Evaluating your distributor’s performance can be complicated. How do you know that those who performed well yesterday will continue to do so tomorrow? How can you spot those with the greatest drive and passion? You need metrics, reports, information…most importantly, the right ones.

Here we share our top tips to help you evaluate your distributor’s performance - and how best to reward your network.

1. Pay attention to the right KPIs

In sales, we tend to pay attention to the KPIs that have been drummed into us over time, dishing out marketing budgets and investment to the largest partner organisations, or even those who have performed well in the past. But, this isn’t always the way to go - in fact, time and time again we see that smaller partners tend to perform better. 

Whether you’re dealing with a big fish or a tiny guppy, when evaluating your KPIs - and reflecting on those all-important numbers - it’s important to use a certain amount of intuition and interpret the information in front of you as it relates to the following questions:

• Ethos - do their brand values match yours?
• Willingness - do they demonstrate eagerness to promote your business to their customers?
• Priorities - do they have conflict with other products or services similar to yours?
• Satisfaction - do they have happy end-customers that also love your brand and are impressed with  the service levels?

2. Use a channel partner scorecard

There are a million and one ways out there to track performance, with metrics and KPIs as vast and varied as the companies collecting them. So how can you ensure you’re tracking what’s important for your goals? Here are some of the most popular metrics you may wish to consider:

Sales 

1. Partner deals registered 
2. Deals won/lost 
3. Value of deals

Training 

1. Courses attended 
2. Partners certified 

Engagement 

1. Number of interactions they’ve had with the brand
2. Emails sent/opened/CTR 
3. Number of sales materials they have ordered or downloaded
4. Number of shares they have reposed on social media
5. Average time spent in portal

Cost to serve

1. Number of support tickets they have opened
2. Support service hours provided
3. Number of support calls taken 

Without clear criteria in place to show what constitutes a good performance, it is hard to communicate to individuals what is expected of them. A scorecard helps drill down into a distributor’s performance, benchmarking how they’re performing against others and predicting how they’re likely to perform in the future.

We all see success differently. Ultimately, the metrics that prove to be most valuable will come down to you and your organisation - as will your preferred method of measurement.

Download your FREE guide to distributor incentives now!

 

3. Reward distributor loyalty

Sales is a two-way street. Why should your distributors commit to upping their performance with your brand if there’s nothing in it for them? Having a B2B rewards programme in place is proven to help motivate partners, with non-cash rewards holding a particular allure from a psychological perspective. 

We find it best to reward people based on activities that demonstrate an excellent work ethic, alignment with your brand and it’s values, and creating great customer experience with happy customers. This will help achieve long-term goals and build lasting relationships.

Want more advice on how to evaluate distributor's performance? Let's schedule some time to chat and discuss how a distributor loyalty programme could be the perfect solution!