Built for Channel and Partner Managers

The CRM channel teams run their partner book from.

Channel and partner managers carry a number against indirect pipeline, defend a co-sell forecast, and juggle 20 to 200 partner relationships across resellers, VARs, SIs, agencies, affiliates, and referral sources. A good CRM for a channel manager is the one that holds every partner, every registered deal, every MDF dollar, and every joint pipeline motion on one record, and keeps the direct sales team honest about not stepping on partner-sourced opportunities.

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What this audience is actually dealing with

The pains that bring buyers here.

The channel job description reads like four jobs stitched into one headcount. Recruit new partners that match the ideal profile. Enable the ones already signed so they can actually sell. Run deal registration without the direct team poaching every lead. Co-sell on the top pipeline so revenue closes and nobody feels burned. In most CRMs those four jobs happen in three different tools (one for partner portal, one for CRM pipeline, one spreadsheet for MDF) and the channel manager spends two days a week gluing the picture back together for the Monday QBR. The seven pains below show up on every channel-manager buyer call we have run, consistent across SaaS reseller programs, services VAR networks, agency referral channels, and classic SI alliances. If any of them look familiar, the rest of the page shows how Strkr collapses the full partner motion into a single workspace where the partner record, the registered deal, the MDF ledger, the enablement progress, and the joint delivery hand-off all live on the same tenant with role-aware visibility for the partner and the internal team.

Deal registration chaos

Deal reg lives in a Google Form and emails fly to nobody in particular.

Partners submit deals through a Google Form or an email alias and the channel team triages into a spreadsheet. By the time the deal lands in the CRM, the direct AE has already called the account, the partner feels burned, and the channel manager spends Monday morning apologising instead of booking revenue. Strkr Partner Portal ships a native deal registration form that lands directly on a Channel Opportunity record with duplicate detection against the direct pipeline, auto-routes to a channel manager for approval inside a configurable SLA window, and locks the account against direct-team poaching for the registration period.

MDF ledger in a spreadsheet

The MDF budget is a shared sheet nobody trusts.

Marketing Development Funds get committed in Slack, approved in email, invoiced through accounting, and reconciled in a spreadsheet nobody opens until the quarterly program review. Half the entries are stale, the finance team rejects the lot because of missing receipts, and the partner stops trusting the program. Strkr tracks MDF as a native budget ledger per partner with request, approval, invoice, proof-of-performance, and reimbursement states on one record, with Finance looping in through approval flows that keep the audit trail intact.

Partner tier opacity

Partners never know where they stand against the next tier.

Tier upgrades (Silver to Gold, Gold to Platinum) depend on registered deals, closed revenue, certification counts, and co-marketing commitments, and the math lives in a channel analyst spreadsheet nobody shares. Partners ask for upgrades, the channel manager promises to check, and the request dies in a backlog. Strkr Partner Portal shows every partner their tier scorecard in real time with the exact remaining ask against each criterion, so partners self-coach into the next tier without the quarterly tier-review bottleneck.

Enablement never finishes

Partner reps start the training and never come back to finish it.

Partner enablement rolls out as a six-module course in a learning management system, and 60 percent of partner reps bail after module two. The channel manager has no visibility into who finished what, which partner rep is actually certified to sell, or whether the next co-sell call will have a trained seller on the line. Strkr Partner Portal tracks enablement progress per partner contact with module completion, assessment scores, certification states, and expiry dates on the same record as the deal pipeline so the channel manager routes co-sell to certified reps only.

Co-sell handoff drops

The internal AE forgets the partner was on the deal.

Partner registers the deal, direct AE joins the first call, and over the next 90 days the partner silently drops off the thread. Deal closes, the internal AE claims the full comp, the partner feels burned, and the next deal registration lands with the competitor instead. Strkr Channel Opportunity records tag the registered partner, split-attribution math runs native in the forecast, the partner contact stays on the collaboration thread with role-aware visibility, and the Closed Won flow fires a partner-notification trigger so the credit lands where it was earned.

Partner recruitment stall

The partner pipeline is a notebook, not a pipeline.

Recruiting new partners should run like a sales motion: inbound applications, outbound prospecting, qualification call, business case review, agreement signing, onboarding kickoff. Instead the channel manager runs it from memory and a sticky note. Strkr lets the channel manager spin up a Partner Pipeline that mirrors the sales pipeline primitive with its own stages, custom fields, and recruitment flows so partner acquisition gets the same discipline as direct-sales deal management.

