Building Your Partner Onboarding Checklist: Days 16-60

Introduction

Days 1-15 are complete and now you've reached the sixteenth day of the channel partner onboarding checklist. 

At this point in the onboarding process, partners are accustomed to their new roles and responsibilities, feeling a sense of progress and accomplishment. They are beginning to think about how they can optimize their performance and how they can make the most of their channel programs.

However, this does not mean that the hard work is finished. 

As partners continue to become more familiar with your program, it is essential that you keep motivating them to explore new possibilities.

To do this, you must understand why days 16–60 are important and identify key components that must remain at the core of the partner onboarding program.

Why are Days 16-60 Important in the Partner Onboarding Checklist? 

Think about planting seeds. If you were gardening, you would sow your seeds in rich soil, give them plenty of sunshine, and nurture them with regular watering.

In much the same way, days 16–60 are when partnerships need to be “watered” to blossom into something beautiful and inspiring down the line.

During this time, you are assisting in building an equitable relationship between yourself and your partner in which both parties understand roles, deliverables, and expectations.

While communication is a crucial part of building a strong partnership, there are other factors to consider too.

For example: 

• Support: Support tailored to the partner's unique strengths and weaknesses is required to ensure that partners have what they need easily. Be sure to make it easier for partners to ask questions or easily access resources or help guides in their partner portal.
• Data: Data is essential because it allows for results, engagement analysis, and identifying areas for improvement in order to better scale your SaaS partner program.
• Feedback: By getting feedback from partners, one can quickly identify areas for improvement, learn what success means to them, and create a feedback loop.

All of this will help you forge stronger bonds with them and ensure long-term success. 

Now that we've covered some essential components, let us highlight important days and actions to include in Days 16-60 of your partner onboarding process.

Key Steps to Include in Days 16-60 of Your Partner Onboarding Checklist

To remind you once more, the process of onboarding partners doesn't end after day 15, when you sign up, or even after the first phone call.

This time frame is crucial for maintaining relationships and fostering engagement between your business and the partner, and there are important steps that must be followed from days 16 to 60 in order to guarantee a fruitful and efficient partnership.

Here is where you can start:

30- & 60-day Check-in Meetings 

Channel partnerships are the epitome of teamwork: as long as you stay committed and work together, success is sure to be achieved. 

That's why it is essential to have regular check-in meetings that involve proactive discussions on data, partner business plans, areas for improvement, and progress toward goals. Utilizing a meeting scheduling tool can simplify the process of organizing these essential touchpoints.

Start by mapping out your milestones with regular 30 and 60 days intervals for review. 

This will help you track progress as well as layout which aspects need further optimization based on available information gathered from current partner operations. 

Starting at the half-point mark: 

30 days: Touch base with new partners after their initial one-month period. Gauge their progress and needs, provide transparent feedback about how they are doing, and ask for the same in return.

This is also where you'll get a sense of whether the initial onboarding training was fully adopted. And if it wasn't, set goals for the next 30 days for additional training and support.

At this point, a partner onboarding checklist can be your best friend.

60 days: At this point, the partner should have access to resources available such as:

• Checklists
• Media kit
• Instructions
• Learning materials, such as an academy, that will provide them with the support and directions that they require

During this encounter, make sure to evaluate your business plan, results, and achievements. Have any co-marketing campaigns been completed? Is it easy for partners to access resources? What could use improvement? 

And before the end of the meeting, make sure to work on introducing additional goals alongside those that were initially outlined; this way, there are new goals for them to strive for with each check-in meeting.

Provide Deeper Insight into the Product 

One of the most crucial parts of the onboarding process is ensuring your partners develop a deep understanding of the product and its features.

You can do this by scheduling training calls with the product, sales, or marketing teams.

It will serve as their “breath of knowledge,” giving them an understanding of how to best use the products in sales and marketing and troubleshoot any potential issues.

And will also help you build a product-led partner marketing strategy for co-marketing campaigns.

Furthermore, specially tailored product refresher newsletters or announcements should be provided every few weeks or months. It will allow partners to stay ahead of customer demands and help your business thrive.

Plan Co-Marketed Events 

Next is co-marketed events, these events are essential to strengthening relationships with partners and providing them with the industry knowledge they need to reach success in the program. 

A great idea for planning a successful co-marketed event might be to organize a webinar or roundtable talk.

This way, partners and customers can gain valuable insights and knowledge while building strong relationships with one another. Furthermore, this collaborative approach allows everyone to learn from each other's expertise and experience, creating a supportive and thriving partner community.

Of course, when hosting such an event, it is important to allocate periods for questions and answers so that everybody gains something from it. 

