Adèle Coolens

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If you want your partnership program to succeed, you must build a strong partner enablement strategy. Doing so will ensure your channel partners have the knowledge, resources, and support they need to close deals.

But what is partner enablement? How is it different from partner onboarding? And most importantly, how do you build a partner enablement plan that scales?

We'll answer these questions (and many more) in this article to help you build a better partner sales process for your SaaS company. Let's get started!

What Is Partner Enablement?

Partner enablement is the act of enabling partners to sell on your behalf.

It's done by giving channel partners access to product details, marketing materials, and sales training to improve partner performance and ensure revenue growth.

Think about the sales enablement process you put your sales reps through. An effective partner enablement strategy is similar, but designed for external partners (like resellers, distributors, and affiliates) instead of internal teams.

It's important to note, partner enablement is different from partner onboarding. 

Partner enablement is an ongoing process. You must continually train and support your channel partners for them to be effective. Partner onboarding is a one-time event that introduces new partners to your company so they can start selling.

One more thing: There are different types of partner enablement.

There's product enablement, which teaches partners about the products and services you sell. There's marketing enablement, which teaches partners the best ways to promote your products and services. And there's sales enablement, which teaches partners specific sales techniques to close deals.

Successful partner enablement strategies include elements of all enablement types.

Why Partner Enablement Is Critical in 2025

Now that we know what partner enablement is, let's talk about why it's essential.

There are many reasons to invest in a channel partner enablement strategy. The most important ones are brand identity, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth.

• Brand Identity: Your partners are brand ambassadors. If you don't enable them to market and sell your products effectively, they might misrepresent your brand. This could have a negative impact on your company's reputation.
• Customer Satisfaction: Your partners interact with customers on your behalf. Effective partner training and sales resources - the things a strong partner enablement plan provides - will help your partners deliver better customer support that increases customer satisfaction and retention.
• Revenue Growth: Your partners will sell more products and services when they're properly trained and supported. They'll retain existing customers for longer periods of time as well. These two things will lead to more revenue and success for your company - both now and in the future.

A large partner network isn't enough. You need to provide said partners with ongoing support if you want them to close deals and drive revenue. Fortunately, a proper channel partner program will enable partners to succeed.

Core Elements of a Scalable Partner Enablement Strategy

What does an effective, scalable partner enablement strategy look like? Let's dive into four core elements so you can build more successful partnerships in 2025:

1. Onboarding That Activates (Not Overwhelms)

As we alluded to, onboarding is a partner enablement best practice. 

The key is to welcome resellers, distributors, and affiliates into your partner ecosystem in a way that inspires them to take action - not overwhelms them. Progressive learning paths, tailored to specific partner types and available in your partner portal, let partners get up to speed at their own pace.

With Introw, building these onboarding flows is simple and requires zero code. And with our soon-to-launch LMS, you can go a step further by embedding short quizzes and enabling partner certification right in the portal. 

For many programs, certification is the final step - partners must complete it before they’re fully enabled and able to sell your solution. It’s a win-win: you know your partners are truly prepared, and they gain the confidence to succeed from day one.

2. Centralized, Always-On Content Access

Your partners should have 24/7 access to channel partner sales enablement content. This will help them learn about products or study sales techniques in their own time. 

If possible, co-brand all sales enablement content. Or better yet, work with each partner to create unique materials they can use to close deals.

When partners have exactly what they need to make sales, and customers trust said partners like they would your internal sales team, they'll generate more revenue.

We also suggest syncing content into partner workflows. That way your partners always have access to proper sales collateral. This is often the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity. Support your partners and they'll support you!

With Introw, your partners can always get the content they need via email or Slack. Off-portal access makes it incredibly easy to facilitate deals in real time. And with the Introw AI Agent, partners can interact with enablement materials and ask questions about your product or sales process - getting instant, AI-powered answers 24/7, right when they need them.

3. Real-Time Collaboration

The best partner enablement strategies account for co-selling workflows.

If you're unfamiliar with the term, co-selling is when two companies work together to position, promote, and sell complimentary solutions to the same target market.

