PRM Success Blog
PRM Success Blog - Customer Stories
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Dreamforce '08 sessions around Salesforce to Salesforce
Nov 19, 2008Customers who attended Dreamforce '08 heard about some of the great momentum around Salesforce to Salesforce. You heard George Hu at the Applications keynote on Nov 4th mention that we've seen a 350% increase in the number of companies using the service and records shared in just the last three months. Based on feedback from customers we've also made the product available free of charge to ALL customers (including Group Edition) with the Winter ’09 release. So all customers can send and accept invitations and share data with other companies using Salesforce CRM at no charge.
Some of you might have attended the sessions in the Channel track. If you did you learnt first-hand from customers who are using the product to drive greater lead conversion rates. You learnt how salesforce is using the product to run joint marketing campaigns with its partners and how global Networks are forming between vendors and partners with the ultimate goal of collaborating real-time on the force.com platform. One session that received rave reviews was around Joint Selling - how Secure Computing and Fishnet Security are driving higher levels of collaboration and closing deals faster since they've started using Salesforce to Salesforce. This was a great session for any customer looking to run a pilot with their top partners. Take a listen and as always if you need any help from the product management team to kick-start a pilot, don’t hesitate to contact us (s2s@salesforce.com)
Sessions of interest:
- Joint Selling with Partners using Salesforce CRM
- Best Practices in Lead Distribution
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Bringing Web 2.0 to the Channel
Aug 29, 2008Whether you are in the business of channel sales, channel marketing, or general partnering, you'll get a sense of what's new and exciting. The world of social networking has pushed its way into the world of business computing. Are you ready to leverage some of the great social networking tools?
Take a few minutes and listen to this pre-recorded webinar co-hosted by the Baptie group called Bringing Web 2.0 to the Channel.
Click here to access the webinar recording.
You can also download the presentation too. Download Bringingweb2.0.ppt
Some of the hot topics include:
- Share content with partners as easily as sharing videos on YouTube
- Connect with partners just like you connect with colleagues on LinkedIn
- Vote on partner ideas as simply as rating products on Amazon.com
- Exchange business information with the same ease as sharing on Facebook
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Dell Approves $200 M in Deals Registered by Partners
Jun 15, 2008
Recently, the VP and General Manager was interviewed. He discussed his partner program and most importantly he focused on what's in it for the partner. Click here for the full interview. The interview shows that Dell is truly a channel focused company. I recommend that every channel chief have this kind of direct communications with their partner constituents. Dell has adopted channel sales and channel marketing best practices to drive partner success.
Here are some of the highlights:
When we launched PartnerDirect on December 5, it included deal registration for our registered partners. Since that time, we have approved over $200M in deals with our partners. Eighty-two percent of the deals submitted by partners through deal registration have been approved. With registered deals, we work very closely with the partner to ensure they own the deal and we collectively win the business for Dell through the partner who invested and brought the deal to us.
I think the ultimate evidence of listening to and acting on partner feedback is PartnerDirect. We built this program on partner feedback. Based on feedback from thousands of solution providers, we developed new features for channel partners including a partner portal—www.dell.com/partner—partner logos and marketing materials, 100-percent dedicated sales and customer care, certification paths and training, credit options, and deal registration serviced by Salesforce.com partner relationship management tool.
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Bringing Web 2.0 to the Channel
May 22, 2008
I've been invited by the Channel Focus group to share insights, findings and learning on how vendors can bring Web 2.0 to the channel. Whether you are in channel sales, channel marketing or channel operations, you'll benefit from this presentation. To drive unprecedented levels of stickiness in their partnerships, vendors look for ways to further differentiate their programs. And channel partners are asking for more collaboration, more feedback and more process alignment. Web 2.0 best practices can accomplish just this.
Please register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/633758811 or email me at ecohen@salesforce.com.
