How do companies generally manage and motivate their channel members? What technological tools are available to help with this task?

What will be an ideal response?

Channel members must be continuously managed and motivated to do their best. The company must sell not only through the intermediaries but also to and with them. Most companies see their intermediaries as first-line customers and partners. They practice strong partner relationship management to forge long-term partnerships with channel members. This creates a value delivery system that meets the needs of both the company and its marketing partners. In managing its channels, a company must convince suppliers and distributors that they can succeed better by working together as a part of a cohesive value delivery system. Many companies are now installing integrated high-tech partnership relationship management (PRM) systems to coordinate their whole-channel marketing efforts. Companies can now use PRM and supply chain management (SCM) software to help recruit, train, organize, manage, motivate, and evaluate relationships with channel partners.