Empowered partners > Managed partners

Simply managing partner activities is one small piece of a very large puzzle. And, frankly, if managing referral commission payouts or deal registrations is all you’re worried about, then your program is already heading to its grave. 

Successful partnerships are about proving value with and to partners again…and again…and again…

(You get the picture.)

 

Just like buyers in the How economy, partners are being bombarded with noise, too. Ten years ago, there were 200 vendors for partners to choose from...now there are 12,000+. 

Basically, Partner Managers are either getting pulled in too many directions to make an impact, or they’re struggling to keep partners focused. 

Allbound’s move to the Co-sell Flywheel strategy in their platform is working to rectify that. The change has allowed customers like Dan O’Leary, Director of Partnerships at Box, to:  

• Provide value to partners right away, 

• nurture relationships over the long term to continuously strengthen the partnership, AND

• bring value to both his and his partners’ companies. 

By managing his partnerships in Allbound, Dan has been able to not just stay organized on partners’ activities, but also empower and engage his partners for long-term success. 

Co-sell, Co-keep, Co-grow

Allbound has shifted from a simple PRM—which typically focuses on internal acceleration of the long tail of partner programs—to a platform for helping their customers solve the problem of partner programs (especially those programs that are NOT designed to solve their partner’s problems!) based on their Co-sell Flywheel framework. 

Here’s how Allbound frames the Co-sell Flywheel: 

• Co-sell: identify optimum relationships to maximize mutual value and hit revenue goals. 

• Co-keep: Nurture acquired relationships to ensure maximum leverage of potential in the relationship.

• Co-grow: Use co-keep signals to scale relationships and feed ideal partnership criteria back into co-sell for new partner acquisition.

Allbound’s Co-sell Flywheel

We’ve all heard the first rule of sales: nobody cares about your product. 

Likewise is the first rule of partnerships: 

Partners don’t care about your product until you make it valuable for them and their customers. 

Allbound allows partner leaders like Dan to give more to partners to get more out of more partners. 

Because, at the end of the day, both buyers and partners are overwhelmed. They want to trust us, but likely don’t yet. Allbound helps Dan solidify that confidence with his partners so they can be the trusted voice to their customers.

Jay McBain’s Nearbound Nike Sighting 

Early this week, we put out a call for folks to send us pics of Nearbound Nikes in the wild. 

True to form, our friend Jay McBain is ahead of the curve! 

Thanks for the pic, Jay! 

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.

• TODAY — 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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