Nearbound sales success

At the end of the day, the only thing a seller cares about is hitting her number.

Talk does nothing. As a Partner Manager, you’ve gotta show your sellers the power of a nearbound motion.

Today, I’m going to outline questions you can ask your sellers to tap help them see the value of tapping into partners for intel, influence, and intros.

These questions are meant to help you uncover low-hanging fruit and get some initial wins.

Opening deals

Goal: Figure out who influences your target customers.

Why should your sellers tap into nearbound: Sellers prefer warm leads to cold leads. If you can uncover key influencers or trusted advisors in a customer’s journey and partner with them, you can make the sales process easier. Additionally, partners can help you open conversations with target accounts.

Ask your sellers:

• Who are our customers’ trusted advisors?
• Who do our customers mention (partners, people, communities, companies)?
• Do any communities, partners, or individuals already provide valuable leads or insights to support your sales efforts?
• Who is sending or nurturing referrals?

Closing deals

Goal: Figure out who and what influences your open opportunities.

Why should your sellers tap into nearbound: Customers don’t buy until they’re convinced that the value you’ll provide them is greater than your cost. Sellers can leverage nearbound plays to gather intel, tailor sales pitches, and get endorsements from trusted voices. Not to mention, partners can help address common objections in the sales process.

** Important note: To avoid annoying your sellers, only help close deals that aren’t already close to closing. You provide the most value on deals where sellers have hit an obstacle.

Ask your sellers:

• Who are their trusted advisors?
• If you were to look at their LinkedIn, who does it seem that they trust?
• Have you tried to run an intel, influence, or intro play on this deal?
• What are some common objections customers bring up?
• What integrations are customers most interested in?

Note to partner managers

If you want nearbound to work in your organization, you’ll have to do a lot of up-front work.

It’s not easy, but it’s worth it once the momentum’s built.

In the beginning, you’ll be evangelizing your program, uncovering opportunities, feeding relevant information to sellers, and hand-holding to make sure value is realized.

But as sellers begin to see the results, they’ll start being proactive in their collaboration with you. 

I was chatting with Sam Collins from Reachdesk a week ago and he shared,

One of the greatest thing I’ve been able to do is give my go-to-market team the power to uncover their own nearbound opportunities with Reveal.

As a partner manager, your job is to showcase the power of nearbound, and then to empower your go-to-market teams to harness that value independently.

Work loudly this year

It’s not just about creating value.

It’s about communicating value.

Keep that in mind as you start your 2024!

Thanks, Sara McNamara for the image!

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• Apply before January 26th — Firneo’s Mastering Partnerships Strategy (4-week cohort program)— Learn how to diagnose and solve your partner program’s biggest challenges from the world’s top partnership leaders. Mention “NEARBOUND” as referrer and get a 1:1 Strategy Coaching package (worth $1,000) for FREE. Apply here
   
• 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. 
• February 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.
• February 14th—Channel Ecosystem Bootcamp Certification—Join this interactive training to understand how to develop a partner ecosystem, expand your knowledge of ecosystem strategy, and learn how to create and maintain an effective partner ecosystem. 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. 

Be loud, be proud

You’re in partnerships. It’s something to be proud of. Share this daily with someone you’d love to partner pill.