Co-selling can be incredibly effective for SaaS companies - if it's done right. To make it work for your brand, design mutual action plans (MAPs) that outline responsibilities. Then give partners access to deal threads to track potential sales.

Also, asynchronous workflows are critical. Partners should be able to communicate with each other conveniently. This will reduce friction and increase sales.

Introw facilitates co-selling in multiple ways.

First, the platform lets you build structured co-sell motions and track them by CRM stage, partner type, and target account segment. Then, channel partners are easily onboarded and given off-portal access to the platform.

Once a partner is working on a deal, they can easily register it using simple forms in the partner portal. The deal is created automatically in your CRM and attributed to the right partner, so nothing slips through the cracks. From there, you can co-sell in real-time, collaborating on deals and moving faster together.

Finally, Introw provides you and your partners with shared dashboards to track partner enablement metrics like win rate, sales velocity, and total revenue.

4. Embedded Performance Insights

Last but not least, commit to tracking partner performance.

Which partners generate the most leads? Which close the most deals? Which drive the most revenue? Create scorecards for every partner and grade them regularly.

Why is this important? Because you can't improve what you don't measure.

When you know what your partners excel at, you can put them in positions to succeed. When you know what they struggle with, you can suggest training materials or sales techniques to increase success.

You're probably wondering, "Which metrics should I track?" We have a few ideas:

• Activation Rate: The percentage of partners who reach a specific milestone in your partner onboarding process. Ideally, this number will be close to 100%.
• Time-to-First-Deal: The time it takes a new partner to close their first deal. 
• Content Engagement: The percentage of partners who use your sales collateral in the sales process. (Can also refer to the percentage of customers that consume sales content throughout the sales process.)
• Partner-Sourced Revenue: The amount of revenue your partners generate for your company. Try to measure this on a partner-to-partner basis.

These metrics should be easily accessible in your partner relationship management (PRM) tool. And, if you use an app like Introw, automatically synced with your CRM.

Step-by-Step Framework to Launch a Partner Enablement Program

It doesn't matter if  your title is "partner sales manager," "partner development manager," or something else. You can use this simple, step-by-step partner enablement framework for your SaaS company. Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Define Your Partner Personas

Start by categorizing your partner types. Said types might include resellers, referral partners, managed service providers (MSPs), and tech alliances - or all of the above.

Every partner type has different needs, goals, and enablement touch points. By separating them, you'll be able to customize your onboarding flows, content, and metrics. The result? More prepared partners who drive more revenue.

For example, Introw users often build partner-type-specific experiences to boost sales. When this happens, their partners tend to close more deals in less time.

With other tools, this would be almost impossible. Our users would have to hire a team of developers to make it happen. Thanks to Intro's no-code flow builder, partner managers can quickly build individualized flows for every partner type.

Step 2: Align Enablement Goals With Revenue KPIs

If you judge partner success by "activity" you'll be disappointed in the outcome.

Your partner enablement strategy should map to specific pipeline, activation, and revenue goals. Think: time-to-first-deal, partner-sourced pipeline, or deal velocity.

• Time-to-First-Deal: The time it takes a new partner to close their first deal
• Partner-Sourced Pipeline: Leads and sales a partner generates for your brand
• Deal Velocity: The speed at which a partner negotiates and finalizes a sale

Introw integrates seamlessly with Salesforce and HubSpot. As a result, the mutual action plans (MAPs) you create inside Introw, as well as the deal tracking tools you use to monitor partner performance, appear directly inside your CRM account. No manual data entry is needed, which saves time and reduces errors.

Step 3: Build an Always-On Enablement Hub

Next, create a centralized resource hub that partners can access at any time.

Your resource hub should include product details and training, sales playbooks and guides, deal registration links, and anything else your partners need to make sales.

This is important: Allow partners to view, download, and use resources without a login. The best partner enablement strategies meet partners where they work. Forcing them to remember another password creates unnecessary friction.

This is easy to do with Introw. Our platform standardizes off-portal access, which means users can speak, teach, and otherwise engage with their partners via email or Slack. These conversations are then synced to their CRM for future reference.

