After reading this survey, Zyme concluded that only few incentives of the companies are being met by the channels. Therefore, there is a strong requirement of channel data management in order to assess and keep track of the channels. To Know More:-http://www.zyme.com/channel-data-management

1. © SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 1
Research Brief
Motivation is a lot like steam – when properly channeled, it can move large
objects such as a steam-powered train or boat. Without the steam, the object
remains stationary. Like a steam engine, motivation must be continuously
stoked to retain its power.
Channel leaders are often curious about whether their incentive strategies are
fueling and motivating the right partners in the right ways. They also wonder if
other organizations are experiencing the same struggles and challenges. In this
brief, we review findings from SiriusDecisions’ recent channel incentive survey.
About the Survey
SiriusDecisions surveyed b-to-b channel marketing and sales professionals
from a cross-section of organizations that sell a wide variety of products and
services. Most respondents worked in software or hardware (52 percent), while
electronics accounted for another 15 percent. Other represented industries
included health information technology, IT services and professional services.
Respondents also represented a wide range of organizational sizes, with 40
percent from companies with $250 million or less in annual revenue,
33 percent from companies with between $251 million and $2 billion in
revenue, and 27 percent from companies with more than $2 billion in revenue.
Appropriate data and insight from SiriusDecisions’ benchmark activities,
consulting engagements and client inquiries were used to add context to the
survey findings.
Findings and Observations
The survey tracked what organizations are doing, or considering, in the area of
channel incentives. Specific findings and observations from the survey include:
• Incentive strategy and challenges. Sixty-five percent of respondents
offer up to three incentives annually, another 21 percent offer four to six
incentives annually, 7 percent of respondents offer seven to 10 incentives,
and another 7 percent offer more than 10 incentives annually. Data showed
that as the respondent organization grew in size, the number of incentives
offered also increased. We also asked respondents to name the three biggest
incentive challenges they were currently facing. Partner participation within
incentives topped the list at 18 percent, closely followed by incentives not
driving channel growth at 15 percent and incentives not influencing the right
behavior at 13 percent.
The Pulse: The State of Channel
Partner Incentives 2016
A recent SiriusDecisions survey asked
b-to-b channel marketing and sales
professionals how they use channel
partner incentives
Only 14 percent of respondents
stated that channel incentives met
their goals
Suppliers must periodically reassess
the incentives they offer and whether
they are having the intended effects
on partner behavior and results

2. Research Brief
© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 2
• Incentive goals. Alarmingly, when we asked respondents
how many of their channel incentive programs met their
goals, 15 percent stated that none of their incentives were
meeting their intended goals. Twenty-seven percent of
respondents stated that their incentives met few of their
intended goals, 44 percent were meeting some of their goals,
and only 14 percent of respondents stated that their channel
incentives met most of their goals. With so few incentives
meeting and delivering against goals, organizations need
to take a strategic approach to effectively incent current
and desired partners and drive the required behaviors. This
includes realigning incentive goals and maximizing the use
of internal resources and available budgets to achieve the
greatest success and ROI (see the Core Strategy Report
“The SiriusDecisions Channel Incentive Selection Model”).
• Incentive investment. Most respondents (82 percent)
indicated their organizations invest up to 10 percent of
annual channel revenue in channel incentives, and another
10 percent reported incentive investments between
10 and 20 percent of channel revenue. Organizations are
making significant annual investments and relying heavily
on incentives as the main investment within their channel
programs.
• Demand program incentives. When examining the types
of demand creation efforts that are supported with channel
incentives, the leading share of investment was allocated to
email marketing (14 percent), followed by online webinars/
events (12 percent), customer-facing events (12 percent)
and customer case studies/references (10 percent). We
see the latter type of content becoming more influential
within the buyer’s journey, coupled with a growing focus on
customer retention and satisfaction; partners demonstrating
their customer successes is becoming a growing area of
investment. Digital inbound marketing, merchandise/
promotional items, print advertising, public relations and
product catalogues received between 4 and 8 percent of

