Fall is the perfect time to run a pulse survey to check on and influence channel rep engagement. Quality surveys can supply powerful and timely business insights, show reps you value their opinions, help build and reinforce preferred habits, create advocates, identify issues and uncover opportunities. But there’s a catch…You must be in it for the long haul!
You won’t reap maximum benefits by conducting one survey and moving on. Your surveys will deliver the most valuable insights when they become an integral part of your channel engagement program, and they must be frequent enough to establish a dialogue, drive timely business improvements and support ongoing initiatives. Keep your surveys short and sweet, and add tactics like gamification, recognition, and incentives to maintain rep attention and ensure their participation.
Bersin by Deloitte defines pulse surveys as a short measurement instrument designed to obtain a quick understanding and provide frequent data.1 Frequent and regularly scheduled pulse checks are much better than annual or ad hoc surveys at keeping channel engagement at the forefront of your priorities. Here are 7 reasons why you should conduct frequent channel check-ups:
1. Gauge and influence engagement
Regular surveys allow you to measure engagement by individual, partner, partner type or across the channel and ensure programs are in place to maintain and influence engagement.
2. Gather frequent insights
Pulse surveys drive business improvement through frequent, regular insights on how reps feel about your organization, what they think about your brand and how you are doing overall. This is also your opportunity to gather information about the market, gain insights about your positioning, glean competitive data, and more.
3. Create advocates
A good survey campaign enhances channel engagement by showing reps you are there to listen. When reps are engaged, it’s evident in every interaction and results in them leading with your brand, higher customer satisfaction, and increased sales. Surveys also provide an opportunity to show reps that you value their opinions and insights, and that you are always receptive to hearing them. Engaged advocacy is a powerful differentiator!
4. Reveal trends
Your survey campaign should not only incorporate timely new data but also repeat key strategic questions so you can see trends developing over time. This will optimize your opportunity to be leading edge rather than simply chasing your competition.
5. Build and reinforce preferred habits
Repetitive questions over time have the power to form and reinforce habits. If you ask a question about a certain subject, survey after survey, that subject will soon become top of mind when selling your product. Don’t forget to change up the wording and format to keep them engaged!
6. Allow you to react swiftly to issues
While annual surveys only capture generic sentiments that may be too outdated to be actionable, frequent pulse checks gather up-to-the-minute data, allowing you to react swiftly rather than months after issues have emerged. They also show higher participation rates giving you greater visibility.
7. Drive better business results
Regular pulse surveys give you a clear, timely and accurate picture of your channel’s performance. They can be customized to influence specific areas that need improvement, uncover opportunities and increase revenue.
In addition to taking the pulse of your channel or program, incorporate business-focused elements into your survey campaign that concentrate specifically on selling. Capitalize on your direct access to those who sell your product. Leverage a variety of tactics (recognition, incentives, games), and use rewards to gather information on sales funnel milestones, success stories and challenges, competitive efforts and more. Eighty percent of reps say engagement and incentives strengthen their relationships with vendors.2 Make sure you use them to not only build relationships but to generate quality data for timely integrated analytics and business decision making.
A well thought out survey strategy can be one of the most powerful tools in your channel engagement program. It can be designed to build loyalty, capture timely data, influence and reinforce desired behaviours and ultimately drive sales. ChannelAssist’s creative, client-specific solutions amplify business performance and channel engagement. We help organizations drive sustainable revenue growth through the implementation of effective strategic initiatives. Don’t leave revenue on the table!
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Sources:
- Bersin by Deloitte, Lexicon. http://www.bersin.com/Lexicon/Details.aspx?id=14256
- Maritz, Insights from 2013 Maritz Channel Market Study. https://www.maritzmotivation.com/~/media/Files/MaritzMotivationSolutions/White-Papers/White_Paper-Do-Channel-Rep-Incentives-Work_Rev2014.ashx