Chapter 2 has taken us in several different directions. From e-commerce to direct selling, first with our own sales team and today with partners. Let me state this right up front: Selling with Partners in NetSuite is not free. It's less expensive than a license for a direct sales person, but it is not free. So the very first question that I often hear from prospects that rely on a partner/dealer network to sell products and services is how to justify the cost? Good question, really. If every additional partner requires a user license it can add up pretty quick. The payback must be in the fact that you can measure the pipeline accurately, that you have first hand knowledge about the end customers, and that you can have partners enter orders themselves, saving the time, hassle and confusion of entering faxed, emailed or handwritten orders. If you lose a partner you still have the customer, or a legitimate shot at the customer. And while business is ongoing you can gauge what to expect of partner sales - the pipeline. The pipeline simply refers to the number of opportunities, and their dollar value, including active proposals, that you currently have in the market. These are weighted based on recommended probabilities. Some business owners and sales managers are not enthusiastic about understanding the pipeline, but if you have a growing business and a number of active partners then you really need to have a better handle on what's coming, on the revenue side. The twist that I often see if that though a company may have no formal pipeline measurement system in place they often spend an inordinate amount of time with a spreadsheet that may go by some other name, but which really represents the sales pipeline. This informal system comes about through a number of phone calls and emails between corporate and the partner network. One by one we query each active partner, noting their current prospect list for opportunities and outstanding proposals. It all gets tallied up and late Friday afternoon the boss gets a copy in his inbox. Unless time and effort are free at your business you should really consider a system like NetSuite that effortlessly aggregates the opportunity and prospect data to provide you with a clear picture of what to expect next week, next month and next quarter. So what functionality does a partner receive in NetSuite? As opposed to a direct sales person? Actually the two roles are very similar. The Advanced Partner Center user has access to the same functions as the direct sales person; however, the partner's data set is limited to those customers on whose record the partner is identified. NetSuite's Advanced Partner Relationship Management module enables you to bring your partners into the NetSuite system completely. They are given a limited view of the data; essentially, the leads, prospects and customers on whose record they are identified as the partner. They are able to log in, record a new lead, record sales activity around the lead and hopefully, identify a business opportunity with the now prospect. The Opportunity becomes a proposal for business. At each stage along the way the probability of doing business becomes greater and greater, and the value of the opportunity increases in the pipeline. Partners are also able to use the system to record and save emails with the customer, or use automated marketing to reach out to the leads/prospects during a long sales cycle. In Version 11 of NetSuite, partners will also be eligible for automated commissions management. That's a really nice benefit for those of you who want to issue 1099 commission checks to the partner. If you use partners to go to market and you need better information about what they are working on, what they mean to your business overall in both revenue and cost, then NetSuite's Advanced Partner Center is a great fit. Tomorrow we begin Chapter 3. We have talked a lot about the means of selling in NetSuite in Chapter 2. So Chapter 3 will be about the what we sell, out Item Catalog including products, services, discounts, etc.. Chapter 4 rounds out the Revenue side of the business with Order Management. Stay tuned. | 
