3) Promote affiliate programs online. They have already set up business for you. All you have to do is promote it and earn commissions.

4) Form an investment club. If you don’t have a large enough pool of money to invest right now, many of your friends may be in same boat. Pool your money together and invest in some of safer investments right now, like bonds or CDs. You will earn together more than measly percentage a regular account will provide.

5) If you have recently helped finance a house sale, sell your mortgage note for a lump sum. Instead of having to wait several years to get your money, take discount and get cash in hand now.

5.Build Strong Relationships: Your resellers may have agreements with other companies as well. How do you ensure that they focus sufficient efforts on your products? Make sure that you are best supplier out there. Assign channel account managers to oversee those relationships and continually look for ways that you and your partners can help each other grow business. Resellers often complain that suppliers don’t understand their business model and make decisions that adversely affect them. To avoid this problem, make sure that your channel managers understand partners’ business model and take that into consideration when modifying strategy. A long-term relationship built on cooperation and mutual trust will bring a lot of rewards for both you and your partner.

6.Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: This is perhaps this most important rule in reseller agreements. Don’t forget about your partners and always err on side of over-communication. Successful companies use regular newsletters, emails, telephone calls, site visits and even annual conventions to stay in touch with resellers and keep them motivated. Remember, these are your business partners and they should be kept abreast of new developments, marketing efforts, and sales goals. Invested partners want to understand your business and how growing business for you translates into profits for them.

7.Measure Performance: Along with clear goals and expectations, you need to measure partner performance to establish results and rewards. All companies use reseller revenue as a metric. You might consider also establishing a scorecard system to rank your resellers and let them know where they stand in relation to other partners. Additionally, you should gather feedback about your performance as a supplier. Possible vehicles are reseller advisory councils or satisfaction surveys. You want to know what your resellers are doing for you, but you also want to be sure that you are best supplier they have in terms of relationships, service, product quality and value.

8.Review and Revise Regularly: Let’s face it, business climate changes continually and a program you designed for partners two years ago may not cut it now. Successful partnering companies suggest reviewing effectiveness of partnership program every 1 to 2 years and make changes as needed. Including your resellers in this process will only help strengthen your relationships with them. You can also use this as an opportunity to let your unprofitable partners go and bring in new resellers that can better meet your goals and serve needs of your customers.

The bottom line is that resellers should be treated as both business partners and preferred customers. By building strong reseller relationships, you will only enhance value and service you provide to your end customers, thus improving your long-term growth and success.

Cynthia Bade is president of Carlson Bade Associates, consulting practice that helps companies foster stronger customer and partner relationships to increase growth and profits. For information about consulting services or workshops please email Cynthia at cynthia@carlsonbade.com or call 952-240-2161.