Partner Enablement for Channel Sales Managers Training Course
| Course code | SD-S-019 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 5 days |
| Level | Foundation to Intermediate |
| Category | Sales |
| Delivery | Classroom or live online |
| Language | English |
| Certificate | Certificate of completion |
Course overview
Channel sales managers are accountable for revenue they do not directly control. Partners may be recruited but inactive, trained but unable to position the offer, or submitting opportunities too late for accurate forecasting. Internal sales teams can also compete with partners for the same accounts, eroding trust and margin. This course addresses the operating discipline required to turn a partner programme into a predictable route to market: clear partner segmentation, mutually valuable business plans, measurable enablement, opportunity governance, and performance intervention.
Participants learn to assess channel coverage and partner potential; define ideal partner profiles; build tiering and engagement models; and create joint business plans linked to revenue, pipeline, capability, and marketing measures. They practise partner onboarding journeys, role-based learning paths, certification requirements, deal-registration rules, and co-selling cadences. The course also covers partner scorecards, pipeline inspection, channel conflict resolution, market development funds, quarterly business reviews, and corrective action plans for underperforming partners.
Instruction combines channel-sales scenarios, practical workshops, and facilitated reviews of real partner-management artefacts. Participants use templates for partner segmentation, enablement needs analysis, joint business planning, deal-registration governance, and performance scorecards. By the final day, each participant produces a 90-day Partner Enablement Action Plan for a selected partner or partner segment, including objectives, activities, ownership, measures, review dates, and escalation triggers that can be used with their manager and cross-functional stakeholders.
The course is designed for channel sales managers working with resellers, distributors, systems integrators, referral partners, managed service providers, or technology alliances. It is equally relevant to professionals moving from direct sales or partner operations into a role where partner productivity, not simply partner recruitment, is the central performance challenge.
Course objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Segment a partner portfolio using revenue potential, capability, strategic fit, and engagement evidence
- Create an ideal partner profile and tiering model with explicit entry, progression, and exit criteria
- Build a joint business plan that converts partner goals into pipeline, capability, marketing, and revenue actions
- Design a role-based partner onboarding and certification journey using enablement milestones
- Configure a deal-registration governance workflow with approval rules, protection periods, and escalation paths
- Analyse partner pipeline quality and performance using scorecards, conversion metrics, and leading indicators
- Facilitate a quarterly business review using evidence-based performance narratives and corrective actions
- Produce a 90-day Partner Enablement Action Plan with owners, measures, dependencies, and review dates
Benefits of attending
For you
- Gain a repeatable method for moving partners from recruitment through activation to measurable productivity
- Build credibility in partner QBRs by using pipeline evidence, scorecards, and corrective action plans
- Learn to address channel conflict without relying on informal account-by-account negotiations
- Create a portfolio-level view of partner value that supports more defensible prioritisation decisions
- Leave with a practical enablement plan that demonstrates readiness for senior channel or alliance roles
For your organisation
- Increase the proportion of recruited partners that reach defined activation and pipeline milestones
- Improve forecast reliability by applying consistent partner opportunity and pipeline inspection practices
- Reduce channel conflict through clear deal-registration rules, ownership decisions, and escalation routes
- Focus enablement and market-development investment on partners with verified strategic and revenue potential
- Create consistent joint business planning and QBR routines across regions, partner types, and account teams
Target competencies
Who should attend
- Channel Sales Managers — who must improve partner-sourced pipeline, productivity, and retention
- Partner Account Managers — who run strategic partner relationships and joint growth plans
- Channel Development Managers — who recruit, onboard, and activate new resellers or service partners
- Alliance Managers — who coordinate co-selling motions with technology, consulting, or platform partners
- Partner Operations Managers — who need to translate programme rules and data into usable partner processes
- Regional Sales Managers — who need to align direct-sales teams with channel coverage and account ownership
Requirements and prerequisites
Participants should understand basic B2B sales concepts, including pipeline stages, qualification, account planning, forecasting, and sales conversion metrics. Experience working with resellers, distributors, referral partners, systems integrators, or alliance partners is helpful, but not essential. Familiarity with CRM records and spreadsheets, such as opportunity fields, account data, and simple Excel calculations, will support the practical exercises. Participants do not need prior experience administering a partner relationship management platform, building compensation plans, or designing a company-wide channel programme. A complete beginner should expect to work from realistic templates and case data before applying the methods to a live partner portfolio.
Training methodology
The instructor uses short, evidence-led teaching blocks followed by workshops built around a B2B channel case. Participants assess a sample partner portfolio, diagnose activation barriers, build an enablement journey, and run a partner pipeline review using CRM-style data. Small groups practise conversations for a QBR and a channel-conflict escalation, receiving structured feedback against defined criteria. Participants then adapt the templates to one live partner or partner segment and complete an end-of-course action-planning clinic with peer and instructor challenge.
