What is PartnerCare2 : a comprehensive set of services supporting vendor Partner programs covering Distributors, Resellers, ISVs and SIs across EMEA. Delivering measurable Partner identification, recruitment, engagement and GTM campaigns that add real value.

Ten Tips on getting the most from your Partners / Channel in Europe

• Respect the cultural / business diversity across Europe
• Have a clear and open Partner policy, especially if you have an element of direct sales
• Have empathy with your Partner, remember they are running their own successful business
• Remember what works best is - “Global chassis, local body”
• Get the Partner buy-in through the deliver of proactive Go-To-Market (GTM) campaigns directly with Partners
• Deliver qualified "A" leads to Partners, they don't build the market, that's the vendor role
• Have a mechanism in place to “nurture” "B, C and D" leads long term as the Partners don't have the mechanism
• Ensure ROI on lead generation through closed loop tracking “70% of leads are never followed up in the Channel"
• Communicate regularly with your Partners, utilising proactive low touch resources
• Provide regular training sessions, ideally face-to face on complex products or on the web

We understand that channel strategy must be ‘market-driven', is often a combination of routes that evolve over time and requires constant attention and nurturing. And without the right channel partners and strategies the chances of market success are slim. Connection2 can help you build a framework to understand which intermediaries to partner with, what each partner's role and responsibilities should be, how to measure performance (including reporting on actual sales), and how to motivate channel Partners to remain loyal and perform at the highest level.

From our experience working with leading blue chip companies such as 3Com, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Vodafone and Novell, we believe that a proactive Partner Program is the key to winning the battle for the hearts, minds and resources of your Partners.
Only then will they help you to deliver future business growth.

So if your dream is to have a Partner Program that:

• Grows additional revenue through your existing Partners
• Attracts and retains high quality partners (and defends against
  competitive encroachment)
• Measures and rewards performance
• Develops strong, trusting relationships
• Offers opportunities for partners to grow their business with you into the future.

Then Connection2 can help. We identify, recruit, build and manage pro-active communities of Partners – from Resellers to application developers - using our comprehensive range of proven Partner-centric services:

• Partner Contact Centre
• Partner Communications
• ePartner
• Partner Sales Reporting
• Partner Surveys
• Partner Programs and Operations

Proven Solutions

In 1998 we established the Sun Developer Connection for Sun Microsystems and continue to operate it on Sun's behalf in Europe from our offices in Dublin and Reading . The program identifies and nurtures developers, software vendors and other parties with an interest in the further development of Sun's technology platform. Through this channel, we train and equip this community to better develop Sun technology and the J2EE / Java environment. You can view the program on the web at: http://www.sun.com/partners/overview.html

Does it work?

Yes, we know it works because we establish and monitor key performance metrics and correlate them to sales. Commenting on the program, Paul Bellchambers , who was the EMEA Program Manager for the iForce Partner Program at Sun Microsystems said:

"Through Connection2 having a thorough understanding of our business, they have helped us over-achieve all our goals in the last five years."

Vodafone is another key client and, through working with them, we have established an active developer community in the wireless telephony space.

Whilst in different areas of the market, the principles are the same; identify and nurture the community; provide them with relevant and useful information that builds your presence in that space, keep doing it consistently and professionally, and measure key metrics to ensure you are on track.

Common sense? Most certainly. Does it work? Absolutely.

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Your most important channel partners often feel less than important and critical market feedback can be lost. They may find it difficult to find the right person to talk to, have to explain problems in other than their native language and fail to get even a basic response to their enquiries. Familiar?

If you need to deliver a consistent, multilingual, single point of contact to your partners, you need our Partner Contact Centre service.

Our services include:

• Enquiry management and escalation
• Consistent engagement processes
• Multi-language support – phone, email, mail, web
• Application and contracts management
• Database updates and data maintenance
• Renewal processes
• Outbound ad-hoc campaigns
• Reporting and feedback

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We know that partners operate best when they feel part of a trusted community. The benefits of nurturing your own partner community - on the web, by mail, email and over the phone - are rewarded with loyalty and focus.

As such, it is important to market to the channel, as well as marketing through the channel. With our Partner Communications experience, programmes and resources we can help you to build and maintain an atmosphere of partnership (not just in name), clearly communicate the respective roles (and expectations) of each partner and provide targeted marketing tools and support.