Step 4: Operationalize Key Workflows

Now you need to create and implement partner-oriented workflows.

What does this look like? It depends on your unique business and the objectives you want to achieve with your partner program. But here are a few ideas:

• Automate lead and deal registration
• Automatically send MAPs for timely review
• Setup notifications to streamline co-selling activities
• Receive notifications when partners contact your team

These things will help you and your partners stay aligned on goals. And because so much of it will be automated, the potential for human error is almost zero.

Take Introw, for example. Once you're set up with our platform, deal registrations, MAP approvals, and partner communication will happen natively inside your CRM, not in a disconnected portal. This will streamline your workflows and boost sales.

Step 5: Track Partner Engagement and Optimize

Remember, enablement doesn’t stop after onboarding.

Measure content engagement, response times, deal progression, and follow-up activity. Then use these insights to improve your materials and workflows.

Also, we suggest asking for partner feedback to learn what works and what doesn't. You can then use their advice to optimize processes and ensure mutual growth.

Introw simplifies performance tracking via built-in engagement metrics, Slack nudges, and CRM-linked reporting. In other words, Introw gives you the data you need, inside the platforms you already use. This makes it much easier to optimize partner enablement strategies and processes in real time.

Avoid These Partner Enablement Mistakes

We won't lie to you, implementing strong partner enablement tactics takes time and effort. But you can streamline the process by avoiding common mistakes.

• Portal-Only Access: Partners should be able to access enablement content in multiple ways. Restricting them to a password-protected portal is not wise.
• Generic Content: While you can't create custom content for every partner, you can tailor content to specific partner types. This is a realistic way to ensure partners have the knowledge and resources to close deals. 
• Misalignment: Your partner enablement strategy should align with your SaaS company's overarching pipeline and revenue goals. Track metrics that support your objectives. Popular examples include time-to-first deal, partner-sourced revenue, and deal velocity.
• No CRM Visibility: The data inside your partner portal, from simple conversations to deal registrations, should be visible in your CRM. That's why you should use a partner enablement tool with seamless integration options.

Final Thoughts: Partner Enablement Is a Revenue Lever, Not a “Nice to Have”

Partner enablement is essential in 2025 - and will continue to be for years to come.

If you support your partners via proper onboarding processes, relevant content, real-time collaboration, and consistent tracking, they'll drive more revenue.

Introw simplifies partner enablement. With our platform, you can build fresh experiences for every partner type, integrate with Salesforce or HubSpot to align on goals, create off-portal content hubs, and track essential metrics.

Sign up for a demo to see how Introw can improve your partner enablement efforts.

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Kiflo is a popular partner relationship management (PRM) tool. But if you're reading this article, you've probably realized it's not the best option for every SaaS team.

This is especially true for scaling startups with growing partner programs.

Sure, Kiflo is easy to use, has valuable features, and is reasonably priced. But it does NOT include important RevOps features or allow users to create off-portal user experiences. It's not CRM-native either. These limitations make it a subpar option for scaling SaaS businesses.

Not to fear! In this article, we analyze nine Kiflo alternatives to help you choose the right PRM for your SaaS and grow partnership revenue ASAP. Let's dive in…

Why SaaS Teams Look for a Kiflo Alternative

Interested in a Kiflo alternative?

It's probably because Kiflo doesn't offer CRM-native integrations, has limited forecasting and reporting capabilities, and/or lacks important user experience features.

Let's explore each of these limitations in greater detail:

No Native Native CRM Integrations

Kiflo doesn't integrate directly with CRM platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot.

To make these connections happen, users have to invest in a tool like Zapier. But this solution falls short, as it often causes duplicated work and fragmented data, while preventing deal sync. 

Not to mention, it costs more money to implement and creates an extra level of complexity. As such, scaling SaaS brands should choose a PRM with native CRM integrations.

No Customizable Partner Portal

Kiflo doesn’t let you fully customize the partner portal experience. As your program grows, you’ll need to tailor onboarding, branding, and workflows to fit different partner types and tiers. 

With Kiflo’s one-size-fits-all approach, you can’t create a unique experience for your resellers, referral partners, or MSPs — which means less engagement and more friction for your partners.