Program analytics blind spot

The VP asks for channel ROI and I rebuild the deck every quarter.

The channel VP wants partner-sourced ARR, partner-influenced ARR, MDF utilisation, deal registration conversion, co-sell win rate, and tier distribution in one slide for the QBR. The channel manager spends three days rebuilding the deck from four spreadsheets. Strkr ships a native Channel Analytics view with every one of those metrics on dashboards, filterable by partner, segment, tier, geo, and period, so the QBR deck is a screenshot instead of a reconstruction project.

How Strkr fits the channel manager day

The daily primitives channel managers actually use.

Strkr for Channel Partners is not a different product than Strkr for AEs or Sales Managers. It is the same CRM with partner-portal surfaces, deal-registration flows, and MDF ledger primitives bolted onto the shared contact, account, and pipeline model. Everything below ships on every paid tier with no premium PRM module or add-on gate. The primitives are shaped around what a channel manager repeats every week: triaging the deal registration queue, running co-sell calls, approving MDF requests, enabling partner reps, and preparing the Monday roll for the VP. When those five motions happen in one workspace with one record of truth, the channel manager finally spends the day on partner relationships instead of stitching four tools together into a QBR deck.

Partner record

One record holds the whole partner relationship.

The Partner record pulls in the partnership agreement, tier scorecard, certified contacts, registered deals, closed revenue, MDF ledger, enablement progress, joint marketing plan, and the executive sponsor on the Strkr side. A sidebar renders role-aware so the channel manager sees internal commentary and the partner contact sees only what the policy allows, on the same record without a tab switch.

Deal registration queue

Every registered deal lands in a triage queue.

A dedicated Deal Registration queue surfaces every pending registration with duplicate-detection flags against the direct pipeline, partner-tier context, registered rep certification state, and the SLA countdown. The channel manager approves or rejects with one click, auto-notifies the partner, and the approval creates a Channel Opportunity record with partner attribution baked in.

Co-sell pipeline board

The pipeline I actually run co-sell deals from.

Column-per-stage board filtered by Channel Opportunity type with grouping by partner, segment, tier, close month, or ARR band. Drag a deal between stages and the flow runs the entry criteria check, requires the missing artifact (partner-signed MSA, SOW draft, joint discovery notes), and surfaces the next-step prompt. The channel manager runs co-sell with the same discipline the direct team runs direct deals.

MDF ledger

Marketing Development Funds, tracked end to end.

A native MDF ledger per partner with request submission, line-item approval, invoice attachment, proof-of-performance checklist (receipts, campaign results, lead counts, attendee lists), and reimbursement states on one record. Finance approvals route through flows with the audit trail intact. The quarterly program review runs on live data instead of a spreadsheet reconstruction.

Tier scorecard

Every partner knows exactly where they stand.

The tier scorecard pulls from live partner activity: registered deals in period, closed-won revenue, certification counts, co-marketing commitments met. Partners see their own scorecard in the portal with the exact remaining ask against each tier criterion. The channel manager stops answering "what do I need to hit Gold" twenty times a quarter.

Enablement tracker

Who is certified, who is in flight, who is expired.

Partner enablement tracks per-contact: module completion, assessment scores, certification issue date, expiry date, and refresh deadlines. The channel manager routes co-sell to certified reps only and sees the enablement pipeline on the partner record, so the next quarterly review has a clear picture of coverage per partner.

Joint pipeline forecast

Partner-sourced, partner-influenced, direct, on one roll.

Forecast rolls partner-sourced revenue, partner-influenced revenue, and direct revenue in distinct columns on the same view. The channel manager defends the partner number alongside the direct VP in the Monday roll without rebuilding a parallel spreadsheet. Split attribution runs native with the per-deal split rules the program defines.

The partner portal partners actually use

A portal built for the partner, not the channel manager spreadsheet.

Most partner portals look like they were built for the vendor and then grudgingly opened to the partner. Partners log in once, discover the portal is a document dumping ground with a stale deal registration form, and never come back. Strkr Partner Portal flips the frame: the partner lands on a workspace that shows their open deals, pending registrations, MDF ledger, tier scorecard, enablement progress, and co-marketing calendar on one screen. The channel manager edits that same workspace from the internal side with role-aware visibility, so every data point the partner sees is live and the channel manager never has to send a weekly recap email with half the picture missing.

