Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

On one hand, I’ve found it interesting and a bit surprising that PRM (partner relationship management) never gained the same popularity as CRM. Of the approximately 14 million salespeople in the United States, only 30 percent are direct sellers for their firms. The other 70 percent are agents, brokers, dealers, and the like. Basically, channel partners.

On the other hand, it’s not surprising at all. If you consider the challenges of user adoption among staff salespeople, then add the complexity of a partner relationship, it’s no wonder that the uptake of PRM has been slow in comparison to CRM. Yet organizations that do convince partners to use PRM tools often see tremendous benefits for both themselves and those partners. Blue Roads customer Nortel, for example, doubled its channel sales revenue, on average, for six consecutive quarters, and is expecting that success to continue.

Suite CRM and PRM vendors still see the huge growth potential for the PRM market. As PRM companies like Blue Roads are evangelizing its benefits and experiencing uptake, CRM vendors are taking notice. Salesforce.com, for example, is releasing its own PRM solution in July, complete with deal registration, dealer lifecycle management, incentive management, workflow rules, and more.

The question now is, Will renewed interest in the PRM market spark additional growth? The answer lies not in the technology, but in the strategy behind it. As with CRM, strategy must come first. Companies must have a compelling answer when channel partners ask, What’s in it for me? If they do, if they use PRM to improve business results and customer insight for themselves and their partners, it will most certainly create a win-win-win situation for company-partner-customers.