No Off-Portal Collaboration

Kiflo requires partners to log in to the portal for every interaction - whether it’s registering a deal, accessing resources, or providing updates. 

There’s no support for frictionless, off-portal collaboration (like replying via email or Slack with automatic sync to your CRM). This creates extra steps, slows down partner engagement, and can result in missed updates or delayed deals. 

9 Best Kiflo Alternatives in 2025

Kiflo helped you build a new partner program.

Now that said program is up and running, you want to enhance productivity, facilitate seamless collaboration, and drive more sales. You know you need a new PRM to achieve these things.

Which PRM should you choose? One of the nine Kiflo alternatives below will fit the bill:

1. Introw — Best CRM-Native PRM for SaaS Teams

Introw is one of the few PRMs that was built with CRM integration in mind.

It connects seamlessly to Salesforce and HubSpot and allows SaaS companies to collaborate off-portal. Just as important, the platform is no-code, so integrations and other features can be set up in minutes.

In addition, Introw helps simplify partner onboarding and deal flows, automates engagement tracking for hundreds of partners at once, and powers co-selling - all directly inside your CRM.

Key Features:

• CRM-first, so all data stays inside your CRM
• Real-time deal registration, forecasting, and MAPs
• Slack and email sync for timely notifications and reminders
• Modular workflows for referral, co-sell, and reseller partners
• No-code setup, so anyone can customize their PRM software

Request a demo to see if Introw is right for your SaaS brand!

2. PartnerStack — Best PRM for Growing Affiliate Sales

PartnerStack connects users to affiliates, resellers, and referral partners through a user-friendly interface. This simplifies the management process and leads to more sales.

The tool also includes advanced features and automation capabilities that can be used to improve marketing efforts and better recruit new partners.

Unfortunately, PartnerStack has limited CRM visibility, which creates friction for users.

Key Features:

• Recruit new partners
• Train partners effectively
• Track every partner sourced lead
• Issue partner commissions automatically

3. Partnero — Best for Influencer-Focused Growth Strategies

Partnero was specifically designed to help companies create affiliate and referral programs.

It enables users to track links and coupon codes, offer goal-based rewards, and use sophisticated commission structures. It also integrates seamlessly with popular tools.

It should be noted, however, Partnero was not designed for co-sell SaaS motions. If that's an important aspect of your company's sales approach, consider a different Kiflo alternative.

Key Features:

• Create affiliate, loyalty, and email newsletter referral programs
• Offer a variety of dynamic rewards and keep partners engaged
• Track partner performance and make data-driven decisions
• Integrate with popular tools like PayPal and WooCommerce

4. Channelscaler — Best for Large Enterprises

Channelscaler is the combination of two leading PRM tools: Allbound and Channel Mechanics. Together, the two tools create a capable solution for large companies.

Use Channelscaler to create partner portals, host content libraries, train new partners, offer a variety of incentives, close and track sales, integrate with other apps, and more.

As you can see, Channelscaler has a lot to offer, but you'll pay to use it. The platform is more expensive than other solutions. Sadly, you'll also have to deal with a rigid user experience.

Key Features:

• Build and manage a content library
• Develop learning tracks and certifications
• Manage market development funds (MDF)
• Easily distribute leads and register new deals
• Access detailed channel insights and reports

5. Tolt — Best for New Affiliate Programs

Tolt is all about affiliate marketing for SaaS companies.

After registration, customers can use Tolt to create branded portals for their affiliates, analyze important metrics related to their affiliate programs, and streamline affiliate payments.

While Tolt is a strong option for new affiliate programs, it lacks advanced PRM features. For example, Tolt doesn't offer deal registration tools. Its forecasting features are also weak.

Key Features:

• Easy setup
• Quick affiliate onboarding
• Intuitive interface and reporting tools
• Integrations with multiple payment apps

6. Impartner — Best for Global Organizations

Impartner is an extremely robust platform for global enterprises.

Does that sound like your company? Then you'll likely enjoy Impartner's many features, from personalized partner onboarding to advanced performance tracking and incentive management.