Date: 29 May 2008
Time: 9.00hrs Pacific; 12.00hrs Eastern; 17.00hrs; 18.00hrs Central EuropeThe topics I'll be reviewing include:
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Latest Best Practices Webinar - Channel Partner Collaboration
Apr 1, 2008I wanted to let you all know about the latest in our Best Practices Webinar series. For those of you who could not attend live, we have a recorded version available.
In this webinar you have the chance to hear Peter Andrews, President of Dreambuilder Investments, explain how he grew his business by streamlining channel partner processes—with Salesforce Partner Portal, the easy to use and customize software-as-a-service solution.- Hear how Dreambuilder self-implemented Partner Portal in under a week
- See how real-time partner collaboration helped boost assets under management by 129% in one year
- Pick up best practices on channel collaboration for small businesses
- Learn the five keys to managing a fast implementation
. . . and see a live demo of Dreambuilder's Salesforce Partner Portal.
Click here to access the webinar.
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PRM white paper on channel best practices
Apr 1, 2008A new white paper is now available. The white paper is called "Ten Winning Ideas for Managing your Channel." This is a great document suited for channel managers and channel executives with or without experience in partner relationship management (PRM). The principles apply to channel sales and channel marketing processes.
The best practices discussed in the document include:
- Automate recruiting
- Streamline training
- Make adoption a priority
- Reduce channe conflict
- Focus on high value added tasks
- Personalize channel programs
- Tier your partners
- Create targeted incentives
- Measure chanenl success
- Act globally and act locally
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Dell Embraces Resellers with Salesforce Partners
Mar 31, 2008"To ensure that Dell salespeople and resellers don't compete for the same business, Dell instituted a deal registration system. With an online tool, built for Dell by Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM - News), channel partners and Dell sales reps log in with business opportunities they're pursuing that are worth more than $50,000. Dell then reviews the entries for possible conflicts. "
Dell is making waves in the channel with its well timed "Partners Wanted" campaign. As a Dell partner, access to the best in class deal registration is a huge benefit. Partners register deals and customer deals tha are approved are protected. The days of channel conflict have been replaced with channel collaboration. Tools to drive channel sales has never been better.
Here is an image of what a typical Dell partner would see when they access the Salesforce Partners deal registration and partner management system.
The full article can be read here.
If you'd like your own Partner Relationship Management system like Dell and many other leading channel companies, click through to the Salesforce Partners page to learn more.
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Intacct Launches Expanded Channel Partner Program with Salesforce Partners
Mar 16, 2008Intacct, a leader in on-demand accounting and financial management solutions, announced the launch of the new Intacct Business Solution Provider partner program. Intacct's expanded channel partner program is designed to attract the top 5 to 7 % of the 10,000 companies that already resell accounting, financial management, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. The program is built on top of salesforce.com's Partner Portal.
The program offers partners: 1. Deal registration program benefits; 2. Training and certification; 3. Sales support 4. Renewal programs; 5. Discounts and more....
Click here to view a link to the full press release issued by Intacct.
Plus if you're interested to see how easy it is to customize your own partner portal talk to your account executive as soon as possible.
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Salesforce Partners Receives Top Grades From CRN
Jan 7, 2008Computer Reseller News engineers bullish on Dell's deal registration system powered by Salesforce Partners. Click here to review the full article or you can download the PDF below.
Some of the highlights include:
"We're giving it our thumbs- up for good design and thorough data oversight."
"As far as usability goes, the portal is right on the money. The site is as intuitive as navigating through Amazon.com, so no partner training is required."
"Engineers found that the process creates transparency between partners and the Dell channel sales team, while locking out Dell's direct-sales team."
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Come celebrate channels 2.0....
Dec 4, 2007Come celebrate the arrival of channels 2.0. You're invited to an exclusive event. Come see and hear first hand from Product Management what the press is raving about. The first ever multi-tenant business network is now available.
Click here for ZDNET article and Click here for VUNET article.
Details are below. Please register by clicking here. Space is limited.
