Running an ecosystem marathon
Winning in an ecosystem doesn’t happen overnight.
When you sign up to play the game, you’re signing up for an endurance sport.
And like other endurance sports, success requires a long-term strategy, consistency, and adaptability.
Long-term strategy
Marathoners plan their pace and energy expenditure over miles. Likewise, a good Partner Manager must strategize the use of her resources to optimize short-term and long-term successes. If you go all in too fast, you won’t be able to finish the race. But if you don’t go fast enough, competition will pass you up.
Consistency
Both runners and Partner Managers commit to unwavering consistency. They show up to perform because if you just put one foot in front of the other, eventually you’ll look back and see you’ve traveled miles.
Adaptability
And lastly, both endurance athletes and Partner Managers must adjust to varying conditions and circumstances. Runners can’t fully anticipate the weather on race day, or how their bodies are going to react to training. They have to stay flexible and willing to adjust.
Similarly, Partner Managers are juggling tons of variables—the market, partner companies, internal org restructuring, and more. Great Partner Managers are always ready to adapt.
But like the high that comes from crossing a marathon’s finish line, there’s glory when you’ve finally achieved ecosystem success.
5 BS beliefs about GTM
A few weeks ago, Scott Barker reached out to 20 GTM leaders to get their take on the BS that’s floating around the market.
I’ll share five of my favorites, and why I think they are important for partner pros:
“Being transparent with a prospect is somehow diminishing our ability to move a sales cycle forward. I mean that in the context of the value that you provide. I believe that we can be more honest and transparent upfront in a sales cycle to say, ’Why are you looking at our product and service?’” (Zach Lawryk - previous VP of Solutions Consulting at Slack, current head of Global Solutions Consulting at Rippling).
“The whole emphasis on outbounding.” (Ang McManamon - Vice President of Sales at Crunchbase).
“Email marketing is kind of dead. I can’t even count how many cold emails I just got this morning, let alone this week that all look and feel the same. When you layer on now AI and machines writing them for you, and the fact that email and the marginal costs to send an email is zero... I’m not buying anything, certainly not easily through a cold email these days.” (Dan Reich - Co-Founder and President of DIBS Beauty).
“Cold calling. Just look at the data.” (Sam McKenna - Founder of SamSalesConsulting).
“The old way of gating content and distributing that gated content strikes me as being so outside of the way anybody wants to engage or buy.” (Adam Schoenfeld - Co-Founder and CEO of Keyplay and Co-Founder of PeerSignal).
The sentiment across these 5 GTM leaders can be summed up like this: our old methods of selling and marketing to buyers aren’t getting the same results they used to; we need new methods.
Good thing outbound and inbound aren’t the only GTM motions we have in our back pocket!
Nearbound doesn’t target, spam, or overwhelm buyers. It uses data to uncover the trusted advisors in your buyers’ lives, and taps into the intel, influence, and intros these advisors can provide.
Get the full nearbound marketing playbook and the full nearbound sales playbook here.
And use these quotes to bolster your nearbound pitches!
These are legends in the field; your C-suite knows these people, trust me. 
Diary of a Partner Noob
It’s his first official role in partnerships, and Jeremy Casupanan decided he’s gonna document his journey for everyone else in a similar boat. We love seeing partner pros sharing their journey and learning out loud!
Diary entry 01/04/23 —
Step #1: Reaffirm Core Values
Deep commitment to helping others succeed
Stay present and keep an open mind
"Remember the challenge of every day" —Kobe Bryant
Honesty and integrity above all else
Healthy body = healthy soul
If you haven’t reaffirmed your core values in a while, maybe this is a sign.
Follow Jeremy and his partnerships journey.
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.
January 25th— CEO Summit—Join Pavilion and many more companies to be part of expert-led educational sessions, covering top-of-mind issues for CEOs and Founders. Learn about the latest sales insights, building a pricing strategy, and co-selling. Register here.
Feb 5th-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.
We welcome all partner noobs!
Share this with someone new to partnerships.
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