Just know that these features are often difficult to implement. If you're looking for an intuitive, user-friendly solution to manage your partner program, look elsewhere.

Key Features:

• Personalized partner onboarding
• Partner training and certification
• Advanced performance tracking
• Incentives and rewards management
• Integrations with other top tools

7. Impact.com — Best for Influencer-Focused Growth Strategies

Impact.com was made to accelerate growth via affiliates, social media influencers, media publishers, and pretty much every other partner type. (Though, it really shines with influencers.)

Use the platform to recruit partners, encourage engagement, track performance, automate payouts, and optimize results. In other words, manage partnerships through the entire lifecycle.

Impact.com is a strong PRM software, but it wasn't built specifically for SaaS brands. Software companies that want to drive results via partnerships might want a more tailor-made tool.

Key Features:

• Discover and recruit potential partners
• Track partner engagement and performance
• Create contracts and pay partners automatically
• Optimize partner programs based on in-depth analytics

8. Rewardful — Best for Small, Bootstrapped Teams

Rewardful offers "All-in-One Affiliate Management Software for SaaS".

Once users are set up with the platform, they can build custom affiliate portals, set different commission structures for different partners, track and settle payments, and more.

While not as fully featured as other PRMs, Rewardful is easy to use and affordable, which makes it a solid option for small, bootstrapped teams in the SaaS space.

Key Features:

• Build a user-friendly portal for affiliates
• Track performance via links or coupon codes
• Set up mass affiliate payouts through PayPal or Wise
• Build no-code integrations with Stripe, Paddle, and more

9. Partnerize — Best for Enterprise Direct to Consumer Sales

Finally, Partnerize connects brands with retailers, influencers, affiliate marketers, and more. The goal? To build complete partner programs that increase sales and drive revenue.

Partnerize gives users the ability to find potential partners, collaborate with them on sales, track their performance with real-time analytics, and send commission payments at scale.

Partnerize can be used by any SaaS company with the means to pay for it. But it's best suited to large organizations that focus on ecommerce and/or direct to consumer sales strategies.

Key Features:

• Tap into Partnerize's database of 1M+ potential partners
• Analyze metrics to see which partner strategies work best
• Build custom commission structures based on desired outcomes
• Issue prompt payments to partners in their preferred currencies
• Integrate with top commerce, content, and influencer solutions

How to Choose the Right Kiflo Alternative

We know what you're thinking, "All of the PRMs above sound great! How do I choose the best Kiflo alternative for my company?" We're glad you asked. Here are three suggestions:

Prioritize CRM Compatibility

A PRM will not replace your CRM. The tools should work together to boost revenue for your company. Look for Kiflo alternatives that prioritize CRM compatibility and connect to the CRM you already use. This will help you avoid information silos and make more sales.

Focus on Channel Revenue, Not Just Signups

Partner signups are great - but only if they produce revenue. Choose a Kiflo alternative that will support your company's specific partner journey, from onboarding to closed deals. Doing so will help you create better partner experiences that lead to more sales, revenue, and success.

Evaluate UX for Partners

Speaking of partner experiences, the best Kiflo alternatives support off-portal collaboration, so partners can close deals without logging in to a PRM. They also offer real-time visibility, so partners always know how many sales they've made and how much money they'll earn within a given time period. These things may sound simple, but they keep partners engaged. And engaged partners drive more revenue. As such, they're essential to a strong partner program.

Introw: The Best Partner Relationship Management Tool for SaaS Companies in 2025

There are plenty of good PRMs on the market. But Introw leads the pack because it's CRM-native, built for RevOps alignment, and helps users to create better partner experiences.

Put simply, Introw integrates directly with powerful CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce, which means partners can use CRM data to increase sales. Just as important, the sales partners make via Introw portals are automatically logged in your CRM - no more manual data entry!

Introw also allows users to work off-portal, supports asynchronous workflows via Slack and/or email, enables modular and scalable partner flows, and includes real-time forecasting.

Plus, Introw offers transparent pricing that almost every scaling SaaS company can afford. Request a demo of Introw today to see if it's right for your company's partnership program.