For technology vendors and manufacturers
Channel partner training built around your partner program
Custom courses and workshops that onboard new partners and get existing ones selling, delivered at your partner events, on site or over Zoom.
Find out where your partners are losing deals. Answer ten questions about your partner network and see its three biggest skills gaps, with how channel partner training would close each one. It takes about three minutes.
You probably don't need another partner training platform
Search for channel partner training and most of what comes back is software: learning management systems, partner portals and enablement platforms that host courses for your partners. They do that job well. What they don't do is write the course or stand in front of your partners and teach it.
Most vendors with a partner program already have somewhere to put training. The gap is usually what goes in it. Product training is there, because product teams produce it. What's missing is the commercial side: how a partner should find, qualify and close deals for your solution, run a campaign with your money, and build a business plan with your channel manager.
The Channel Institute builds that training around your program and your partner types, then teaches it. If you already run a partner academy or LMS, we can build modules for it, deliver live sessions alongside it, or both.
What we train your partners to do
Get productive fast
Partner onboarding that takes a newly signed partner from contract to first qualified opportunity: how your program works, who to call, and what a good first 90 days looks like.
Sell your solution
Positioning against the alternatives your partners meet, qualifying properly, and joint selling with your account teams without channel conflict.
Market with you
Planning co-marketing campaigns, using market development funds well, and turning the assets in your portal into pipeline. Most resellers have no marketing function, so this is where help pays back fastest.
Plan the business
Building a joint business plan with your channel manager, setting targets both sides believe, and reviewing it each quarter rather than once a year.
Hear an independent voice
Partners sometimes need to hear the message from someone other than the vendor. We provide speakers and session leads for partner conferences, kick-offs and advisory board meetings.
Channel partner onboarding that shortens time to first deal
A partner that signs, attends a product webinar and never registers a deal has usually learned what your product does but not how to make money selling it. Onboarding is where that gets fixed, or doesn't.
A channel partner onboarding program we build for you typically covers:
- How your partner program works in practice: tiers, margins, deal registration, rebates and who to contact for what.
- Who buys your solution, why, and the questions that qualify an opportunity in or out.
- A first campaign the partner can run with your assets in its first month.
- A short joint business plan, agreed with your channel manager before the onboarding ends.
Because it's built for your program, it uses your terms, your tiers and your tools, not a generic model your partners have to translate.
How a channel partner training program works
- Find the gapsTake the partner skills check below to see where your partners fall short, or skip straight to a call.
- Scope it in 20 minutesA short call about your partner types, how many partners, the gaps and the format you want. A quote follows within 3 working days.
- We build it around your programContent uses your partner program, your solution and your terms. You review it before any partner sees it.
- We teach itOn site at partner events and regional meetings, live over Zoom as a series, or as modules inside your own partner academy.
Why vendors use the Channel Institute
The Channel Institute trains and certifies channel professionals worldwide. Its syllabus is reviewed and approved by the Industry Advisory Council, a vendor-independent panel of 27 senior channel leaders at companies including Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle and SAP. The training we build for your partners draws on that same body of practice, so it reflects how the best channel organizations work rather than one trainer's experience.
Many larger technology vendors already hold a volume arrangement with the Institute to train their partners. Graduates rate the Institute 4.9 out of 5 across 36 Google reviews.
The Channel Institute is driving the development of best practices in technology channel marketing worldwide. This is particularly important for technology resellers that are competing in crowded markets.
The Channel Institute is a really interesting initiative to pull together the best practices in channel management and channel marketing from across the technology sector.
The Channel Institute is a compelling approach to developing the channel profession worldwide. I am delighted to lend my knowledge to help the Institute build channel best practices to progress our profession.
Partner skills check
Ten questions about your partner network as a whole. Answer for a typical partner, not your best one. You'll see a score out of 100 and your three biggest gaps, each with how we'd close it.
Your partners' three biggest gaps
Want to talk through how to close them? A 20-minute scoping call is enough to tell you whether training is the fix, what format suits your partners, and roughly what it involves. Email us your results and we'll reply within 3 working days with times for the call.
Channel partner training: common questions
What is channel partner training?
Channel partner training teaches the companies that resell, refer or service your products how to sell, market and support them successfully. It usually covers onboarding, solution selling, co-marketing and joint business planning, alongside the product training your technical teams provide.
How is this different from a partner training platform or LMS?
A platform hosts and tracks training. We write the training and teach it. If you already have a partner academy or LMS, we can build modules for it or run live sessions alongside it.
Can you train partners on site and online?
Yes. Sessions can be delivered on site at partner events and regional meetings, live over Zoom as a series, or as recorded modules inside your own partner academy. Many vendors combine them.
Do partners receive a certificate?
Custom sessions are workshops built for your program, not an assessed qualification. Partner staff who need an assessed credential can take a Channel Institute certificate, such as the Certificate in Channel Marketing, and larger vendors often arrange places in volume.
What does channel partner training cost?
It depends on the number of sessions, the format and how much material is built new for your program. A 20-minute scoping call is usually enough to agree the scope, and a quote follows within 3 working days.
Training your own channel team instead?
This page is about training your partners. To train the vendor's own channel managers, channel sales and partner marketing staff, see channel team training and the Certificate in Channel Management. For marketers inside the vendor, see partner marketing training.