And finally, make sure that enough resources are set up and ample notice is given beforehand; this ensures that everyone has the chance to fully prepare themselves and maximize any opportunities presented.

Keep Accountability at the Core

As you embark on your journey to reach day 60 of the partner onboarding process, accountability should be top-of-mind!

So, to ensure a successful partnership, proactively set realistic expectations upfront and make sure to document them in an official channel partner agreement. This helps ensure that both parties are clear on the expectations, roles, and responsibilities of each.

While navigating this period, it's essential to regularly check in on your partner to ensure they are fulfilling their part. If they slip off track, work together to develop a comprehensive plan for getting back on course and achieving their goals. 

Be sure to make it easy for partners, too.

Last but not least, don't forget to inform them about the great incentives and rewards available when certain milestones are accomplished.

Make Data-Driven Changes 

As you move through the partner onboarding process, it’s important to make data-driven changes to ensure your partners are receiving the best experience possible. And here are a few key ways you can do that.

Key Performance Indicators

First, as you may already know, the importance of unlocking and evaluating key performance indicators (KPIs) throughout the whole journey.

These are the golden metrics that measure your partner's understanding of the onboarding process, their eagerness, and engagement for your products and services, and any other indicators that are too important to ignore.

This data will give you a glimpse behind the curtain and show how engaged your partners are during onboarding, allowing you to make any necessary changes for an optimal experience.

Don't be Afraid to Pivot

Don't be afraid to dig into the data; it can reveal a lot about how successful your partner onboarding process has been so far and give you the insight you need to make data-driven changes that will have a huge impact.

"Your gut is going to fail you. Your gut is good, but until you can test it with data, you're going to fail—and you're going to fail big."
_{Rasheité Calhoun, Channels & Alliance Program Manager at Paylocity.}

For example, if there are certain pain points for partners, the data gathered can help you modify or create resources that can simplify the process.

Additionally, if you see engagement levels falling, use this data to come up with strategies to improve partner engagement, such as: offering rewards or payouts or creating additional partner marketing campaigns, all of which can be included in your PRM software.

A/B Testing

Finally, use A/B testing to determine which changes are most effective.

You can use A/B testing to compare two versions of your partner onboarding process to see which produces the best results. You can be confident that any changes you make are data-driven decisions rather than guesswork.

This means that you can ensure your partner onboarding strategy and process is as efficient and effective as possible, helping new partners actively transition smoothly and will help drive partner action.

Keep Building Community 

Successful channel partnerships require making it a priority to not just to engage with their partners on an individual level, but to “uplift” them by encouraging growth and progress within their respective relationships.

One way to do this is through a strong network and partner community that provides valuable opportunities in your channel ecosystem and helps partners learn from their peers and mentors through productive conversations and constructive feedback.

It could include introducing partners to specialists who would benefit from working with them to get the most out of the partnership, or simply assisting them in forming professional bonds with people on a similar journey.

These connections can add immense value if the correct guidance and advice are provided, and they can help you and your business become partner-worthy. As well as help partners better understand each other while becoming more aware of opportunities that could help them reach new heights together.

Create Great Content 

In today’s competitive business landscape, it pays to stay ahead of the curve and keep your partners up-to-date and in the loop on various topics. 

Creating great partner content is a powerful way of achieving this, as well as helping build trust with your partners and showing them that you want them to succeed.

Remember, creating content involves more than just writing blog posts or sharing articles; there are other strategies that you can use to showcase your knowledge and further strengthen your relationships with partners.

For example: 

• Creating templates, newsletters, guides, webinars, and free partnership resources can help you provide valuable insight while keeping them informed about what's going on in your industry and help to increase sales.
• You can also experiment with various media, such as podcasts, videos, or infographics, to engage potential partners and demonstrate your commitment to their partner's success.

Plus, such content is shared easily or repurposed for other platforms, ensuring it reaches the largest audience possible.

Conclusion

And that's a wrap for Partner Onboarding Days 16-60!

Acquiring and preparing new partners can be like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle. Without a plan, it can be challenging to know where to start. 

But Kiflo PRM can help you with all of that. With extensive customer engagement and performance tracking capabilities, Kiflo PRM can bridge the gap between "what was" and "what will be," transforming onboarding from a manual and dreaded task into a walk in the park.

But wait, there's more! 

We still have Days 61-90 to uncover the operations side of things, including platform engagement, key goals and accomplishments, and product brand and knowledge.

So, make sure to stay tuned for more insights and tips on how to make your partner onboarding a success. 

Are you ready to take your partner onboarding to the next level?