Get alignment

In Sales, there are plenty of frameworks to guide sellers, like MEDDIC and BANT.

Been playing around with that idea for partners. PARTNER:

P: Pain Points — Identify the key pain points that the potential partnership will address for both parties. This can be anything from expanding market reach to enhancing product features or solving specific customer problems.

A: Alignment — Ensure that there is alignment between both companies’ vision, mission, and goals. This includes evaluating the compatibility of each company’s culture, values, and target audience.

R: Resources — Assess the resources that each party can bring to the table. This includes financial, human, and technological resources, as well as the ability to support sales, marketing, and customer success efforts.

T: Trust — Establish a solid foundation of trust between the partners by being transparent about intentions, goals, and expectations. Trust is essential for effective communication, collaboration, and long-term success.

N: Network — Analyze the network effect of the partnership, considering how the combined networks of both parties can be leveraged for mutual benefit. This can include shared customers, industry connections, and potential referrals.

E: Execution — Determine the operational capabilities of each party, ensuring that they have the ability to effectively execute on the partnership. This may involve evaluating past partnership experiences, project management skills, and communication processes.

R: ROI — Estimate the potential return on investment (ROI) of the partnership. This should factor in the costs and resources required, as well as the potential revenue and growth opportunities that the partnership can bring.

This is still a very rough first version, so I need your input:

👉 What’s missing?

👉 How do you feel about frameworks to structure the partnership process? What are frameworks you already use?

Leave a comment here.

Thanks for contributing to this section of the PhD, Rob Rebholz!

Build a partner ecosystem or get left behind

If you don’t focus on growing your ecosystem – you’re going to be left behind.

Mauricio Rojas Hacker (a true hacker) wrote about why it is so essential to build your ecosystem in today’s noisy market.

The SaaS industry has experienced explosive growth, but it is increasingly congested. An ecosystem-led approach offers a comprehensive approach to stand out from the market.

Check out the full article here.

How Nearbound can win customers over (and back!) during a downturn

Nearbound is a Go-To-Market strategy that prioritizes partnering with individuals and companies your buyers already trust, rather than trying to reach them cold (outbound), or get them to come directly to you (inbound). Nearbound is also a strategy for serving and retaining customers with the help of partners. – Isaac Morehouse

Increasingly, people are looking to nodes of trust in their networks to make buying and renewal decisions. Those are the influencers you should be partnering with.

Partners at every life cycle step must surround customers.

Co-marketing, co-selling, integrations, and service partnerships are crucial components to gaining and retaining customers.

Leveraging those relationships is the Nearbound play.

Read how you can use the Nearbound play in the Hubspot x Oneflow book, Winning Over and Back Customers During a Downturn.

Happenings

• Firneo’s Partner School Series – Wednesday, May 10, 12 – 1 PM EST – Navigating the Microsoft Partner Ecosystem with Juhi Saha, CEO of Partner1 and former Managing Director at Microsoft – Join a conversation with Juhi Saha, CEO of Partner1 and former Managing Director at Microsoft as she shares the insider secrets of how to effectively navigate the Microsoft partner ecosystem. Register here.
• Lead Forensics x PartnerHacker – Thursday, May 11th, 2023, 11:30 EDT, 16:30 GMT – Unlock The Secrets of Partner Marketing with Jared Fuller – Jared Fuller will be diving deep into partner marketing tactics you may not even know you’re missing. Register here.
• PartnerHacker x OneFlow – Thursday, May 11th, at 9 am EST – Surviving and Thriving in 2023: Unveiling the Secrets to Unbeatable Customer Retention and Win-Back Strategies – Join us for an upcoming live discussion with industry leaders from Oneflow, HubSpot, and Avidly, as we explore the critical roles that customer retention and win-back strategies play in driving business growth in today’s uncertain environment. Register here.
• PartnerHacker x Magentrix – Thursday, June 1, 1 PM ET – How We Incentivized Resellers to Grow Our Program by 26% – Learn how Magentrix activated their partners to increase pipeline by 26%! Register here.

Quote of the Day

No matter what, customers want a choice. I don’t believe that a technology company can be successful by not being truly open and embracing the partner ecosystem. – Doug Smith, CPO at Oracle

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