Channel partners are brokers who sell your inventory in exchange for a commission. For many builders, especially around a launch, they bring a big part of the site visits. They know buyers you will never reach on your own, and a good one is worth every rupee of their fee.
The friction almost always comes down to one question: whose buyer is this?
A family sees your hoarding in Thane, looks up your project page and fills in the enquiry form. Your sales team calls them. Three weeks later the same family arrives for a site visit with a channel partner, who registers them and expects a commission. Or it goes the other way: a partner has worked with a buyer for a month, and the buyer then fills in your website form directly to "just check the price".
Both sides feel cheated. Without records, it becomes one person's word against another's, and you end up either paying commission you did not owe or losing a partner you wanted to keep.
Put the rules in writing before the launch
Most disputes can be settled before they start by a short, clear policy that every channel partner agrees to. You decide the details, but it should cover:
- How a partner registers a buyer
- What proof of registration they receive
- How long a registration stays valid
- What counts as a direct lead
- What happens when both claim one buyer
A common approach is that whoever records the buyer first, with a timestamp, has the claim, and that a registration lapses if there is no site visit within an agreed period. Whatever you choose, apply it the same way to everyone, including your own sales team.
In most states, agents who sell RERA-registered projects are themselves expected to be registered with the state RERA authority. Asking a partner for their registration number is reasonable. Check your state's rules for the specifics.
Your website is your timestamp
This is where your own site earns its keep. Every enquiry that comes through your project page should be recorded automatically with the date, the time, the buyer's phone number and where they came from.
That record is what protects you. If a family enquired on your website on 3 March and a partner registers them on 20 March, you have a clear, neutral answer. Without it, you are digging through WhatsApp chats and a salesperson's memory.
So check three things about your website enquiries. Are they stored somewhere your team cannot quietly edit or delete? Does each one carry a date and time? And does it show the source: website form, WhatsApp button, portal or phone call? If you are not sure who holds that data, or what happens to it if you change providers, read who owns your leads and listings if you switch providers.
Give each partner their own link
The fairest system is also the simplest. Give each channel partner a unique link to your project page, or a short code their buyers can mention. When a buyer enquires through that link, the enquiry is tagged with that partner's name automatically.
Partners like this because their work is credited without argument. You like it because direct enquiries stay direct, and because you finally learn which partners bring serious buyers and which bring names. More on tagging sources in knowing which lead came from where.
Watch the partner microsites
Some channel partners build their own small websites about your project, or run ads using your project name. The intention is usually fine. The trouble is what these pages say: old prices, a possession date from last year's brochure, renders that were later changed, or a phone number that goes to the partner instead of you.
A buyer who finds one of those pages first may never reach you directly. Worse, they may try to hold you to a price or a date you never offered.
You cannot stop every copy, but you can limit the damage. Make your own project page clearly the official source, with the RERA number and your company name prominent. Ask partners to use only the facts sheet you provide, and to update their material whenever you update yours. And search your project name every few weeks to see which pages exist and what they claim. What a buyer sees when they search is covered in what buyers find when they search your company name.
Treat good partners as partners
None of this is about squeezing channel partners. The ones who bring genuine buyers deserve fast answers, accurate material, an early look at new inventory and commission paid on time. Clear rules make that easier to offer, because you are no longer arguing over every name. A partner who trusts your records spends their energy selling your project instead of protecting their claims.
This week
Write a one-page channel partner policy, even a rough first draft, and share it with your sales head. Check that every website enquiry is saved with a date, a time and a source. Then create a unique link for your three most active partners and send it to them along with the current facts sheet. Small steps, but they turn future arguments into a quick look at the record.