Partner home

A workspace the partner opens every day.

The partner home shows registered deals, pending approvals, open MDF requests, upcoming co-marketing events, and tier scorecard progress on one screen. Partners find what they need in one scroll instead of hunting through a document portal. The channel manager controls the layout per tier so Platinum partners see one surface and new Bronze partners see a simpler onboarding-focused layout.

Deal registration form

A form built for the partner, not the vendor compliance team.

A deal registration form captures the fields the channel manager actually needs: account name, primary contact, opportunity description, expected ARR, estimated close date, competitor context, and partner rep. Submission lands directly on a Channel Opportunity record with duplicate detection running inline, so the partner knows within an hour whether the registration cleared the direct-pipeline check.

MDF request flow

MDF requests with evidence attached up front.

Partners submit MDF requests from the portal with campaign plan, expected results, budget breakdown, and target personas inline. Approval routes through the channel manager and Finance via flows with the audit trail intact. Proof-of-performance uploads attach to the request, and reimbursement states update on both the partner and the internal side in real time.

Enablement library

The training the partner rep opens on their own time.

The enablement library carries product training, sales play guides, demo scripts, battlecards, and certification assessments. Each partner contact tracks their own progress and gets the certification badge on their profile when they finish. The channel manager sees the aggregate per partner on the internal side and routes co-sell to certified reps only.

Co-marketing calendar

Joint events, webinars, and campaigns on one calendar.

A shared calendar surfaces every joint marketing commitment with the partner: upcoming webinars, trade-show presence, email co-sends, content releases, and campaign launches. The partner marketing lead and the channel manager both edit the same calendar with role-aware visibility, so neither side is surprised by a missed co-marketing commitment.

Partner messaging

A thread per deal and a thread per partnership.

Partner collaboration threads live on the deal record and the partner record. The partner contact posts a question, the channel manager answers, and the whole exchange stays on the record for the quarterly review. Email and Slack sync feed into the same thread so the partner never has to wonder where the conversation went.

Document library

Signed agreements, order forms, SOWs on one shelf.

A document library per partner stores the partnership agreement, order forms, SOWs, co-marketing agreements, and NDAs with version history. Partners find what they need without emailing the channel manager, and the channel manager stops being the document courier between legal and the partner organisation.

Deal registration and conflict resolution

The flows that keep the partner and the direct team honest.

The single ugliest moment in any channel program is the conflict call: partner registers a deal, direct AE claims the account was already prospected, VP of sales sides with the direct team, partner stops registering. One of those every quarter kills the program for the next six months. Strkr runs deal registration with explicit rules on the record, timestamp evidence of first-touch, policy-driven arbitration, and automatic lockouts on registered accounts for the direct team. The channel manager spends time on genuinely ambiguous cases and never has to adjudicate "I called them two weeks ago" against "we registered them last Monday" from memory.

Duplicate detection

Every registration cross-checks the direct pipeline live.

The registration form hits the duplicate-detection rule the moment the partner submits. Rules check against account name match, domain match, and primary contact email match across the direct pipeline and recently closed-lost records. Matches surface on the triage queue with the conflicting record linked, so the channel manager has evidence instead of memory to work from.

Approval SLA

The partner hears back inside a defined window.

Every registration has an approval SLA defined per partner tier (24 hours for Platinum, 48 hours for Gold, 72 hours for Silver and Bronze). The queue countdown surfaces the pending registrations in SLA order, and flows escalate to the channel director if the SLA breaches. Partners stop wondering if their registration got lost in the queue.

Account lockout

An approved registration locks the account for the direct team.

When a registration gets approved, the account enters a lockout period (default 90 days, configurable per policy) during which direct AEs cannot create a competing opportunity. Attempts fire a notification to the channel manager with the attempted record, so direct-team poaching gets caught at the attempt instead of at the close.

First-touch timestamp

The record is the arbitration source of truth.

Every account carries a first-touch timestamp from the earliest activity (meeting booked, email reply, inbound form fill, outbound call logged). When conflict arises, the record is the arbitration source instead of memory. "Who touched this first" is a database question, not a judgment call.

Rejection reasons

Rejected registrations carry a reason and a path forward.

When a registration gets rejected, the partner sees the reason code (account already active in direct pipeline, partner tier below minimum ARR threshold, geo outside partner territory, duplicate against existing registration) and the recommended next step. Partners stop guessing why registrations fail and start adjusting their targeting.

