Manufacturers, in their quest to increase the brand loyalty and mind share of dealer employees, look for ways to increase dealer engagement and collaboration. Engagement is the employee's positive emotional attachment to the organization. Collaboration is the ability of the dealer employee to interact with both manufacturer and other dealers for problem solving and best practices ideas. If you can do a better job of engaging and collaborating with your dealers, they will do a better job representing your brand and selling your product, increasing your return on investment (ROI).
More Engagement and Collaboration through Technology
Technology used to be a considered "de-humanizing" in the sense that people ended up having less interaction with individuals in a company when new technologies were introduced (how did you feel about the first electronic phone answering systems?). If your goal was more engagement with your dealers or customers, then adding technology for increased efficiency was not something you would consider. It's almost counter-intuitive, but today technology can make it easier to encourage engagement with your channel partner employees. Technology can make your company more "human-like," it can provide more touch points to your brand, and generate more brand loyalty, not less.
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There are a number of ways that manufacturers can take advantage of technology to engage and collaborate with both their dealers and customers, and improve ROI at the same time.
Use a Partner Relationship Management (PRM) System
Adopting a Partner Relationship Management (PRM) system to connect with your dealers is the most important first-step to take. PRM systems are web-based software solutions that unify all facets of developing and managing a distribution channel into a single partner portal. A PRM system works best when it functions well in these four areas of channel management:
Marketing/Communications
Training/Certification
Performance Management
Collaboration
PRM systems give companies an integrated system to market, sell and service their products more effectively than traditional sales applications. It's a best practice that should be integrated into any company today selling through a channel. A good PRM system allows your dealers to better engage with you and it provides an excellent platform for manufacturer-to-dealer and dealer-to-dealer collaboration.
Suggestion - Start with a PRM system that offers all four areas of channel management. But start slowly. You don't have to move all legacy systems at once. You can link to your older systems through your PRM. Start slowly, and build from there.
Integrate the PRM with Your CRM
Most companies today use some type of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to automate and manage their direct sales needs, whether as a tool for business analysis or to track customer purchasing trends. As more companies adopt a PRM to manage the activities of their dealers, it's becoming clear that linking these two separate tools can enhance the effectiveness of each. Combining information from both a CRM and PRM can provide a more global view of the entire channel, from dealer to customer, yet preserve the individual value that each system provides.
Suggestion - You need both a CRM system and a PRM system. They perform two entirely separate functions. Don't use a CRM to manage your dealer partners - it's not designed for them. You need a PRM system with functionality like online training and certification, managing marketing communications and presentations, and collaboration tools. A CRM doesn't provide these.
"Go Mobile" with Tablets and Applications
More and more companies are pushing some of their training, product presentations, online libraries and ordering applications to a dealer mobile or tablet environment. There are some important reasons why this is occurring:
Individuals can access information when they need it. It can be interactive and contextual
Sales and product presentations can be delivered easily to the customer
Ordering applications can be used when the customer is "ready to buy"
Equipment trouble-shooting apps can decrease a technician's diagnostic time
While still a new way to interact with dealers and customers, manufacturers are seeing that tablets and mobile apps can significantly increase engagement with their dealers and customers.
Suggestion - Don't do a "data dump" from your current system to your mobile application. Banks are a good example to follow. They offer simple, contextual apps that their customers can use easily and often. With a good bank app you can check your balance or transfer funds to your savings account, but you can't apply for a home loan. Don't try to recreate your entire training or your entire spec'ing and ordering system in an app. Instead, determine the tasks that dealer people 1) truly need in a mobile app, and 2) are easy to use. Keep it simple and helpful.
Connect It All Together
Successful companies work to connect all of these technology advancements holistically together, to the benefit of both the company and its dealers. That's how they create real engagement and an improved ROI. Your IT department doesn't want to manage three content management systems. They need to be able to integrate these systems using just one. Your dealers want a portal so it's easy and intuitive for them to get the information they need, when they need it. And they want to be able to take the next step using mobile applications that provide real value. So start slowly to see what works. But... start now! No company can afford to be a technology laggard today and earn a good ROI.
John Panaccione is the CEO of LogicBay Corporation, http://www.logicbay.com Founded in 2003, LogicBay provides Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solutions which enable organizations to manage and support an extended enterprise globally. By designing and launching powerful on-line communities which support collaboration and knowledge transfer between the Enterprise, Channel Partners, Dealers, Distributors and End-user customers world-wide, LogicBay optimizes engagement levels between disparate businesses resulting in measureable increases in productivity, revenues and profitability. Through his work in facilitating over 50 client implementations in Heavy Equipment Manufacturing, Technology, Financial Services, Retail and Higher Education, Mr. Panaccione has become a leading authority on best practices in the area of PRM and Channel Performance excellence.
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