35 seconds 

That’s less time than it takes you to drink a glass of water or clear out your inbox in the morning. 

And that’s how long it often takes Dan O’Leary, Director of Partnerships at Box, to get a response from his AEs on running nearbound plays on top-tier prospects. 

I’ve been in face-to-face meetings with partners, and I’m like, ‘Let’s see how long it takes to get a response from this account team. Hang on one sec.’ The Slack message goes out and I tell them, ‘Watch this. It will be 35 seconds.’ And I’m not even joking, it is a near-immediate response…Nearbound executed in Reveal and Allbound has absolutely driven this strategy.

Dan’s secret to internal buy-in is not a secret at all. 

He simply uses nearbound alongside the right tools to support initiatives that matter most to sellers. 

The Box Sales team has been able to succeed in a nearbound motion because: 

• Dan uses Reveal to get the right intel, on the right customer opportunity, in the right place, at the right time, and within the right workflows, and  

• He uses Allbound to nurture a pool of partnerships with whom he’s built solid and long-lasting relationships (and who have provided value to customers consistently) to continuously mine intel, influence, and introductions. 

Dan’s results?

Here’s a taste of what Dan and his team have been able to accomplish by using Allbound and Reveal together: 

• The #1 biggest deal this year, last year, and the previous year were all co-sold with partners. Working with partners is the fast track to the President’s Club at Box. 

• 92% larger average contract values (ACV), with a higher attach rate of our top product SKU

• 55% higher potential ARR closed, meaning they win more of the seats. When they work with partners, the pie gets bigger, and everyone gets a bigger slice.

• 27% shorter average deal cycles based on weighted ARR which means they are winning bigger deals faster—it’s a 2 for 1! 

Box’s nearbound plays

Step 1: Get Focused

Dan has supported a new initiative to add even more logos to Box’s impressive list of 115,000+ customers. This required him to get organized. 

We put together an account tiering and new logo acquisition strategy program that we launched at the beginning of this fiscal year with our sales org, and we’ve used nearbound tactics as a key catalyst to drive it. 

Step 2: Execute nearbound co-sell

Once teams are focused and aligned, it’s time to start making some money for everyone involved. Dan uses Reveal and nearbound to strategically place partners in the deals that matter most to his AEs. 

With Reveal, the execution of this with partners becomes possible. What I do with reps is I sit down, and I’m like, ‘Let me filter by your strategic accounts with my B2K filter.’ I search by account priority status and I type in ‘equals A’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, looking at your A accounts, here’s what I know. Here’s what I can tell you about them. Here’s what I see from our technology partners. Here’s what I see from our reseller partners. Here’s what I see from our go-to-market partners.’ Then we also use the data to inform us on what partners we should pull into the account strategy to surround the customer. For example, I have one partner who has a win rate that’s near 80% using these tactics with qualified customers in their target industry.” 

Step 3: Nurture partner relationships

Dan’s ultimate goal is to nurture and retain key partners so he can nurture and retain happy customers. 

Dan and his team use Allbound for this mission, enabling partners through the platform’s features to deliver more value to their customers every day. He spends time with go-to-market and tech partners to ensure that they aren’t just selling and delivering with them but also ensuring integration and adoption. 

We know if our partners know about our product, if they know about the platform, and if they know what’s coming. They know how to talk about it with their customers and contacts, and we can provide them with the right information so that they can be the trusted experts who help us keep and retain those joint customers over time.

Dan then takes enablement a step further with Box’s Partner Academy, their LMS that they’ve externalized into Allbound to provide not just the training curriculum, but a framework to get educated on these things. 

Step 4: Grow together 

Box recently surpassed Mount Billion with $1 Billion in ARR, an impressive achievement, especially in today’s market. But they know that the things that got them there aren’t going to help them get to the top of the next summit. They are going to have to dig deeper and expand wider to get where they need to go. 

I wanna be able to send 10 leads to partners for every one we get. With the data from Allbound and Reveal, I can say, ‘These are the accounts that we’ve engaged with. This is who we formally referred to you. And here’s the impact on our business and yours. And most importantly, here is the impact on the customer.’ Having the data around this is key. It’s not just the deal reg but how we use the account mapping data, pipeline data, influencer information, and partner signals to drive valuable campaigns on both sides. 

Read more about Dan’s story and tactics here.

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• Nearbound Summit 2023 Recordings—The future of GTM is Nearbound. Watch the recordings to hear how B2B leaders across departments unite with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Listen here.

• TOMORROW — Dec 15th, 2-2:30 PM EST — The 3 Key Partner Principles — Join Franz-Josef Schrepf (Head of Partnerships at StreamYard) and Nelson Wang (Head of Worldwide Partnerships at Airtable) to learn what decades in the industry have taught Nelson about building the best partnerships. Register here.

• Feb 5-7th in Miami — Impartnercon 2024 —  Partnerships are the future of growth. Join partner leaders to learn what it means to build the future of business, together.  Register here. 

• March 19-20th — Affiverse’s Amplify Summit — Join them for a 2-day virtual event to help affiliate businesses amplify their performance. Learn about digital, partnership, and affiliate marketing. Register here.

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