Deal registration (deal reg) is a common process of a vendor’s Channel Partner Programme whereby a channel partner informs the vendor about a sales opportunity. This process is usually as simple as the partner submitting a deal reg request via a partner portal or system the vendor hosts.
If the deal reg is approved by the vendor the partner is given priority for the lead. This can also include additional benefits such as price exceptions which wards off competition from other partners.
Here’s a simple breakdown of the deal registration process:
The benefits of the deal reg process are numerous, however, here are a few:
It increases the visibility of revenue much sooner
Particularly if the vendor has deployed a system in which partners can register deals themselves. With this, vendors can identify sales pipeline and forecast much earlier in the process.
It reduces conflict in the channel and increases partner satisfaction
Once a deal has been registered only that partner can pursue the deal. This also means that the vendor’s direct sales teams cannot take the lead away from the partner. Protecting deals shows partners that vendors value their contribution towards sales and ensures they are rewarded for their efforts.
It allows better resource allocation
With increased visibility, the vendor can deploy resources to support the partners, particularly the higher priority deals.
A good deal registration incentive can make a big difference in motivating partners to bring in high-quality leads and close deals. Here are some key elements that make an incentive effective:
By incorporating these elements, vendors can create a compelling deal registration incentive programme that drives partner engagement and boosts sales success.
An incentive programme has many components and a good one has the following:
At The Essential Agency, we leverage gamification within our channel incentive platform to foster a sense of friendly competition among participants. By integrating game-like elements such as leaderboards, point systems, and rewards, we create an engaging environment that motivates participants to achieve their goals. This approach enhances user engagement and drives performance and productivity by making the process enjoyable and rewarding.
\You need a big enough carrot to draw people in. Tech items, experiences (e.g., wine tasting, track days) and simple Amazon vouchers work well. Prize fulfilment can be quite challenging, particularly if you have participants in different countries, but since Amazon operates in most countries, they are often a go-to choice. There are also prize fulfilment services you can use to help you manage this if required.
You need to know who is taking part in your incentive. Plus, have the reassurance that they understand what is involved and what they are signing up for. Registration is an essential component of every incentive programme, and you can’t successfully run one without it. Also important is that participants also acknowledge they have accepted the incentive terms and conditions (you’ll need those too), this is invaluable in resolving any issues further down the line.
Avoid making the incentive too challenging (participants won’t bother taking part) or too easy. Strike a balance that encourages sales teams to get the work done and contributes to fulfilling the incentive SMART goals. Don’t incentivise the closure of deals that were going to close anyway (too easy) or set impossible sales targets that no one can reach (too hard). Instead, incentivise the closure of deals not in the immediate forecast. These deals weren’t expected to close, but when they do, they bring in revenue beyond expectations and are definitely worth a reward!
The following collateral helps communicate and promote the incentive with both internal teams and participating partners:
Communication is key at all stages of the incentive, both internally to ensure the partner sales team are onboard and encouraging their partners to sign up, and externally with the partners themselves. If you sell via distribution, don’t forget your distributors as they will help to promote the incentive as well. Making use of the assets described above, communications will come in three stages:
Running an incentive isn’t easy with so many components and people involved. A good Deal Reg Incentive has a good team behind it. With a project manager at the centre, you typically see the following additional roles as part of the team:
What makes a Deal Reg Incentive more engaging, is the provision of progress updates to participants. Even better is allowing them to make deal reg claims and track their activity whenever they like. This is done through incentive platforms. At the base level, the participant simply logs in, submits a claim, and can review approved claims and their current reward total. Seeing their current progress on-screen helps to motivate them to do more.
Good sales data makes reporting easier. By building reporting dashboards, you can gain insights during the incentive and potentially act where there is an opportunity to improve. Insights and reporting derived at the incentive close can be fed back to budget holders to enable decision-making for future endeavours and motivate all internal stakeholders.
Global prize fulfilment is time-consuming and can be problematic unless well-planned in advance. Physical prizes are more difficult to distribute than virtual ones (e.g., e-vouchers). Delivering prizes to different countries is also a challenge to consider, along with the different tax implications that may apply. If you haven’t done this before or don’t have the time, it’s advisable to use a fulfilment company experienced with these challenges. The important thing is to be able to distribute prizes accurately and timely (don’t leave it too long after the incentive or your participants will be chasing you!) and with minimal distribution costs.
Vendors often run deal reg incentives with their channel to help them build the sales pipeline. They typically have one or more of the following objectives:
The disconnect between sales and marketing is well documented. Incentives focused on lead generation will encourage sales and marketing teams to work together. Vendors will encourage partners to run off-the-shelf marketing campaigns from their portals to generate a sales pipeline that the partner sales team follows up resulting in new deal registrations.
Deals have several forecast categories which both indicate their position in the sales funnel and the likelihood of closing. The forecast closed date and revenue value enable reasonably accurate sales forecasting.
With deals registered in Salesforce, for example, you’ll see the following forecast categories :
A sales incentive solely centred on closing deals, especially those that would likely close regardless, may not yield a significant impact. On the other hand, an incentive programme that prioritises rewarding salespeople for successfully advancing and closing unexpected deals can be more impactful. This involves closing a deal on or before the existing estimated close date.
Over time, partners get used to the incentives vendors have run. And from vendor to vendor, incentives can often be very similar. Therefore ‘doing something a bit different’ is a tactic to generate a bit more interest from the partner base than you’d otherwise get. It’s worth testing because in some instances it’s the familiarity that works too. Partners have done it before and will do it again if they value it the first time.
It could be as simple as rebranding the incentive. Alternatively, it can be rewards that have not been tried before or a change to what is being incentivised. It may even need an upgrade to the whole process or something really new and exciting to better engage the participants.
Here are a couple of examples:
There is no doubt that successful Deal Reg Incentives contribute to the growth of your business and your sales channel. It’s not just about generating new pipeline and closing more deals. A successful incentive builds trust and buy-in internally, increases brand image in the channel and motivates teams going forward.
If the deal registration process seems too daunting, Essential has more than 20 years of experience working in the channel and running successful incentives for our clients.
Take a look at our channel incentive portfolio and see how we can do the heavy lifting for you and make your next incentive a resounding success!
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Incentivizer™ is the stand‑alone channel incentive platform designed to make incentives simple, fast, and effective for growing vendors and global organisations. No more spreadsheets, no more delays – just a clean, guided workflow that gets you live in days, not weeks.
Our platform is engineered for scale. Whether you’re running a single campaign or managing multi‑country, multi‑tier programmes, Incentivizer gives you real‑time analytics, automated workflows, and seamless integration with your existing systems. It’s everything you need to turn incentives into a growth engine.