Extension requests

Partners can extend lockouts on genuinely active deals.

A long-cycle enterprise deal needs more than the default 90-day lockout. The partner submits an extension request from the portal with an updated close estimate and the latest activity log. The channel manager approves or declines with one click, and the lockout period updates on the account record with the full audit trail intact.

Flows for the channel motion

Automations that cover the full partner lifecycle.

The best channel teams are not the ones who grind the longest hours; they are the ones who automate the quiet administrative drag and spend their time on the three partner relationships where judgment matters most. Strkr Flows handle the dozen automations every channel team should run, and each one ships as a native trigger with no webhook plumbing or glue code. The pattern below is what shows up in week two of every channel program deployment, and it is the pattern that quietly compounds into cleaner deal registration, faster MDF turnaround, higher partner engagement, and a Monday roll that writes itself.

Registration received

New registration auto-routes to the channel manager with context.

The flow fires on registration submission, runs the duplicate check, pulls the partner tier context, and routes to the owning channel manager with the SLA clock started. The channel manager opens the queue and sees the full context without clicking around, so the triage decision takes 90 seconds instead of a 10-minute hunt.

Registration approved

Approval creates the opportunity and notifies the partner.

Approval fires the flow that creates the Channel Opportunity record, tags the partner for attribution, locks the account against direct-team competing records, emails the partner the approval with the opportunity reference, and schedules the first joint discovery call per the partner playbook.

MDF request submitted

Request routes to channel manager with budget context inline.

The flow pulls the partner current-period MDF budget balance, the remaining amount, the recent spend pattern, and routes the request to the channel manager with that context inline. Approval or decline takes one click with the audit trail captured. The partner sees the decision in the portal within the approval SLA.

Tier threshold crossed

Partner hits a tier upgrade threshold and the system notices.

The flow runs daily on the tier scorecard math. When a partner crosses a threshold (closed revenue, registered deals, certification count, co-marketing commitments met), it fires the tier-review notification to the channel manager and the partner, so upgrades happen in the week they are earned instead of three months later in the quarterly tier review.

Certification expiring

A rep certification 60 days from expiry triggers a renewal nudge.

The flow finds every partner contact with a certification 60 days from expiry and drops a renewal nudge in their portal inbox. 30 days out, it escalates to the partner manager with the full list. The channel manager keeps certified coverage per partner without a quarterly audit sweep.

Closed Won on channel deal

Partner-sourced close fires the attribution and comp flow.

A Channel Opportunity closing Won fires the attribution flow: credits the partner on the record, updates the partner tier scorecard, triggers the finance partner-comp payout queue, pings the Projects module to spin up the delivery project with the partner tagged on the project team, and emails the partner the thank-you with revenue reporting attached.

Partner inactivity watch

Partners quiet for 60 days surface on a re-engagement list.

The flow finds every partner with zero deal registrations, zero MDF requests, and zero portal logins in the last 60 days. Drops them on a re-engagement list for the channel manager with the last-activity date, last-deal date, and tier scorecard context. The channel manager catches the drift before it becomes a program-exit.

Partner enablement that finishes

The training that partner reps actually complete.

The hard truth about partner enablement is that most partner reps start the course, hit module two, get pulled into a customer call, and never log back in. The channel team ends up with a certified-reps-list that is 20 percent accurate and the next co-sell call lands with an uncertified rep who cannot answer the first product question. Strkr enablement runs on a progress-aware model with reminder flows, assessment gating, certification issue, and expiry tracking so the certified-reps list is live and accurate, and the channel manager routes co-sell to reps who can actually sell.

Module tracking

Every partner rep carries their own progress record.

Each partner contact tracks their own module completion, assessment scores, and certification state on a progress record attached to their contact entry. The channel manager sees per-partner aggregate rollups, and the partner manager on the other side sees their own team progress to coach their reps through the course.

Reminder flows

Stalled learners get a nudge before they churn out.

Flows watch for partner reps who started a module and have not progressed for seven days. They drop a reminder in the portal inbox and the partner inbox, with the specific module and the time commitment to finish ("12 minutes to complete Module 3"). The nudge is the single biggest driver of enablement completion we have measured across deployments.

Assessment gates

Certification requires passing the assessment, not just watching the video.

