Rewriting the Playbook: How Manufacturers Are Helping Their Partners Earn More
Jennifer Bui
For years, manufacturers have been expected to guide their distributor partners toward stronger performance. But without access to timely, accurate data and without a clear view into how partners are tracking, those conversations often fall flat.
The industry’s two most significant challenges?
1. Sales data takes too long to get
Even after a sale occurs, it can take up to 98 days for the data to be collected, cleaned, and compiled into a report. Manufacturers rely on exports from fulfillment teams or third-party aggregators. And by the time it lands in your inbox, it’s already out of date.
2. Insights don’t reach the people who need them
Most teams work off their own version of the truth. Sales, finance, and partners all operate in silos. As a result, meetings become reporting exercises rather than strategic discussions. Opportunities slip through the cracks simply because no one is aware of them.
One manufacturer put it plainly:
“We didn’t know a partner was just shy of a rebate tier until after the season ended. At that point, it was either making an exception or doing nothing.”
That’s the problem Smartwyre set out to solve.
Fixing the foundation: Collecting makes clean data flow daily
Smartwyre’s Collecting connects directly to more than 25 popular ERP systems, automating the flow of sales and purchase data from retailers and distributors to the manufacturer. No email requests. No custom exports. No delays.
The data is cleaned, standardized, and validated daily. Matching logic and automation handle common issues. When errors do happen, they’re flagged and fixed once, not repeatedly.
Retailers no longer must jump through hoops to report. Collecting gives them a low-effort, high-confidence way to share data. It’s better for your partners, and it yields faster, more comprehensive, and more accurate data for you.
From raw data to real guidance: Partner Pages brings visibility to the surface
Partner Pages transforms that data into something actionable and provides a shared view of partner performance in real-time.
It shows both you and your partners:
Which rebate opportunities are within reach
How earnings are trending compared to last year
Sales and purchase volume by product, region, or account
Gaps that need to be addressed before the season ends
It’s updated daily, available anytime, and requires no prep work to understand. Instead of walking into a meeting and asking what happened, your team can walk in and say:
“You’re 93% of the way to Tier 3, which can earn you an additional $10,000. Let’s close the gap with Product X.”
What it looks like in practice
Here’s how things used to work, and now what’s possible:
Today | With Smartwyre |
|---|---|
Up to 98 days to access sales data | Clean, daily sales data flows in automatically, ready for analysis and action trim this down less than 7 days |
Teams build custom reports in spreadsheets before every check-in | Partner Pages shows live earnings, top 5 opportunities, and product trends |
Sellers walk into meetings with incomplete or outdated numbers | Sellers walk in with clear talking points and targeted next steps |
Partners find out too late that they missed a rebate tier | Partners see where they stand in real time and have a plan to hit their targets |
Partners miss rebate targets, then ask for exceptions after the fact | Mid-season visibility helps avoid exceptions and protect margin |
Built for strategic conversations
Smartwyre provides your team with the tools to lead more effective conversations with partners. Not just a summary of what’s happened, but a way to identify opportunities, align early, and act while it still matters.
Customers are already using Partner Pages to:
Prepare for check-ins in minutes, not days
Coach sellers on which products to push to unlock earnings
Flag liabilities early, before they become problems
Build territory-level plans backed by data
Reduce last-minute exceptions at the end of the season
One manufacturer told us:
“We’re no longer just reporting. We’re helping our partners earn more.”
Fewer surprises. Fewer exceptions. Stronger margins
Without visibility, it’s hard to know which partners are tracking behind or which programs are at risk. That’s why so many decisions get pushed to the end of the season, when the only option left is to offer a costly exception.
Smartwyre helps manufacturers reduce the number and severity of these year-end surprises.
By identifying gaps mid-season and surfacing them in Partner Pages, account teams can course-correct earlier. That means fewer rebate exceptions, less margin erosion, and a more consistent financial close.
It’s not just a better experience for partners; it’s better business for you.
This is the future of partnership
Smartwyre isn’t just solving reporting headaches. We’re helping manufacturers lead more strategic, insight-driven conversations with their partners.
With Collecting and Partner Pages in place, your team can:
Move faster
Guide partners more effectively
Unlock more sales during the season
Let us show you how this can work for your teams.
