New partner program kicking off in 2017

We’re almost ready to unveil our brand-spanking new partner program, starting with a pilot program early this year.

100 of our partners will be invited to take part in a trial run of our new partner program, so we can make sure it meets the needs of partners.

All the members of our Partner Advisory Group will be invited to participate in the pilot, along with partners that regularly review our beta product releases.

In addition, partner managers have been asked to nominate partners who they would like to participate, and we will be selecting those who will be invited to the pilot soon.

For partners selected to be part of the pilot, your partner manager will be in touch with you very soon to brief you on next steps.

Feedback is very important to us and we previously published a piece on how your feedback is going to shape the new program.

We’re now taking that to the next level and getting valuable input from our pilot participants on the benefits and structure of the new program.

Let’s recap on what the new program is all about.

Benefits of the new partner program

All partners, regardless of their partner status or partner activity will be able to receive the following benefits:

• Special Partner Pricing
• Partner Dashboard
• Online training and education
• Access to partner support
• Marketing support

Meanwhile, Certified Consultants will also gain access to the following:

• Certified Consultant listing in Partner Search
• Unlimited Access to MYOB Certification and education
• Partner Connect
• Certified Consultant marketing materials

And there are even more benefits for practices with multiple Certified Consultants:

• On site, bespoke training opportunities
• Additional Marketing Materials

We’ve also come up with a novel way to reward our partners who do great work in helping their clients succeed.

Point me in the right direction

For our initial launch there will be five ways for partners to earn points – which will go towards tiered partner pricing and more…

Partners can do all or just a couple of these points earning activities and still participate in the program – there is no pressure to do it all.

Why have we picked these five ways to earn points?

Online Businesses – we know that it is not always easy to convince your clients to make the move online, and we want to acknowledge the great effort of our partners in supporting clients in the transition.

Community forum solutions – Contributing to our community forum with expert solutions is a great example of the kind of people our partners are – passionate about paying it forward! Now this activity will earn points, as we believe that one good turn deserves another.

Event attendance – Keeping yourself up to date with the latest industry information is critical to ensure you are delivering your client’s the most efficient and effective solutions. Now you can earn points while you network, learn and play!

Referrals – we know our partners are diligent in recommending the right solution for client need. Not only will we continue to reward this financially, referrals will now also earn points towards a partner’s status.

Certification – continuous education and certification is so important to keep up with the continuous updates in all our products (and add ons). In the new program we are awarding more points for partners that are certified and regularly recertify.

So I’ve got some points – now what?

Points aren’t just numbers on a screen, but will go towards defining your status in the program and unlocking some new opportunities for our partners.

By building up their points, partners will be able to fit into the following tiers, and the tiers are open to all in the partner program regardless of whether they’re a sole trader or a large accounting practice.

Each status tier will have benefits. For launch, these benefits will be tiered partner pricing (either taken as a partner commission or as a discount to pass onto clients) per status.

The points tiers (ie the amount of points required for each tier) and tiered pricing have both been confirmed and will be communicated to our pilot partners via updated partner agreements.

As we progress through pilot more detail will also be communicated to partners on: the point tier system; commission rates per status tier; wholesale rates per status tier; the products included; fees, and program terms and conditions.

We are also very excited to launch as part of this pilot our new partner platform, MySuccess – an experience to inspire you and connect you with experts, peers and clients. Watch this space!

So, what’s next?

As noted, we’ll be running a pilot for 100 partners early this year as we take this next exciting step on our journey.

We will be sharing updates from our pilot in due course and we’re looking forward to sharing the Partner Program with all our partners.

Note: The MYOB Enterprise Partner Program is a separate program and there is no change to that program