Each module ends with an assessment the partner rep has to pass to proceed. The assessment questions pull from a question bank the channel team maintains, so the questions rotate and the test is not easily shared across the partner org. Reps who fail retake after a 24-hour cooldown with a different question set.

Certification issue

A completed course issues a dated certificate the partner rep can share.

Finishing the full certification path issues a dated certificate with the partner organisation name, rep name, product version, and expiry date. The partner rep shares the certificate on LinkedIn or email signature, and the certification shows on their contact record internally so the channel manager routes co-sell to them with confidence.

Expiry tracking

Certifications expire so the training stays current with the product.

Certifications carry a 12-month expiry by default (configurable per program). As the product evolves, the course content updates and reps have to recertify. The channel manager keeps a current-certified-reps list without a quarterly audit, and the partner reps who care about staying current stay current.

Role-specific tracks

Separate tracks for sellers, pre-sales engineers, and delivery.

The enablement library carries separate certification tracks for partner sellers, partner pre-sales engineers, and partner delivery teams. Each track focuses on the material that role actually needs, so a partner SE does not sit through a selling-skills module and a partner seller does not have to pass a deep technical architecture assessment to get on co-sell calls.

MDF ledger and co-marketing

The money and the marketing, on the same record.

Marketing Development Funds are the oxygen of a channel program and the single ugliest reconciliation chore of every QBR. Partners submit requests ad hoc, Finance pushes back on missing receipts, the channel manager runs an email chase, and the end-of-quarter MDF utilisation number is a guess. Strkr runs MDF as a native budget ledger per partner with request, approval, invoice, proof-of-performance, and reimbursement states on one record and a native approval flow that captures the audit trail. Co-marketing lives on the same record so campaigns and spend tie together without a spreadsheet to glue them.

Budget per partner

Every partner tier carries a budget allocation.

Partner tiers carry an annual MDF budget allocation defined per program policy (Platinum $100K, Gold $40K, Silver $15K, Bronze $5K). The budget ledger per partner shows allocated, committed, spent, and remaining in real time. Partners self-check their balance in the portal, and the channel manager approves against the live number instead of a Monday-morning spreadsheet.

Request submission

MDF requests capture the campaign upfront.

The request form captures campaign plan, target personas, expected outcomes (lead count, meeting count, pipeline sourced), budget breakdown, and timeline. The channel manager approves with the full context inline, so the approval decision is informed instead of a reflex-yes-reflex-no cycle.

Approval flow

Routing threads Finance and Legal where policy requires.

The approval flow routes based on request size and campaign type. Under $5K and standard campaign types approve by the channel manager alone. Above $5K or non-standard campaign types loop in Finance. Above $25K loop in the channel director. Legal reviews anything that involves a joint-content commitment. The audit trail is on the record for the quarterly finance review.

Proof of performance

Reimbursement requires evidence attached to the request.

Reimbursement releases on proof-of-performance submission: campaign receipts, actual outcomes against expected (leads delivered, meetings booked, pipeline sourced, attendees registered), screenshots or landing-page captures where applicable. The channel manager verifies, Finance releases, and the audit trail is intact for the compliance review.

Campaign tagging

Every MDF-funded campaign tags on the resulting pipeline.

Pipeline sourced from an MDF-funded campaign tags with the campaign reference, so quarterly MDF ROI is a database query (revenue sourced from campaign divided by MDF spend on campaign) instead of a reconstruction project. Partners see their own campaign ROI in the portal, and the program ROI story writes itself for the VP.

Co-marketing calendar

The campaigns the MDF funds, on a visible timeline.

The co-marketing calendar surfaces every approved MDF-funded campaign on a timeline per partner and per segment. The channel marketing lead and the partner marketing lead both see what is happening when, so there is no accidental double-up (two partners running the same webinar the same week) and no accidental drought (nobody running co-marketing in May).

What the channel VP sees

Views that make the Monday roll fast.

A good channel VP coaches on three specific partner relationships a week, not on all 60 in the roll. Strkr surfaces the data the VP needs to run a short, specific channel review without the channel manager feeling surveilled, because the same views are available to the channel manager and the VP with the same filters. The views below ship as default saved views for the channel VP role on every tenant and can be duplicated and personalised without an admin ticket.

Partner roll

Each partner on one row with the full program picture.

