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TAKEOVER BY MIKE MIDGLEY

A review of the nearbound book

I’m Mike Midgley, CEO of 6teen30 Digital, Inc., based in sunny Fort Myers, Florida.

I’ve achieved multiple six and seven-figure exits and raised millions in venture capital. Now, I help growth-focused entrepreneurs succeed with RevOps and HubSpot.

Today, I see nearbound as fundamental, profound....call it what you will. But it’s upon us and while others may just see it as just another book, one they will eventually get around to that’s ok—however just the reliance on outbound, inbound today is a fool’s choice.

I’ve been documenting chapter by chapter—because this book has so many valuable insights. Here are a few insights from chapters 1-5.

1. In this era (nearbound Era) trust outweighs the sheer volume of data

The advent of the nearbound era heralds a paradigm shift in marketing dynamics, where the traditional emphasis on data and messaging takes a back seat to trust and relationships.

2. The power of “Who”

Instead of asking "How can I sell my product?," nearbound asks "Where are my buyers, and who do they trust?" The goal is to become part of your audience’s conversations without interrupting them.

3: Establishing a strategic narrative—making yourself easy to market with

The concept was popularized by Andy Raskin for leadership trying to reframe company strategy as a story. Another key takeaway here is that marketers are used to prioritizing ’customers 1st’ and ’product 2nd’, with nearbound it’s adjusted:

• Customer-first
• Those they trust most (partners)
• Your story
• Your product

You have to see partners as a center of gravity, not a distribution channel, their orbits pull your prospects into alignment.

What are your takeaways from the book? Reply to this email!

TACTICS

Get the respect of Sales in 60 days

If you think you can ignore what your Sales team thinks of you and keep going solo, you’re playing on hard-mode.

Lack of respect and trust between Partnership and Sales means lost customer value, wasted time, and reduced revenue.

So we’ve compiled a ton of resources to help you earn the respect of your sales team in 60 days.

Day 1: Evaluate honestly

Take a very honest look at what your program and team are doing well, what needs improvement, and what needs to be discarded so that you can remain focused on supporting the objectives your Revenue teams care about.

Read more, and learn how Sam Collins from Reachdesk did this successfully.

Days 2-15: Set goals and understand rhythms

Once you’ve gotten very honest about the state of your program, what you need to work toward, and what you can handle, it’s time to start setting better goals.

• Create your KPIs
• Establish your Nearbound Rhythm of Business (RoB)

Learn more here. 

Days 16-30: Nearbound Ops and enablement

Once you’ve mapped your Sales team’s RoB and developed a plan for how partnerships will fit into those rhythms, it’s time to build a solid operational structure for executing your plan.

Nearbound Operations—also called Partner Operations—is one of the most overlooked and neglected aspects of Partnerships, but is arguably the most important. Why? Because without the workflows, processes, and technology in place to seamlessly run nearbound plays, Partner Managers will continuously come up short.

Once you have your processes and Nearbound Ops in place, now it’s time to start training your Sales team about how to leverage them.

Come prepared to enablement sessions with responses to the questions outlined here. Learn more here. 

Day 30-45 - Execute, nurture, & adjust

Enablement is not a one-and-done event. Partner teams need to become a true installation in the lives of their sellers, consistently showing up for them, sharing key insights, and adjusting strategies as needed.

A great way to start is through a weekly cadence with your sellers to review strategic accounts. Click here to learn how Dan at Box does it.

Lastly, create constant feedback loops with both your sellers and your partners so that you can get an accurate assessment of how your nearbound strategy is going, not just for them, but for the customers as well.

Day 45-60 - Track, celebrate, & repeat

Nothing will get buy-in from your Sales team faster than a good win.

The trick is to share the right stories.

Remember that the role of partnerships, above all else, is to help. Find the stories of customers and sellers you’ve helped through the ecosystem, and spread the word far and wide. Make these updates and stories part of the RoB with your Sales teams. Make sure you are a part of their weekly meetings and that you are sharing every way partners are helping sellers get ahead.

For example, you can create a Slack channel that celebrates partner-attached wins, or you could send out a regular email to your teams, like Dan does at Box.

Earning the respect of your Sales team is not only possible, but something that your Revenue leaders are (not so) secretly hoping for.

Continue reading here.

FROM THE NEARBOUND COMMUNITY

Leaders, get ready to rethink your GTM and partnerships strategy.

Mo Kowatly (Director of Digital Sales Strategy and Inside Management at Microsoft) recently shared his thoughts on nearbound. 

The emergence of this book and the Nearbound Era represents a natural progression in market dynamics following three distinct eras of GTM paradigms.

This paradigm shift serves as a revitalizing disruptor that demands the attention of every forward-thinking B2B leader and their partners.

Embracing it offers a pathway to gain a competitive edge, especially as others struggle with the limitations of inbound and outbound strategies.

Mo’s perspective stands as a testament to the importance of nearbound.

This isn’t about creating another "led-growth" motion, it’s bigger than that. Nearbound is about our customers, the way they buy, and the natural progression of the market.

Read Mo’s full review here.

And get your copy of the book to join in on the conversation.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• April 24th—Partnerships Secrets: Cory Snyder Teaches Partner Recruitment—Teamwork.com’s Head of Partnerships, Cory Snyder, spills the tea on how he’s growing his partner program in 2024. Powered by PartnerStack. Register here.
• May 7th—MartechDay 2024—Join Scott Brinker (VP Platform Ecosystems at HubSpot) and Frans Riemersma (Founder, MartechTribe) to release the latest Marketing Technology Landscape graphic. It’s a celebration of the thousands of talented people working in martech, at brands, vendors, and across the community. Scott and Frans will also be interviewing key leaders for their deep domain-specific knowledge. 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

• Nearbound and the Rhythm of Business by Jared Fuller
• A Deep Dive Into the Nearbound Book, with Mike Midgley
• How Pigment Increased Win Rates 5-10% with a Nearbound Overlay & Reveal by Shawnie Hamer
• Unleashing the Power of Nearbound: The Stats You Need to Know by Andrea Vallejo
• Nearbound Podcast #160: How Open Source Unlocked Our Ecosystem - with Clint Oram
• The Future of Sales Enablement: Integrating the Nearbound Strategy in Your Cold Outreach Efforts by Jeremy Chatelaine
• Integrations as a Growth Lever by Jessica Fewless
• 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

See you tomorrow

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