Your SaaS business isn’t just built on your clients and partners. It’s built on your deeper relationships with them. 

As you grow your business, you might turn to a customer relationship management (CRM) solution to keep track of your clients. When you expand to include indirect selling through channel partners, your CRM is likely to fall short in helping you understand and support them—and rightfully so. Managing your partners requires the ability to manage a different set of objectives that only a partner relationship management (PRM) solution can deliver on. 

Learn about the differences between CRM and PRM software and understand why only one makes sense to manage successful channel partner relationships. 

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What Is CRM Software

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CRM software helps manage details about customer relationships so you can better understand your customers and improve how you work with them. It keeps track of lead and deal registration, marketing automation, customer service, and data and interactions around these activities. 

CRM software includes the following key features: 

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• Centralized database of customer information: Track customer behavior, preferences, and trends. 
• Tracking of customer interactions: Identify opportunities and improve customer service. 
• Sales and marketing management: Track leads, manage campaigns, and generate reports. 
• Customizable reports: Generate reports that are tailored to your business’ specific needs. 
• Integration with other systems: Automate tasks and improve efficiency.

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What Is PRM Software

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PRM software helps manage details about partner relationships and performance to help you build and support them. It automates partner processes, such as partner onboarding, communications, and marketing. 

PRM software has the following key features: 

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• Partner portal: Give partners access to the information and tools they need in a single hub. They can view and update their account information, get training materials, access marketing collateral, submit support tickets, and much more. 
• Onboarding system: Streamline partner registration and onboarding in one place.
• Marketing assistance tools: Provide tools to assist with lead management, partner tracking, and deal registration.
• Communication tools: Simplify partner communication with email templates, real-time chat features, dedicated support, mass e-mailers, and more. 
• Data management: Manage partner data by using import/export capabilities, partner data cleansing, and deduplication.

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How CRM and PRM Software Differ

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Beyond helping to manage the relationships that drive your business, the distinctions between CRM and PRM software go much deeper. They differ in the following ways: 

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• Relationships. CRM software centers on using client information to build and support clients to ensure lasting relationships. PRM software aims to build partnerships that drive growth for both vendors and partners. 
• Users. CRM software is used by a wide range of teams across an organization, including customer service, accounting, and operations. PRM software is used primarily by channel partner sales and marketing teams.  
• Focus. The CRM focus is more internal to the organization and reactive in giving customers what they want. The PRM focus is external in helping organizations be proactive in building, growing, and supporting their partner needs.
• Lifecycle. CRM software tracks the customer lifecycle, where PRM software tracks the entire partner lifecycle. 

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Why PRM Software Make Sense over CRM Software for Partner Sales

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PRM software is valuable for companies that rely on channel partners for sales. See what makes PRM software the perfect choice over CRM software to manage and make the most of your partner relationships. 

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1. Get visibility into the entire partner sales cycle 

Know which partners are actively pursuing opportunities, which ones are struggling, and where deals are in the pipeline. This level of detail gives you essential visibility for effective partner management that’s not possible in CRM software. 

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2. Manage and automate partner communications 

Keep partners up-to-date on product changes, new marketing collateral, and sales enablement resources. Also, automate partner communications around key events, such as renewals and contract expirations. 

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3. Incentivize and reward partner performance 

Set up commissions and bonuses based on partner performance. Keep partners motivated to sell more and drive better results for your company. 

While CRM software might work well for direct sales teams, they can’t compete when you want to manage partner programs from start to end.

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Put Your Partners First With a PRM+

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Don’t risk letting your partnerships flounder with a CRM. Get a PRM so you can support them through every stage of the sales cycle. But don’t stop there. Go for a PRM+ solution that only Zomentum PartnerAlign offers, keeping you right in your partners’ workflow. 

PartnerAlign makes it easy for your partners to recommend and sell your solution by enabling you to provide all the tools, sales collateral, and resources they need, where they need them. With PartnerAlign, manage your partner programs, view your partners’ sales activities, and shadow-assist deals to convert more end clients. Onboard, monitor, and manage relationships with a one-stop solution. And, reap the full benefits of your partnerships by finding the right partners, establishing partnership objectives, and setting up guidelines. 

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Boost revenue and scale your business faster with Zomentum PartnerAlign. Get Started for Free.