The Monday partner-roll view puts every partner on one row with their tier, closed revenue in period, registered deals open, MDF utilisation, enablement coverage, and health score. The VP sees the full roll in one scroll and drills into the specific partners behind any cell. Reviewing 60 partners takes 15 minutes, not three hours.

Top partners

Top 10 by sourced ARR with risk flags.

A top-partners view sorts by partner-sourced ARR with risk flags (declining activity, expiring certifications, overdue MDF, stale deal registrations) as columns. The VP spots the biggest partner relationship with the thinnest health score in seconds and asks the channel manager to focus the week there, instead of a generic "how is everyone doing" ask.

Co-sell pipeline

Partner-sourced pipeline by stage, by partner, by segment.

A co-sell pipeline view breaks the partner-sourced pipeline by stage, with filters on partner, segment, geo, and close month. The VP sees the shape of the quarter in a scroll and spots the holes (nothing in Enterprise, lots in SMB that will not close in-period) early enough to steer. The channel manager uses the same view to coach the deal selection with the partners.

Deal reg conversion

Registrations submitted versus approved versus closed.

A deal-registration funnel view shows registrations submitted, approved, converted to open opportunity, and closed-won by partner. The VP spots partners with a high registration rate and low close rate (lead-quality issue) versus low registration rate and high close rate (volume issue), and the channel manager coaches the right lever per partner.

MDF utilisation

Spent, committed, remaining, by partner and segment.

The MDF utilisation view shows spent, committed, and remaining budget per partner alongside the pipeline sourced from the spend. The VP sees high-spend low-return partners and low-spend high-return partners on one grid, and the budget reallocation conversation runs on live data for the next period planning.

Partner health

Composite health scores with the component signals.

Partner health rolls activity in portal, deal registrations, pipeline sourced, enablement completion, MDF engagement, and NPS from the partner survey into a composite score with the component signals visible on hover. The VP coaches the channel manager on the three partners most at risk, and the health score updates weekly so interventions get measured.

Head-to-head

Strkr for channel teams vs Salesforce PRM plus Impartner plus Allbound.

A typical mid-market channel stack runs Salesforce for CRM, a dedicated PRM platform like Impartner or Allbound or ZINFI for the partner portal, a separate deal-registration tool, a spreadsheet for MDF, a learning management system for enablement, and a handful of Slack bots glued in between. Strkr collapses most of that into a single workspace with one bill, one admin surface, and one record of truth for every partner and every registered deal.

Feature Strkr Salesforce + Impartner + Allbound stack
Number of tools channel manager opens daily 1 (Strkr) 4 to 7
Partner portal Native, same tenant as CRM, role-aware visibility Separate PRM product, SSO stitching, separate billing
Deal registration Native with duplicate detection, SLA, account lockout Separate deal-reg tool or custom form plus Salesforce flow
MDF ledger Native per-partner ledger with approval flows and proof-of-performance Spreadsheet or custom Salesforce object with manual reconciliation
Partner tier scorecard Live scorecard partners see in the portal Analyst-maintained spreadsheet reviewed quarterly
Enablement and certification Native library with assessment, certification, expiry tracking Separate LMS integrated via SCORM, no live cert state in CRM
Co-sell pipeline Shared pipeline with partner-sourced, partner-influenced, direct attribution Salesforce Opportunity with custom partner fields
Split attribution math Native rules per deal, visible on forecast rollup Custom Apex trigger built by Salesforce admin team
Partner collaboration Deal rooms and partner threads with role-aware visibility Email and Slack free-for-all, no CRM record
Admin changes Self-serve for channel manager and RevOps, in-app PRM vendor professional services queue or Salesforce admin review
Post-close delivery hand-off Native flow to Projects module with partner tagged on project team Manual kickoff email with the partner CC-d, no record
Channel analytics Native dashboards for sourced ARR, MDF ROI, tier distribution, conversion Salesforce reports plus PRM dashboards plus spreadsheet reconciliation
How teams use Strkr

How channel teams run Strkr.

The patterns below show up across channel teams of 2, 8, and 20 channel managers running reseller, VAR, agency, SI, and affiliate programs. The common thread: collapse the partner record, the registered deal, the MDF ledger, and the enablement progress into one surface so the channel manager spends time on partner relationships and not on stitching four tools together for the QBR. Each playbook is a real motion a Strkr team runs today, not a hypothetical configuration from a demo script.

2-manager SaaS reseller program

Full partner lifecycle on one tenant with no PRM add-on.