We look forward to seeing you at this momentous event. -
Salesforce Partners: Deal registration customer stories
Nov 23, 2007Listen to customers, Siemens and Proofpoint, share their partner program success stories. Both discuss what worked with their deal registration program. Siemens developed a program that rewarded partners for new opportunties, joint engagements, and influencers. Siemens pays partners for aggressiveness and collaboration. Proofpoint approves partner deals that are: new opportunities, not already registered by a partner, and not already a direct deal.
The PPT and recorded session is from Dreamforce 2007. Matt Morris lead the session and the customer participants were Jeff Zobrist from Siemens and Dave Crilley from Proofpoint.
Click here for the session webinar.
Plus if you want the slides, here they are for you to download. Download Morris_deal_reg-ugs-proofpoint.ppt
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Executive lunch focused on channel management...space limited
Oct 18, 2007
Join us for a valuable seminar (and free lunch) designed for the channel community to network with peers and maximize partner success. Hear channel experts share what's worked best to address common channel challenges such as partner adoption, closed loop lead management, special pricing, deal registration, MDF/Coop and more...
This highly interactive seminar will provide each participant with:
1. Relevant salesforce.com customer success and best practices
2. An opportunity to share channel issues and objectives
3. A live demonstration showing how to solve these channel challenges
Space is limited—register here for this event.
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5 Partner Adoption Strategies for Channel Success Live Webinar
Aug 24, 2007Although it may seem elusive, it’s easy to transform ambivalent partners
into loyal revenue generators. GFI Software made this transformation and reached unprecedented success with 95% partner adoption by leveraging the Salesforce PRM solution. 
Attend this live Webinar and you’ll learn how GFI Software is able to:
- Realize 10X ROI in 30 days
- Gain 100% visibility across the channel business
- Improve close rates and stimulate stagnant relationships
- Build dynamic programs that map to partner objectives
- Drive usage and see adoption rocket to 95%
Plus, get all your questions answered in a live Q&A. Register now and tap the potential of your channel partners.
Register >
http://www.salesforce.com/form/event/prm_success_webinar.jsp?d=70130000000DHfmLive Webinar: August 30, 10:00 a.m. PST
"Salesforce PRM is the cornerstone of our entire channel model. The reps love it and the partners are using it." GM North American Operations, Kurt Shaver, GFI Software
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PRM Customer survey results: top 5 channel tools
Jul 9, 2007Recently, Salesforce.com completed a customer survey to identify trends and best practices in successful channel programs.
Some of the questions included:
Did you have a strong executive sponsor? 100% of customers surveyed answered yes.
Another question that came up was: What channel program benefits were offered to your partners? The top answer was qualified leads followed by opportunity collaboration tools. Here is a summary of the results from this question:
At the top of the list came lead management and opportunity collaboration. Next came branded and targeted communications through a portal along with deal registration. We thank all of our customers for providing us and you with this feedback. If you'd like the detail to this report please contact your account executive. If you are interested in installing your own partner portal, click here to install in your own salesforce.com system. -
PRM university launched
Apr 21, 2007
SalesPRM have launched the first PRM University. This is a one day workshop helping customers learn more about partner communications, partner profiling, partner lifecycle management, loyalty programs, and analystics. This is the first program that brings years of channel management expertise and best practices together with the Salesforce PRM technology platform.
This session is ideal for existing companies interested to learn more about channel best practices and Salesforce. This program is designed for both existing salesforce.com customers and prospects. If you'd like to learn more about this program or register, please click on this link:http://www.salesprm.com/prmuniversity.html
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GFI Adds Training, Partner Relationship Management Portal To Give VARs A Leg Up
Mar 21, 2007
GFI is using salesforce.com to run its partner program. Gold and silver partners get access to a "sales portal" to manage leads, register deals, and collaborate on opportunities. The full details including program benefits and requirements are available here through the GFI partner program landing page. So far, without sharing specific results, GFI is seeing great uptake and their SMB resellers are really feeling like they are getting the "enterprise" treatment. A partner was quoted as saying "the biggest benefit for a business is that we're now really a partner, and working together as a partnership and not just reselling software..." The full article can be accessed here. Click here.