3. Research Brief
© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 3
incentive investment, trailed by social syndication at
3 percent. Over the next few years, we expect to see this
demand creation investment shift toward digital marketing
and customer experience activities. While not strictly a
demand creation activity, but often funded through market
development funds (MDF) or co-op, funded headcount still
accounts for 9 percent of channel incentive investment.
• MDF and co-op fund utilization. We also asked
organizations about their utilization of MDF and co-op
funds. For both incentive types, 47 percent of respondents
said that MDF and co-op funds are left unused by partners
at the end of every quarter. Utilization of MDF is slightly
better compared to accrual-based co-op funds. For MDF,
26 percent of respondents stated 1 to 20 percent of funds
were left unutilized, 14 percent stated that 21 to 40 percent
of funds were unutilized, and 7 percent stated that 41
to 50 percent of funds were remaining at the end of a
quarter. For co-op funds, 26 percent reported that 1 to
30 percent remained unutilized, 14 percent stated that 31
to 40 percent were left unused, and 7 percent stated that
41 to 50 percent of co-op funds were unused. With such
significant investments in channel incentives and funds not
being utilized effectively, organizations need to drive greater
adoption and provide prescriptive guidance, enablement
and support partners in driving demand activities (see the
Core Strategy Report “Fast-Tracking Demand Creation in
B-to-B Channels”).
• Incentive and partner types. We asked respondents what
incentives they were offering to partners and broke them
out into leading-indicator incentives, which are intended to
drive future results and are often based on knowledge or
behavior, and lagging-indicator incentives – which reward
achieved performance (e.g. sales results). Among lagging-
indicator incentives, MDF led with 30 percent of respondents
offering them, followed by volume/performance rebates
(29 percent), SPIFs (24 percent) accrual-based co-op funds
(10 percent) and points-based rewards or gamification
incentives at a company or individual level (7 percent).
Among leading-indicator incentives, 34 percent of
respondents used incentives for deal registration programs,
followed by certification/specialization achievement
(25 percent), managed business objectives (17 percent),
and launch funds and lead reporting (12 percent). We also
asked responders to name the partner types eligible for

4. Research Brief
© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 4
their channel incentive programs. Volume resellers, systems
integrators and solution providers accounted for the largest
proportions of respondents.
• Incentive management. When asked what resources were
managing channel incentives, 32 percent of respondents
pointed to field channel sales, followed by field channel
marketing (24 percent), distributors (15 percent), agencies or
other third parties (12 percent) and automated technology
platforms (12 percent). This shows that channel incentives
are still a significant burden for channel sales and marketing
resources, keeping valuable field resources from driving
other activities that could contribute to pipeline and channel
revenues. We also asked respondents what technologies
they were using to measure their channel incentives.
Twenty-four percent reported leveraging their partner portal,
while a surprising 21 percent are still using desktop manual
processes such as spreadsheets, 19 percent reported
using a partner relationship management platform, and
channel incentive management (CIM), channel marketing
and management (CMM), and sales force automation (SFA)
platforms account for 11 percent. Leveraging technology
to manage and measure channel incentives leads to a
reduction of the incentive burden on field resources as well
as the automation of processes to ensure accuracy and a
more consistent partner incentive experience.
• Incentive measurement. Forty-one percent of respondents
reported being able to measure incentive ROI at an
individual partner level, giving them the ability to measure
individual partner profitability. However, 42 percent stated
they could only measure at a partner type/tier level, and
16 percent stated they measured at a geographical/regional/
country level; this results in an inability to understand the
impact of partner incentives.
The Sirius Decision
With few incentives meeting their intended goals and the
strain on internal resources in terms of people, processes
and budgets, organizations must consider how to evolve their

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permission from SiriusDecisions, Inc.
SiriusDecisions helps business-to-business companies worldwide improve sales, marketing and product effectiveness.
Management teams make more informed business decisions through access to our industry analysts, best practice
research, benchmark data, peer networks, events and continuous learning courses. SiriusDecisions is based in Wilton, CT
with offices in London, Montreal, San Francisco and Waltham, MA.
187 Danbury Road, Wilton, CT 06897
203.665.4000 fax 203.563.9260
siriusdecisions.com
Research Brief
incentive programs to consistently influence partner behavior and improve
channel performance. With channel incentive adoption, execution and ROI
still causing headaches, different partner types and technologies entering the
mix, and channel goals shifting from year to year, periodically assessing and
adjusting incentive strategy can help guarantee that incentive investments will
continue to fuel success.