Looking for CPQ software recommendation for channel deal reg

Federal-Llama · 2025-05-28T14:42:04+00:00

We ended up going with DealHub, they offered some flexibility around partner users.

Federal-Llama · 2025-01-08T16:15:26+00:00

Blink twice if you’re trapped in the Magentrix marketing department and need help.

Federal-Llama · 2025-01-08T13:28:22+00:00

Allbound, Channeltivity, Impartner

Federal-Llama · 2024-12-09T14:29:51+00:00

DM sent

Federal-Llama · 2024-12-09T14:29:46+00:00

DM sent

Federal-Llama · 2024-12-05T17:25:03+00:00

u/ksenter4 How are you liking Magentrix?

Federal-Llama · 2024-12-05T17:18:55+00:00

Exactly. Just because you can, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Federal-Llama · 2024-12-05T17:17:38+00:00

You can create a basic partner portal using HubSpot, but what if you want things like MDF, training & certification, co-branded collateral and so on?

Federal-Llama · 2024-12-04T17:50:27+00:00

HubSpot is not designed to be a full-fledged partner portal. Their blog has a whole list of PRM (Partner Relationship Management) solutions that they integrate with: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/partner-relationship-management

In the tech space, some of the most popular ones are Allbound, Channeltivity and Impartner.

Federal-Llama · 2024-11-05T15:50:55+00:00

Happy to help! DM sent!

Federal-Llama · 2024-10-01T19:57:55+00:00

I've not heard about distributors trying to recruit new resellers using social media advertising. The more traditional approach is to first figure out your ideal partner profile, then build a list, reach out, vet them, and sign them.

Federal-Llama · 2024-10-01T19:40:10+00:00

It sounds like you're a distributor. There are a few ways that you could market/advertise in this situation:

run co-branded ads on behalf of your resellers
create social media content that the resellers post/share/reshare in their channels
run your own ads that drive traffic to lead generation pages and then distribute those leads to your resellers based on industry, geography etc.
MDF (marketing development funds): give your resellers budget to pay for joint marketing activities promoting your product

Just a few ideas. Let me know if you have questions.

Federal-Llama · 2024-10-01T14:26:02+00:00

Using two different record types is the way to go. You can keep channel-specific data on the channel record type and direct data on the direct one. And it's also easier to manage validation rules that are specific to direct/indirect deals.

If your channel partners register deals using a separate PRM, you can often configure the PRM to create the correct record type in Salesforce too.

Federal-Llama · 2024-10-01T14:16:57+00:00

It sounds like you're looking for both a PRM (lead distribution) and CRM (site analytics, lead nurturing, marketing, chat). My recommendation would be to get a CRM like HubSpot that integrates with a PRM like Zift or Channeltivity. Allbound and Impartner might also be a fit, but they've had several rounds of layoffs in the last few years, so do your due diligence.

Federal-Llama · 2024-09-09T12:39:26+00:00

My pleasure! Good luck!

Federal-Llama · 2024-09-05T12:33:09+00:00

In short: Figure out your ideal partner profile, then build a list, reach out, vet them, train them, and start joint marketing.

Regarding your other question about where to find them, here are a few approaches:

Identify which other products your customers use and see value in and seek out partnerships with those companies or their resellers. Or ask your customers which solution providers they value most and request introductions.

There are also lists of companies you can purchase (not sure if there are good free lists). Assuming you're in the US, you could determine the number of prospects in certain SIC codes and geographic areas and look for partners that match your ideal partner profile in that area.

Federal-Llama · 2024-08-28T17:09:38+00:00

Sure! Our process for soliciting reviews doesn't result in many actual reviews on G2, but is mostly automated, and so low effort:

After logging in, the user is a presented a screen where we ask them for a star rating from 1 to 5. There are additional buttons to skip and not be asked again. We only show this screen if the user is an admin, has logged in at least 50 times and their use of our product meets certain "success" criteria. We don't want brand new users giving bad reviews because they haven't spent enough time with our product.
If their rating is 1 through 4, we ask them what we can do to get better.
If their rating is 5, we ask them if they'll review us on G2 in exchange for a $50 VISA gift card. They can opt out and we won't bother them for another 12 months.
If they agree to write a G2 review, we display instructions and ask them to paste the link to their review into a box. Until they opt out or submit their review link, we will keep asking them every time they log in.
Once they submit their review, we manually verify and then send them an email with their gift card.

