6 – Discuss with them on the market & your company’s news: blog, social media, newsletter

Do you want the intermediaries who represent your products to be one step ahead of their competitors?

Help them develop their business by providing them with continuous monitoring, which you will communicate via a company blog or Twitter.

The classic newsletter is also a lever that remains effective if you are an important supplier for your partners.

The forestry equipment blog allows the Moyne Picard company to communicate with its customers and distributors by deciphering the new machines.

Through this event communication tool, the company animates its network & loyal customers, providing them with value-added information.

The blog is an additional source of the traffic to the corporate site and leads to high-quality traffic, which converts much more than a typical visitor (+ 29.04% p / r to the average of the site)

Improve the efficiency of its network

7 – Make space for exchanging files

In the professional world, we often must exchange more or less large files with external partners.

Again, rather than spending 30 minutes sending each recipient an email with the attachment, and then seeing the email returned because the file is too large, you can use your website as a document deposit “airlock”.

MTC, master of work in mountain planning, has created a “document library” on its site.

This is used each time the company wishes to consult suppliers for calls for tenders, and thus communicates the document to all recipients in one go.

The company’s partners appreciate this flexible and flexible mode of communication. Each time a new document is published, interested parties are notified by e-mail, and invited to download the new file.

8 – Evaluate their satisfaction

Your website is also the opportunity for you to collect information from your partners and intended to improve you.

For example, you have the possibility of questioning your partners on your website, but also on your new product, on the reliability of your logistics… Anything you want to study.

If you do not offer anything in particular to the partners to complete these questionnaires, you will still be forced to plan a telephone follow-up of security…

To more accurately assess everyone’s visit intentions, the site offers a post-visit satisfaction survey.

This quantitative & qualitative survey made it possible to reach a rate of 83% of Internet users finding the information they were looking for on the site.

Conclusion

This article has applied to deliver -only- 8 ideas… But there are many others like.

Leave partner access to their CRM so that they can directly use the company’s information system,

Boost sales with a Facebook page geared towards end customers,

Provide a web tool to its resellers by allowing them to carry out complex tasks: calculation of yield/profitability, calculation of a price according to given variables,