A SaaS company with 40 reseller partners ran their channel on Salesforce plus Impartner. Two channel managers spent eight hours a week reconciling the deal-reg queue, the MDF spreadsheet, and the LMS report. Moving to Strkr collapsed the three systems into one tenant with the partner portal shipping native. Deal registration SLA dropped from an average 72 hours to 18 hours, MDF reconciliation moved from a quarterly scramble to a live ledger partners self-check, and the two channel managers reclaimed roughly 10 hours a week each for actual partner development conversations.

8-manager VAR network

Tiered program with certification gating and co-sell split.

A hardware-plus-services VAR network with 120 partners across four tiers ran certification-gated co-sell: only certified partner reps could join co-sell deals. Strkr tracked certification state per contact with 12-month expiry, routed co-sell invites to certified reps only, and split attribution on closed deals ran native in the forecast with partner-sourced, partner-influenced, and direct columns rolling cleanly. The channel VP ran the Monday roll in 20 minutes instead of an hour, and the partner-sourced ARR number stopped being a reconstruction project at the end of each quarter.

20-manager SI alliance program

MDF ledger plus joint delivery hand-off to Projects.

A platform company with 60 SI partners (big and boutique) ran a $4M annual MDF budget with 20 channel managers across geos. Strkr ran MDF as a per-partner budget ledger with request, approval, invoice, proof-of-performance, and reimbursement states on one record and Finance approvals routing through flows. At Closed Won, a flow spun up a delivery project in Strkr Projects with the SI partner tagged on the project team, onboarding tasks pre-filled from the SOW, and the partner delivery lead pulled into the project collaboration thread. The joint delivery hand-off went from a one-week kickoff scramble to a status change on the deal record.

Agency referral program

Lightweight affiliate flow with revenue share tracking.

A B2B SaaS vendor ran a referral program with 200 agencies submitting referrals through the portal. Referrals landed as Channel Opportunities tagged with the agency, split-attribution rules applied the agreed 15 percent revenue share on Closed Won, and the quarterly revshare payout queue ran out of the finance partner-comp flow. The channel manager spent her time on the top 20 agencies that actually brought deals, instead of maintaining a spreadsheet of 200 that mostly produced nothing. The 20 producing agencies got the Platinum tier treatment, and the long tail self-served through the portal.

Technology alliance program

Co-sell with ISV partners on a shared opportunity model.

A platform company ran a technology alliance program with 15 ISV partners who sold alongside into joint accounts. Each joint deal carried both parties on the Channel Opportunity record with split attribution, and the Monday roll surfaced joint pipeline distinct from direct pipeline and reseller pipeline. ISV partners logged into the portal to see their joint-pipeline health, and the channel manager spent weekly calls coaching on the three joint deals that mattered instead of refreshing a shared spreadsheet.

See the CRM channel teams actually run partners from.

Start a 14-day trial with the full channel stack enabled: partner portal with role-aware visibility, deal registration with duplicate detection and SLA, MDF ledger with approval flows and proof-of-performance, tier scorecards partners see live, enablement with assessment-gated certification and expiry tracking, co-sell pipeline with split attribution, Flows for the full partner lifecycle, and the post-close hand-off to Projects. One bill, one workspace, one record of truth for every partner. The pricing page lays out the per-seat line in full so there is no mystery before the trial starts, and the sales-forecast feature page shows the forecast surface in detail if the co-sell roll is the piece you want to pressure-test first.

See pricing Explore the forecast
Common questions

What buyers in this bucket ask most.

Can Strkr replace a dedicated PRM like Impartner or Allbound?

For most channel programs under 500 partners on standard reseller, VAR, SI, agency, referral, or affiliate motions, yes. Strkr covers partner records, partner portal with role-aware visibility, deal registration with duplicate detection and account lockout, MDF ledger with approval flows and proof-of-performance, tier scorecards partners see in real time, enablement with assessments and certification expiry, co-sell pipeline with split attribution, partner collaboration threads with Slack sync, and the post-close hand-off to delivery projects. For programs running Impartner for 10-plus years with deeply-customised vendor-professional-services integrations, the migration cost is real and the comparison is less about features and more about switching cost. Strkr has a native partner-data migration path that preserves partner records, tier assignments, open deal registrations, MDF ledger balances, and enablement progress, so the switching cost is quantifiable up front.

How does deal registration work and how does it prevent direct-team poaching?

