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A few weeks ago, I asked Will Taylor, "Why are partners so important in converting customers?" Here's what he had to say.
Welcome to the Nearbound Daily Newsletter—the #1 partnerships newsletter in the world keeping thousands of partner professionals on top of the latest industry principles, tactics, and trends. nearbound.com is a project of Reveal.co aimed to bring about the decade of the ecosystem. Join the movement here.
PRINCIPLES
Converting customers without partners
A few weeks ago, I asked Will Taylor "Why are partners so important in converting customers?"
He shared a story from his days selling procurement software to the government.
I used to sell directly to organizations, but there were a few instances where instead of selling direct, I worked with someone who ran an association for the organizations I was trying to sell to.
Instead of going to every single one of those individual organizations, I went to this person and I asked, ‘Who is tech inclined in your network?’
He was quick to give me the names of the people I should reach out to so I didn’t have to waste my time.
He wasn’t a formal partner, but with his help I was able to fast-track the focus and gather information I would not have had.
Deals were closed because of it.
Sellers are always working uphill to find information they desperately need, like:
- What’s the buying process like?
- Who’s the sales manager?
- What are the problems they face?
This limits their ability to focus outreach, convey the full value of their offering, make their sales pitches more meaningful, and earn trust.
Sellers and partner pros should be best friends because partner pros have what sellers often lack: intel.
Leveraging partners to convert customers is just good business.
Get the full intel, intros, and influence playbook.
TACTICS
How to use nearbound data to convert customers
In the same way that marketers use marketing data to inform sellers of signals, partner managers use nearbound data to inform sellers of signals.
It’s critical information flow.
But here’s how you do it better.
To operationalize your nearbound overlay strategy, set up a meeting with an AE, the Sales Manager, and you (the Partner Manager).
The simple point of this meeting is to drill down into each partner with a relationship and find the signals that are the most relevant to surfacing intel, influence, or potential intros, and where the right partner contact might reside.
Here’s how the meeting should be run:
First: Sort the accounts with the most impactful partner overlap.
The Account Executive is here to game plan, document, and ready their plays based on this meeting.
The Sales Manager is here to liaise, learn what partners are more or less effective over time, hold their Account Executive accountable, and hold the Partner Manager to the same standard.
The Partner Manager is here to help determine which partners have the best relationships surfacing details like:
- When the prospect became a customer of a given partner
- The strength and willingness of each partner
- The particular joint value proposition on previous nearbound sales plays run by this rep with these or other partners in the past to improve
- Receive and give feedback on previous nearbound sales plays run by this rep with these or other partners in the past to improve
- Ensure that such notes are saved of a partner with each account and each partner, in the notes of the account when the partner engagement is added to pipeline of partner engagement against that nearbound account list.
Get steps 2-4 and the detailed guide here.
We recommend doing this monthly or quarterly, depending on how often account books refresh and partner relationships move.
Why? Just take a look at these stats from Pavilion and Ebsta’s State of Sales 2024 report:
- 69% of reps missed quota last year
- Win rates were down by 18%
Sellers are struggling to hit their numbers and nearbound offers one of the best solutions.
RESOURCE OF THE DAY
Good morning, ecosystem
Karen Ng (SVP of Product at HubSpot) and Brian Garvey (SVP & GM Worldwide Solutions Partner & Provider Channel Ecosystems at HubSpot) just announced a new show on the HubSpot network!
Every Tuesday, they’ll bring on the best partner leaders and ecosystem builders from around the world to give you new methods, fresh tactics, and common challenges so you can lead your company to remarkable growth.
As Karen puts it,
✨ Ecosystems are inspiring ✨
Follow the podcast on spotify here.
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MORE RESOURCES
Plus a few more to add to your queue
Speaking of awesome podcasts, here are some of the best partnerships & ecosystem podcasts run by the people doing the hard work everyday.
Here are some of their most recent episodes.
- 18 Months Until the End of SaaS? Jacco’s Prophecy—Nearbound Podcast with Jared Fuller and Isaac Morehouse
- The Future of Partnerships: A Conversation with Microsoft’s Chief Partner Officer—Unlearn with Kelly Sarabyn and Asher Matthew
- Ron Piovesan of Okta—Groundwork with Tai Rattigan
- Taylor Wells on Building Products with Partnerships in Mind—The GTM Cheat Code with Justin Gray and Josh Wagner
- Why Fractional Partner Management with Pat Ferdig—Howdy Partners with Will Taylor and Tom Burgess
- Chili Piper’s Alina and Nicolas Vandenberghe on The Importance of Experimentation—Friends with Benefits with Jason and Sam Yarborough
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stuff you don’t want to miss!
- TOMORROW—April 3rd—What Exactly is Partner Experience?—Join Greg Portnoy (CEO of Euler) and Scott Pollack (CEO at Firneo) where they will dive into the essence and significance of partner experience in the evolving world of partnerships. Register 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.
You’re all caught up.
RECENTLY PUBLISHED ON NEARBOUND.COM
- What Top Revenue Leaders Really Think of Partnerships by Shawnie Hamer
- Nearbound Ops: Leveraging Nearbound Data and Operations to Optimize Revenue
- Mastering Nearbound Customer Success: Key Takeaways from the Nearbound Book
- The Role of Nearbound Partnerships for Customer Success by Alper Yuder
- How Nearbound Can Help Keep and Win Back Customers by Delphine Le Person and Isaac Morehouse
- Nearbound Podcast #158: Why Agency Programs are the HARDEST. The Pirate Island Problem, with Max Traylor
- Partner Up or Perish: A Review of the Nearbound Book by Antonio Caridad
See you tomorrow.
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