Scale your Business with Effective Channel Sales

If you’re looking to grow your business by expanding your market reach without the massive overhead, channel sales, also known as partner sales, might be the perfect solution.

Businesses naturally seek opportunities to increase revenue and market share. However, on the way to growth, companies can hit roadblocks such as insufficient resources, equipment, staff, or specialized knowledge.

This can lead to the need for substantial investments for companies to be able to meet demand and penetrate new markets.

Channel sales involve working with third parties (your “partners”) to sell your product or service, rather than selling directly to customers yourself. It’s a proven model that many companies use to expand their reach, tap into new markets, and scale more efficiently.

What Are Channel Sales?

Simply put, channel sales are indirect sales made through partners rather than your own internal sales team. These partners take on some or all of the sales responsibilities, depending on your agreement’s structure.

The benefit?

Instead of building new sales offices in new locations, you work with businesses already operating in those regions. They already have local knowledge, relationships, and sales teams, allowing you to integrate with their existing systems and grow faster, together.

Popular Types of Channel Sales

• Resellers – they purchase products from the manufacturer and resell them to customers. Resellers may be involved in marketing and support and may introduce additional features to the product, depending on arrangements.
  
• Affiliate partners – they assist in a sale by referring customers to a brand, earning a commission or reward upon a closed sale. Influencers are a common example.
  
• Distributors – they facilitate sales by connecting companies with a larger network of resellers or retailers in exchange for a percentage of the sales. Distributors handle logistics, warehousing, and even some marketing efforts.
  
• Agents or Brokers – these can be individuals or firms that handle the selling without actually holding inventory. They get paid a commission on every closed deal.
  
• White Label or OEM Partners – a common partnership arrangement in tech and manufacturing where a product or service is rebranded and sold as part of another company’s offering.

How to Scale Your Business Through Channel Sales

Channel sales can unlock significant growth, but like any strategy, they require the right approach to be effective. Here are a few essential principles for scaling and managing your partner sales channels:

Find the Right Partners
This is an essential step so that you can grow with long-term relationships built on trust and mutual benefit. When choosing your business partner, look for alignment in target audience, values, and sales capabilities. 

Provide Clear Training and Support
Your partners represent your brand. Offer them the tools, resources, and training they need to speak confidently about your product. Create an efficient onboarding process to help your partners understand your business in-depth and become a valuable addition to your mission.

Utilize Technology to Manage Relationships
Partner relationship management (PRM) systems can help you track leads, measure performance, and maintain communication. Just like you would use a CRM for direct sales, a PRM helps keep partner sales organized and scalable.

Communicate Regularly
Strong and open communication builds trust and keeps your partners engaged. Share updates, celebrate wins, and ask for feedback. Remember that they’re an extension of your business and shouldn’t be isolated.

Measure and Optimize
Track key metrics like lead conversion rate, average deal size, and partner revenue contribution. Use this data to adjust your strategy, offer additional support where needed, or identify underperforming partners.