The “SaaSier” your business, the more likely you need non-traditional channels. And the non-traditional channel everyone is talking about is the “shadow channel”. This week I’m talking with Dave Taylor, Impartner’s gregarious Chief Marketing Officer. We discuss how to reach and motivate this emerging influencer channel through referral-based programs.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What exactly is the shadow channel?
- Shadow channel refers to people and organizations influencing the technology buyer, but not traditionally included in channel programs. This includes accountants, lawyers, consultants, or even Uber drivers that happen to overhear a conversation in the backseat of their car.
- Referral programs are well suited for this non-traditional and non-transactional channel that isn’t selling your product, only influencing the purchase.
How to build and leverage a referral program
- Segment your referral partners between managed and unmanaged based on the level of referral activity and potential.
- Use an automation tool to manage all of the communications and payments to your referral partners. Delayed, missing, and incorrect payments will damage your channel reputation.
- Set a metric, such as number of referrals per month, when you will bump referral partners up into a sell-with or sell-through model that has more obligations and higher rewards.
- If a partner who’s in a higher tier is failing to meet that tier’s obligations, bump them back down to that referral status.
- Carefully document the terms and conditions that an incoming partner has to click to accept so they know they will be bumped down.
- Even at the onboarding stage, bring traditional partners on at referral status. If they aren’t meeting expectations, keep them at the referral tier until they do.
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Onboard faster and offboard slower. Make sure partners meet the terms and conditions and they're willing to invest the way you are going to invest in them. -Dave Taylor
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Whether your referral partners are managed or unmanaged, you need a lot of automation, because you're managing the payments and communications. -Dave Taylor
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Being metric-based in how you manage your channel is one of the most important things that can happen because it eliminates all the hunch and variability. -Dave Taylor
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Dave Taylor: How to Build a Shadow Channel Program first appeared on
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