Our services include:

• Partner programme communications plan - development and execution
• Partner mail, phone, email, web communications
• Partner web management
• Partner collateral development
• Partner event management - marketing and training
• Partner satisfaction measurement

An essential element of this service is the generation, qualification, routing and tracking of sales leads for your channel partners. We provide full design, data sourcing, execution and management, including specific partner communications to ‘sell-in' the campaigns (and ensure the generated sales leads are actioned).

Contact Connection2 today to start nurturing and developing your own winning partner community.

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Time and again our clients face the challenge of being able to communicate through the channel to their end-users and customers. We've taken this challenge on board and with the help of email and database marketing techniques, have developed ePartner to provide joint vendor/partner email campaigns.

Today we're helping clients such Nortel Networks, Citrix, Novell, Toshiba and Wyse use ePartner to strengthen their channel and end user/customer relationships, track subsequent web actions and integrate with other direct channels such as telemarketing.

Provided on a subscription basis as a hosted internet solution, ePartner allows you to provide your partners with an ‘out of the box' e-marketing tool-kit comprising professionally designed email campaigns, whilst you control the corporate branding and key messaging. Typical campaigns include:

• Sales promotions Event Invites
• Newsletters Product releases/updates
• Cross-sell/up sell promotions…

The system allows for:

• Vendor and/or partner controlled message personalisation
• Targeting - whilst maintaining partner data confidentiality
• Pre-defined automatic real-time reporting.

We can also provide for real time follow-up with an automatic link to telemarketers/sales. The solution enforces full compliance with new privacy rules, allows for funding by joint vendor marketing co-op funds and provides seamless reporting back to your partners and yourself.

Start communicating out to your customers now.

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From our experience, many financial systems are ineffective for sales and marketing trend analysis and reporting. Revenue is often simply totalled by partner rather than detailed by product, geography or time frame. Moreover point of sale (POS) data is often incomplete or inconsistent across channel partners and divisions. Product names, stock-keeping units, and geographical names are often recorded using each respective channel partner's own nomenclature.

To overcome these issues, Connection2 has recently introduced the Channel Reporter™ Service which provides timely, accurate, and meaningful point of sale information to maximise channel relationships. With Channel Reporter you can:

• Extend visibility beyond the walls of your enterprise and analyse sales data throughout your network of channel partners – quickly and efficiently
• Boost the profitability of your organisation by increasing revenues and
  reducing sales and marketing expenses.
• Use the enhanced sales information to drive volume, allocate marketing
  resources, and manage internal resources

Provided as a web-based system, Channel Reporter can be deployed immediately and cost effectively – resulting in one of the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. And our state-of-the-art security infrastructure ensures that your data is never compromised.

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Partner Surveys

We use a range of survey tools – phone, mail, email, and web - to help our clients understand the motivations, drivers and frustrations of their partner communities. This information is invaluable when determining channel support requirements, developing effective motivation and support packages (including financial incentives). And we can also help you to monitor the performance of your channel in relation to end users/customers.

As we approach running surveys from a marketing perspective, we can help you to take this opportunity to communicate to your partners (and end users/customers) as well as gathering information. A great tool that achieves just that is the Connection2 online Picture Survey.

We're all used to dull, grey surveys that always look the same. Our Picture Survey grabs attention, is ‘fun' and easy to complete, provides multiple paths and immediate online analysis and reporting. And the proof is in the increased response rates. With our graphical system you can create sober surveys (if relevant to the audience, topic) but you also have the option to engage your audience with visually strong dynamic forms and our ‘emoticon' controls to express levels of satisfaction. You can even let your creativity take over and include MP3 sound files.

Connection2 supports all aspects of the survey process:

• Content design
• Form design
• Form publishing
• Web design
• Bulk email distribution
• Data analysis and tabulation
• Hosting and management
• Project management

Contact us now to start collecting critical data to help manage and develop your channel partners.

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Many of our clients benefit from using Connection2 as a virtual extension of their own channel operation; managing the recruitment process, fulfilling information requests, chasing contracts and maintaining the partner databases.

Our services include:

• Central point of contact
• Partner Recruitment and Authorisation
• Management of Soft Dollar programmes
• Programme documentation management
  Contract management
• Programme access management - authorisation levels, contract status,
  web site id and password

Remove and/or reduce the administrative overhead of running an efficient and effective partner programme. Leave it to us!