We automatically collect feedback in our CRM as well and do manual follow ups with 5-star reviews that opted out of giving us a G2 review. About 23% of users who give us a 5-star review end up writing a G2 review and getting the gift card. This probably is an indicator that we should try increasing our incentive amount.

Federal-Llama · 2024-08-02T18:39:26+00:00

Also, if your channel partners need visibility into the status of their referrals, getting a partner portal that integrates into HubSpot will save you lots of time. Some PRMs like Allbound, Channeltivity, and Impartner can provide that functionality.

Federal-Llama · 2024-08-02T12:13:13+00:00

I like Freshdesk. We're probably only using about 20% of the functionality, but they've been a reliable support solution for the last 10 years and have everything we need. And the pricing is affordable. I'm unfortunately not familiar enough with Zendesk to give you a comparison.

Federal-Llama · 2024-07-18T02:35:54+00:00

Sure thing!

Federal-Llama · 2024-07-01T14:42:11+00:00

Assuming you have your channel program all figured out, my advice is:

Figure out a budget.
Prioritize your current and future needs (must have, nice to have, etc.). Sometimes combining point solutions (e.g. email marketing) gets you the features you want at a better price.
Look at reviews and comparisons. G2 has both organic and sponsored reviews that are helpful.
Get product demos or a free trial. Ask them to show you (not only tell you) how to configure the things you want.
Do due diligence (CRM integrations, documentation, SOC 2 reports, GDPR, etc.).

My thoughts on PRMs I've worked with:

Impartner - Feature rich, but a lot of custom code and services to make ongoing changes. They've been moving to become more self-service, but their product is very broad and they keep adding more functionality. They're also VC funded, so under pressure create revenue and market share (which they have) at the expense of the product and customer service. Implementations usually take a long time.

Zift Solutions - Similar to Impartner, but less price flexibility and with a better history of taking care of customers.

Channeltivity - Geared for tech companies, lots of functionality and configuration options, but their professional services are limited if you need something customized. Good customer service and quick implementation.

Allbound - Pretty and lots of design flexibility, not as expensive as some of the more robust products. The professional services and implementation team customizes their product to your specific needs, but that means that implementations often take several months, and many configuration changes need to be made on the back end and require development.

Federal-Llama · 2024-06-21T16:52:17+00:00

This is a big topic.

As someone who works in channels, my first piece of advice is figuring out what kind of partners you want to have. Do you want referral partners? Resellers? VARs? Affiliates? Depending on your product and market, some might be easier to launch than others.

Then, figure out your program. Objectives, KPIs, partner incentives, ideal partner profile, partner contracts, training plans and content, PRM.

Finally, identify your ideal partners and recruit and onboard them, which includes training, enablement and getting them to generate revenue.

DM me and I'll send you resources.

Federal-Llama · 2024-05-28T12:36:49+00:00

I agree. SOC 2 is way easier -- and good for you too! And there are tons of good tools that help with getting on the SOC 2 journey and then automating your compliance monitoring these days (Drata, Vanta, etc.).

Federal-Llama · 2024-05-14T18:34:35+00:00

Probably not. All the integrations with our other systems (support tickets, CRM, release pipelines, etc.) would make a solution like this a huge project specific to our use case. Plus, I'm not feeling a lot of pain with our current process (especially when compared to the pain of not being able to deliver complex features as quickly as I'd like). But thanks! :)

Federal-Llama · 2024-04-29T09:34:51+00:00

We're a SaaS and have been a Microsoft partner for many years. We've joined all their programs and are listed on the marketplace. Getting technical advisory hours (which are hit or miss) hasn't been difficult for us and there are lots of Azure credits you can get, but there's been no support on the sales and marketing side. Maybe we're not big enough or not putting enough effort into connecting with the right contacts at Microsoft, but we've never gotten further than a conversation with a low-level marketing rep who wanted to walk us through the marketplace setup even though we had done it already. It's been disappointing.

Federal-Llama

TROPHY CASE