B2B insanity

Albert Einstein once said,

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.

B2B is full of insane GTM leaders who keep running plays that don’t work.

If you want different results, you’ve got to take different actions.

In 2022, 71% of reps missed quota, win rates decreased by 15%, deal values dropped by 32%, and length of sales cycles increased by an average of 32%.

And last year, it was even worse.

Now’s not the time to commit to traditional motions and expect different results.

Do these 3 things internally to make nearbound work

According to the red ocean and blue ocean business strategy, we live in an economy with two types of markets. One market (the blue ocean) is uncontested and where capturing new demand is easy. The other market (the red ocean) is full of competition and it’s where you exploit existing demand.

Nearbound is the key to a new market’s door.

But before you can unlock the power of nearbound to enter into new markets, R.J. Filipski (Global VP, BD and Ecosystem, Clari) shares the three key pillars you need to understand:

1. Culture of collaboration

2. Enablement

3. The power of the "aha" moment

Culture of collaboration

A nearbound-centric company is a collaborative company. There’s no way around it. To drive value across companies and teams, everyone involved has to be willing to be a team player. Sometimes that means giving first. Other times, that means picking up someone else’s slack.

Partner managers can start building this collaborative culture by celebrating small victories, addressing complaints, defining things they don’t "tolerate," and finding creative ways to attribute wins to the team and people responsible for it.

Enablement

Do your teams understand the power of nearbound motions?

Education is often the greatest reason why teams don’t adopt nearbound strategies. If they don’t know how it works, how to find opportunities, or who’s already been successful running a nearbound motion, you won’t get them on board.

Enable your teams on the broader concept of nearbound, how they can find opportunities, and how others have already succeeded.

The power of the "aha" moment

Your company will become more nearbound-centric one "aha" moment at a time.

Sure, you can’t make someone have an "aha" moment, but you can facilitate the experience. What I mean by that is that though partner managers can’t help every seller close deals one-on-one, they can feed information into shared Slack channels.

Partner managers can gather and share intel team-wide. They can record calls and showcase nearbound moments. And they can openly connect dots for the rest of the company—here’s how our partner helped close this deal.

Nearbound is your path to new markets, but to make good on this promise, you’ll have to do work on the ground level.

Read R.J. Filipski’s article on using nearbound to expand into new markets. And read how Rasheité Calhoun (Director of Channel Partnerships, AxiosHQ) builds momentum with her grassroots approach.

Sangram’s 2024 bets

Sangram Vajre, CEO and Co-Founder of GTM Partners, shared his 2024 go-to-market bets on LinkedIn.

And would you look at that!

3/5 of his predictions are about nearbound.

Someone recently shared with me,

It seems like partnerships is finally having its moment.

But would you believe it if I told you, this is just the beginning?

Follow Sangram on Linkedin

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. 

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