A partner submits a deal registration from the portal with account name, primary contact, opportunity description, expected ARR, estimated close date, and partner rep. The form runs duplicate detection against the direct pipeline and recently closed-lost records on submission, and the registration lands in the channel-manager triage queue with the duplicate check result and SLA countdown visible. The channel manager approves or rejects with one click, and approval creates a Channel Opportunity record with partner attribution and locks the account for the configured lockout period (default 90 days). Attempts by direct AEs to create a competing opportunity during the lockout fire a notification to the channel manager with the attempted record attached, so poaching gets caught at the attempt instead of at the close.

How is MDF tracked in Strkr and how does the approval flow run?

MDF is a native per-partner budget ledger with annual allocation defined by tier policy. Partners submit requests from the portal with campaign plan, target personas, expected outcomes, budget breakdown, and timeline. Approvals route through flows based on request size and campaign type: under $5K and standard campaigns approve by the channel manager alone, above $5K loop in Finance, above $25K loop in the channel director, and anything with a joint-content commitment loops in Legal. Reimbursement releases on proof-of-performance submission (receipts, actual outcomes, campaign evidence) with the full audit trail intact for compliance review. Pipeline sourced from MDF-funded campaigns tags with the campaign reference so quarterly MDF ROI is a database query instead of a reconstruction project.

How does enablement work and how are certifications tracked?

Enablement is a native library with role-specific tracks for partner sellers, pre-sales engineers, and delivery teams. Each partner contact tracks module completion, assessment scores, certification issue date, and expiry date on a progress record attached to their contact entry. Assessments gate certification, so passing the test is required instead of just watching the video. Certifications carry a 12-month expiry by default (configurable per program), and reminder flows nudge reps approaching expiry so recertification happens before the current credential lapses. The channel manager routes co-sell to certified reps only using the live certification state on the contact record, and the partner-side partner manager sees their own team progress to coach reps through the course.

How does split attribution work on co-sell deals?

Every Channel Opportunity carries a split-attribution rule set per deal, defining the share credited to the partner, the direct rep, and (where applicable) a second partner on technology-alliance deals. Rules can be flat percentages (70-30 partner-direct split) or role-based (partner carries 100 percent of sourced ARR, direct carries 100 percent of expansion ARR on the same account). Forecast rollups surface partner-sourced, partner-influenced, and direct columns distinctly, so the channel VP and the sales VP both see the number that matters to them without a parallel spreadsheet. On Closed Won, the attribution flow runs the comp math and queues the partner-comp payout alongside the direct-rep comp math, so finance pays out on the same cadence.

How does the partner portal handle visibility and policy per partner?

The portal renders role-aware on every record. The channel manager configures visibility rules per partner tier and per field type, so Platinum partners see one surface, new Bronze partners see a simpler onboarding-focused layout, and competitive partners (if the program allows) see only their own records with the broader program context stripped. On the deal record, partner-facing commentary and internal commentary live on the same thread with role-aware filtering, so the channel manager posts internal context without worrying about it leaking to the partner. Document visibility runs on the same model, with per-document role filters for the agreement, order forms, SOWs, and co-marketing collateral.

How does the hand-off from channel deal to joint delivery work?

At Closed Won on a Channel Opportunity, a flow fires that creates a project in Strkr Projects, maps the deal fields (ARR, start date, stakeholders, scope, partner, special terms) to the project template, auto-generates onboarding tasks from the project type, assigns the delivery owner on the Strkr side, tags the partner on the project team with role-aware visibility, and pulls the partner delivery lead into the project collaboration thread. The channel manager no longer writes a hand-off email with the partner CC-d, and the delivery team on both sides starts the project with every signed artifact and discovery note from day zero. Partner delivery leads see the project in their partner portal and the internal delivery lead sees the full context in Projects, with the two views sharing the same record.

Can channel managers run tier upgrades without a quarterly review?

Yes. Tier scorecards run on live data (registered deals in period, closed revenue, certification counts, co-marketing commitments met) and partners see their own scorecard in the portal with the exact remaining ask against each tier criterion. When a partner crosses a threshold, a flow fires the tier-review notification to the channel manager and the partner, so upgrades happen in the week they are earned instead of three months later in the quarterly review. The channel manager can still override (either direction) with a reason code logged to the audit trail, so edge cases (a partner that hit numbers but is in a probation state) stay in the channel manager control.

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