Partnerships are the heartbeat of the Channel. But a partnership is only as strong as its start, and that means the first weeks and months matter more than most people give them credit for. Get onboarding right, and you build a partner who sells with confidence, grows steadily, and serves happy customers for years to come. Get it wrong, and even a great solution can stall before it gets off the ground.
We sat down to unpack what onboarding success actually looks like at Jola, and how we go after it.
What are partners really looking for at the start?
New resellers aren't just looking for another product to add to the price list. They're looking for differentiated solutions to problems that are already in demand, and they need those solutions to be easy: easy to sell, easy to deliver, easy to manage, easy to support, and easy to bill. Complexity anywhere in that chain is friction, and friction slows everything down.
Just as important as the solution itself is the team behind it. Partners want people who are responsive, knowledgeable and professional, people they can trust to pick up the phone and know what they're talking about. And increasingly, they want independence: the tools to manage end-to-end solutions themselves, rather than leaning on third parties for every small change.
In short, partners are looking for a combination of the right product and the right relationship, from day one.
So what does onboarding actually look like?
There's no one-size-fits-all approach. Jola's onboarding process is tried and tested, but it's customised to each new partner and their specific requirements, because no two partners come in with the same priorities, structure or experience.
That process starts with full training on all relevant solutions and platforms for every staff member who'll need it, not just the sales lead, and portal access is granted as part of the welcome so partners can start exploring straight away. From there, it's about working side by side: productising the offer, promoting it, generating leads, winning the first order, placing it, provisioning it, and getting it live and billed.
Sales training doesn't stop after week one either. Full sales training runs alongside retention, growth and incentive schemes, and loyalty is recognised in both directions: long-term partners are rewarded for staying the course, and the fastest-growing partners get recognition of their own.
What does success actually look like at the end of that process?
It's when partners are confident with the solutions on offer, when they're regularly identifying and winning opportunities on their own, and when their end users are giving them excellent feedback. That's the real marker: not just a signed agreement, but a partner who's thriving. For further information about Jola and our onboarding processes, request our Partner Pack.
