Partner Sellers Are Underserved in Terms of Resources, Study Finds

55 percent of sales and marketing leaders are either not confident in, or not aware of, their partners’ abilities to deliver consistent, compelling sales experiences, according to a report from Forrester commissioned by Mediafly, a provider of mobile enablement software.

The study produced several findings indicating that partners (indirect sellers) are underserved in comparison to sales employees (direct sellers). In terms of content resources, 68 percent of direct sellers are provided with sales presentation templates, 60 percent with sales videos, and 56 percent with case studies. For indirect sellers, those numbers are 48 percent, 47 percent, and 44 percent respectively. In terms of training resources, 76 percent of direct sellers are provided with in-person training sessions and 72 percent with training documents and collateral. For indirect sellers, those numbers are 49 percent and 56 percent respectively. In terms of technology resources, 68 percent of direct sellers are provided with access to devices, 59 percent with access to sales enablement automation software, and 46 percent with ROI calculators. For indirect sellers, those numbers are 41 percent, 41 percent, and 30 percent, respectively.

The study also found that partner sales generate nearly half (49 percent) of annual revenue for B2B firms. This suggests that organizations should focus on closing the resource gap between direct and indirect sellers.