Course outline
Day 1: Channel strategy and partner portfolio choices
- Channel routes to market and partner economic models
- Ideal partner profile design using strategic fit criteria
- Partner portfolio segmentation by potential, capability, and engagement
- Partner tiering rules and progression thresholds
- Partner lifecycle stages from recruitment to scale
- Channel coverage mapping by territory, vertical, and solution
- Baseline partner data requirements and CRM data hygiene
Workshop: Participants analyse a channel portfolio case and produce a segmented partner map with prioritisation recommendations.
Day 2: Partner onboarding and enablement architecture
- Partner activation milestones and time-to-productivity measures
- Role-based enablement paths for sales, technical, and marketing contacts
- Certification frameworks and competency verification methods
- Partner onboarding journey mapping and communication cadences
- Content libraries, battlecards, playbooks, and solution demos
- Sales readiness assessment through discovery and positioning simulations
- Enablement adoption metrics and learning completion dashboards
Workshop: Participants design a 90-day onboarding and enablement journey for a newly recruited solution partner.
Day 3: Joint business planning and co-selling execution
- Joint business plan structure and mutual value propositions
- Revenue, pipeline, capability, and marketing objective setting
- Account mapping and whitespace identification with partners
- Co-selling operating rhythms and opportunity review cadences
- Partner marketing campaigns and market development fund controls
- Opportunity qualification using MEDDICC evidence
- Responsibility matrices for vendor, partner, and distributor actions
Workshop: Participants build a joint business plan and account-mapping worksheet for a strategic partner growth scenario.
Day 4: Pipeline governance and partner performance management
- Partner-sourced, partner-influenced, and partner-delivered revenue definitions
- Deal-registration workflow design and protection-period rules
- Pipeline inspection using stage, ageing, conversion, and coverage metrics
- Partner scorecard design with leading and lagging indicators
- Quarterly business review agendas and evidence packs
- Underperformance diagnosis and corrective action planning
- Channel conflict resolution and account ownership escalation paths
Workshop: Participants conduct a simulated quarterly business review and produce a scorecard-led corrective action plan.
Day 5: Operating model implementation and action planning
- Partner programme governance roles and decision rights
- Salesforce PRM and Impartner PRM workflow considerations
- CRM field design for partner attribution and activity tracking
- Dashboard requirements for partner leadership reporting
- Change management for internal sales and partner-facing teams
- Risk controls for incentives, discounts, and market development funds
- Ninety-day implementation roadmap and success measures
Workshop: Participants complete and present a 90-day Partner Enablement Action Plan for feedback, challenge, and refinement.
Tools & standards covered
Salesforce PRM, Impartner PRM, Microsoft Excel, MEDDICC
A typical training day
| 08:30 – 10:30 | First session |
| 10:30 – 10:45 | Refreshment break |
| 10:45 – 12:30 | Second session |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch and networking |
| 13:30 – 15:00 | Third session |
| 15:00 – 15:15 | Refreshment break |
| 15:15 – 16:30 | Workshop and daily review |
Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.
What the fee includes
- Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
- Full course workbook and materials
- Exercise files, templates and case studies
- Certificate of completion
- Refreshments and lunch (classroom deliveries)
- Post-course application plan
- Facilitator follow-up on request
- Group rates from five participants
How you can take this course
Classroom
Scheduled sessions in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Dubai and Cape Town.
Live online
The same facilitator and materials, delivered live for distributed teams and individuals.
In-house
Delivered privately for your team, at your offices or a venue of your choice, tailored to your context. Request a proposal.
Certification
Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.
Frequently asked questions
Upcoming sessions
New dates are being scheduled. Ask us about the next session or an in-house delivery for your team.
Ask about datesGroup of 5+?
Request in-house delivery or group rates →Related courses in Sales
Gong Revenue Intelligence Conversation Analysis Training Course
Sales teams record thousands of customer conversations, yet managers often rely on selective call reviews, inconsistent rep notes and laggin…
Prospecting Skills for Sales Development Representatives Training Course
Sales Development Representatives are expected to create qualified pipeline from incomplete data, crowded buyer inboxes and limited time. Th…
Challenger Sale Commercial Insight Selling Training Course
Complex B2B buyers increasingly arrive with supplier comparisons, incumbent preferences and internally agreed assumptions. Salespeople who r…
Healthcare Solution Selling for Medical Sales Teams Training Course
Medical sales teams operate in buying environments where clinical, financial, operational and compliance concerns all influence the decision…