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Proofpoint runs Salesforce PRM for channel management
Mar 11, 2007
Proofpoint was already using salesforce.com for it direct sales and marketing efforts. Their channel information was disconnected and their partners were not fully integrated with their operations. Having two systems caused redundancies, inconsistencies and administrative overhead. In a matter of weeks, Proofpoint migrated away from a stand alone deal registration system to a fully integrated and complete PRM system. You can review the published customer snapshot by clicking here.
To launch your own custom branded partner and fully integrated channel management system, start by installing the portal and any one of these best practice channel program templates. Click here to test drive and install.
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How Segway Achieved 95% Dealer Adoption
Dec 4, 2006Do you have a partner portal that no one uses? Are your partners complaining that there isn’t any value in it for them?
On December 12, 10 am Pacific, Segway will be talking about their channel success with Salesforce PRM. Chris will discuss Segway's successfull rollout to 100 dealers in 2 weeks and how they gained 95% dealer adoption in 90 days. He will also give a demo of their dealer portal.
To register for this free, live webinar, click here.
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Salesforce PRM Presentations and Best Practices
Oct 29, 2006Listen to Marc Benioff and Dean Darwin (VP North American Channels) talk about how F5 Networks is using Salesforce PRM to more effectively drive channel partner loyalty and partner success.
Also, listen to all of the Channel Executive sessions by clicking here.
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Dreamforce speaker update: GFi
Oct 25, 2006Remember the previous Dreamforce post on GFi? Well, they've just announced the roll out of their Salesforce PRM portal:
"When dealing with a smaller software house, [VARs] are not used to getting all the resources they get from an 800-pound gorilla," says Jim Semersky, director of channel sales at GFI. "We're providing tools that I don't think any other software manufacturer of our size is providing to partners."
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How Long for a Branded Partner Portal?
Oct 12, 2006Last Tuesday morning, during Dreamforce, Kurt Shaver from GFi mentions to Elay: "Boy, it would be great to have a branded partner portal to demo at my presentation later." Sure enough, later that afternoon, Elay was able to bring up a branded GFi partner portal on screen.
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Great Case Study on PRM
Oct 3, 2006F5 Networks reduces channel conflict, increases deal registrations by 300%, and increases the busienss of its top 20 partners by 50%. Read all about it:
http://www.salesforce.com/customers/casestudy.jsp?customer=f5
For more information and direct contact with channel executives make your way to Dreamforce next week.
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Customers Share Salesforce PRM Successes
Dec 5, 2005Listen to Jim Lima from Fortinet and Kory Kimball from Webtrends share their successes with Salesforce PRM. Both are managing their partnership relationships through Salesforce. Both have great ROI stories to share. These success stories are great examples of how companies quickly and easily implemented Salesforce PRM.
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F5 Networks Revamps its Partner Program with Salesforce
Nov 14, 2005F5 Networks, a premier Salesforce.com customer, has decided to strengthen its channel program with enhanced collaborative selling tools. "The F5 vision of seamless integration for our products also applies to how we want to work with our channel," said Dean Darwin, Vice President of North American channel sales for F5. "This is a new architecture for our channel programs and our goal is to continue to add components that protect and support our partners across the entire opportunity management lifecycle. F5 partners are a select group and we're confident that this program will help them grow their F5 business, make it more profitable, and make it easier to deliver the best solutions to our joint customers." Click here for full details.
An article in Computer Reseller News also showcases this program as a demonstration of F5 Network's heightened commitment to adding more value to its partners' businesses. "F5 Networks is overhauling its channel strategy, now pledging to turn every sales lead over to a partner before its own field-sales force." Click here for full details.
We expect to see great success for F5 Networks as they increase their channel revenues through improved partner benefits. F5 is using standard Salesforce tools to manage and measure this partner program.
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