Effective channel partner training can increase partner engagement, improve sales performance, and drive channel revenue growth. However, developing and scaling a successful training programme comes with its own set of challenges.
We've identified eleven common channel partner training challenges and our proven strategies on how you can tackle them.
These have been gathered from our two decades of working with a variety of organisations, and our expertise in providing tailored channel partner training that works for both your business and your partners.
Common Challenges of Channel Partner Training
Challenge 1: Partner Engagement
Getting partners engaged with training can be difficult. Their primary focus is running and growing their own business, which can make your training a secondary priority.
When partners don't engage with training:
- They position competitors instead of you
- Product knowledge remains shallow
- Sales cycles become longer
- Deal conversion rates suffer
Without insight into what will help keep partners engaged, you risk addressing irrelevant issues or pursuing unaligned outcomes, wasting time, effort, and budget. A lack of engagement also runs the risk of your partners favouring competitors’ products over yours.
Solution
Work closely with your sales or partner engagement teams to utilise the insights they have into partners’ needs. Engage in open discussions about training content, methods, and delivery, ensuring the programme addresses real challenges and grounds itself in real-world scenarios.
It’s also worth considering online training, as its convenience and speed can connect you with partners you may not have previously engaged with or have a relationship with. The ease of this type of training will help engagement and unveil new avenues of communication.
Related reading: The Benefits of Channel Partner Engagement
Challenge 2: Resource Constraints
Most channel organisations don't have dedicated enablement teams, yet still need to support hundreds or thousands of partners. Employing a specific team comes with additional expenses, then managing and supporting that team requires more resources.
For example, on average, at least four staff are required for a programme to run smoothly. When you consider salary, taxes and overheads, that is a cost of over £200,000 a year!
Solution
Outsource channel partner training support and management services. By partnering with a training company with the skills and expertise to run and manage your programme effectively, you reduce the need for internal resources, saving time and money.
Related reading: How to Manage Your Training Programme Successfully
Challenge 3: Geographical Diversity
Channel partners are often spread across different regions or countries, making it expensive and time-consuming to conduct in-person training sessions. While face-to-face training sessions offer the benefits of direct interaction and hands-on experiences, bringing together partners from various locations becomes a daunting or often impossible task.
Solution
Devise a programme that can be accessed across countries and provide translation capabilities. This can all be achieved by providing eLearning as the training method, delivered via a global Learning Management System (LMS) solution, and leveraging powerful AI-based translation tools that can localise training at no extra cost.
A comprehensive LMS offers partners flexibility, can work with different time zones, and can also cater to various learning styles.
Challenge 4: Cultural and Language Barriers
Delivering training across different countries or regions may require translations, and even then, cultural nuances might affect the training’s effectiveness.
Solution
Customise online learning content for different regions using translations and region-specific examples to address language and cultural differences. Additionally, interactive tools such as VR or AR can simulate hands-on training experiences, while having regional coordinators can ensure localised content and support are available.
Challenge 5: Consistency
Ensuring consistent training quality and content delivery across all partners can be tricky, especially when different trainers or training methods are employed.
Solution
Implement a standardised training curriculum with clear guidelines and benchmarks. By deploying an LMS, you can deliver uniform digital content that aligns with brand guidelines.
For further consistency, regularly update and certify learners through a unified programme, ensuring they uphold brand and training standards.
Challenge 6: Logistical Issues
Coordinating schedules, venues (for in-person training), and tech requirements can be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially for large networks of partners.
Solution
Online training is available anytime, anywhere, and can eliminate all of the above issues. Using an LMS centralises all training information, allowing partners to self-select training slots that suit their schedules.
Challenge 7: Customisation
While uniformity in training is necessary, there’s also a need to customise content to address the specific needs, markets, or challenges faced by different partners.
Solution
Adopt a modular training approach, combining a consistent core module with add-ons tailored to specific partner needs. This ensures uniformity while also providing flexibility. An LMS can streamline this process by auto-delivering content based on partner profiles.
Challenge 8: Scalability
As a business grows, scalability for training often becomes a concern. Rapidly onboarding and training large numbers of channel partners across various locations can become unmanageable, potentially delaying the delivery of vital information and training materials.
Solution
Allow for immediate access to training materials by using online learning. Once training material is readily available via an LMS, expanding audiences can be easily catered for.
To support onboarding, use automated processes to get partners up and running as quickly as possible, utilising easily adaptable modular content for varying partner needs.
Challenge 9: Earning Organisational Buy-In
Gaining organisational support for channel partner training can be difficult. While stakeholders often recognise the importance of product knowledge and sales enablement, they may view partner training as a cost rather than a strategic investment. Without a clear understanding of its impact, training initiatives can struggle to secure the attention, resources, and long-term commitment needed to succeed.
This can lead to underfunded programmes, inconsistent delivery, and missed opportunities to improve partner performance, increase revenue, and strengthen partner relationships
Solution
Build a strong business case by demonstrating how partner training contributes to wider business objectives. Focus on outcomes that matter to stakeholders, such as increased partner engagement, faster onboarding, improved sales effectiveness, and greater partner-generated revenue.
Where possible, share data, success stories, and case studies that highlight the impact of training on partner performance. Regularly communicating these results helps reinforce the value of your program and secures ongoing support from key decision-makers.
Related reading: How Training Benefits Your Partner Programme
Challenge 10: Securing Adequate Funding For Your Training Program
Allocating sufficient budget for partner training can be difficult, especially when competing with other business priorities. Without a clear business case, training initiatives often struggle to secure long-term investment.
The strongest justification for partner training is its impact on revenue. Organisations that can demonstrate higher partner activation, faster onboarding, increased certification rates, and stronger partner-generated pipeline are far more likely to secure ongoing investment.
Solution
Gain the buy-in from the right people by emphasising the return on investment. Remember, the training program’s purpose is to increase the effectiveness of the channel. There will be a return on this investment, and when done correctly, there’s no reason the program can’t pay for itself or even turn a profit.
Challenge 11: Measuring Training Impact
Many organisations struggle to prove whether their channel partner training program is delivering meaningful results. While completion rates and certifications are useful indicators, they don't always demonstrate business impact.
Solution
Define clear success metrics that align with your channel objectives. Alongside learner engagement, measure outcomes such as partner activation, sales performance, deal registrations, and partner-generated revenue.
By combining LMS reporting with channel and CRM data, you can better understand the impact of training and demonstrate its value to stakeholders.
Related reading: How to Measure the ROI of Channel Partner Training
Overcoming the Challenges of Channel Partner Training
When facing the prospect of developing and deploying a channel partner training program, many organisations are overwhelmed by the time, resources, and expertise needed for a successful training program to be deployed.
By collaborating with Wahoo Learning’s experts, you’ll gain insights from professionals who deeply understand the intricacies of training programs.
We not only grasp how training integrates with broader partner programs, but also have the expertise to scale and elevate those programs through tailored training solutions.
One great example of this is our work with CommScope, who we worked with to solve their channel partner training challenges. You can read our case study here.
Specifically designed to benefit organisations without a dedicated team in place, our comprehensive, flexible, and cost-effective outsourced channel partner training service ticks all the boxes:
- advanced learning management system delivery
- training programme administration and management
- eLearning content production
- multi-channel support
- localisation for global audiences
- eCommerce capabilities
- and much more.
Working with us means you can effortlessly onboard, empower, and enable your partners across the globe, to deliver impactful, personalised training anytime, anywhere.
Get in touch with us today to discuss your unique channel partner challenges, and find out how we can help solve them.
