In this article you’ll learn: 

• The essential steps and strategies for getting your partners’ teams on board with Nearbound. 
• How to empower partner, sales, and marketing teams to become champions of Nearbound. 
• The perfect tool to enable your GTM teams with Nearbound intel. 

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In today’s hyper-connected business landscape, partnerships play a vital role in driving long term growth and capturing market opportunities. And the only way to fully capatilize on the power of partnerships is with Nearbound. 

Nearbound is a Go-To-Market strategy that enables organizations to close deals faster and achieve faster revenue growth by leveraging the power of ecosystems and building upon established trust. 

However, despite its undeniable potential, implementing Nearbound successfully requires the support, partner buy-in, and active involvement of partner teams. 

While Nearbound uplifts everyone in the ecosystem, it necessitates turning partners into co-collaborators and champions. Convincing partner teams of the power of Nearbound is crucial for realizing the full benefits of this transformative strategy.

The current disconnect 

One of the main challenges in getting partner teams to embrace Nearbound is the potential lack of adequate communication regarding the value it brings to each team. When introducing a new strategy like Nearbound, it is crucial that you address the specific concerns and priorities of partner teams and demonstrate how it aligns with their objectives. 

Nearbound can’t be done solo, the more partners you have the more value you’re going to get from your ecosystem. You need champions in every department, including leadership, to leverage the full power of Nearbound.

When you are the sole advocate and user of Nearbound within your organization, it can lead to various issues that can hinder the strategy’s effectiveness and overall success. Issues such as: 

• Lack of alignment between the partner team and the rest of the organization, resulting in conflicting strategies and a fragmented approach to partnership activities. 
• Limited partner engagement and missed opportunities to leverage partner intelligence, influence, and customer insights. 
• Inconsistent messaging while reaching potential partners and customers. 
• Limited impact on revenue growth due to a lack of NQLs (Nearbound Qualified Leads), influence sales cycles, and not leveraging partner relationships to close deals faster. 
• Missed collaboration opportunities on content co-creation, co-selling, resource sharing, etc.

A comparison between flying solo and having aligned teams on Nearbound.

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Nearbound champions

To mitigate these issues, it is essential that you operationalize a buy-in process to create Nearbound champions. This will foster a culture of partnership and collaboration throughout your organization and your partner teams. 

You should work towards creating awareness and understanding of Nearbound among partners’ teams, highlighting its benefits and aligning it with their goals. 

By encouraging active participation and providing the necessary resources and support, you can transform partners into co-owners of the Nearbound strategy, driving unified efforts and maximizing the potential of the ecosystem for mutual success. 

Here’s what you can do to get your partner’s buy-in: 

‍Education and training programs

Invest in comprehensive education and training programs to ensure that your partners’ teams understand the concept, benefits, and implementation of Nearbound. Provide clear explanations of how Nearbound aligns with their objectives and demonstrate its value in driving revenue growth.

‍Transparent communication 

Establish open and transparent communication channels with partner teams. Regularly share updates, success stories, and case studies that highlight the positive impact of Nearbound on other partners and the organization as a whole. Address any concerns or skepticism, and actively seek feedback and input from partner teams to foster a sense of ownership and collaboration.

‍Alignment of goals and metrics 

Align Nearbound objectives with the goals and metrics of your partner teams. Clearly communicate how Nearbound can enhance their performance, generate NQLs (Nearbound qualified leads), improve conversion rates, boost partner-influence revenue, and contribute to their overall success. Collaboratively set targets and establish KPIs that align with the shared vision and ensure ongoing evaluation of Nearbound’s effectiveness.

‍Resource allocation

Provide your partner teams with the necessary resources, tools, and support to effectively implement Nearbound. This may include dedicated personnel, training materials, marketing collateral, technology platforms, and access to partner networks. Ensure that your partner teams have the means to seamlessly integrate Nearbound into their existing processes and workflows.

‍Encourage collaboration and co-creation

Foster a culture of collaboration among your partner teams and encourage the co-creation of content, joint marketing initiatives, and shared resources. Facilitate regular meetings, workshops, and forums where your partner teams can collaborate, exchange ideas, and share best practices. Encourage cross-functional partnerships and highlight the benefits of collective efforts in driving success. 

‍Recognition and incentives

Recognize and celebrate the achievements of your partner teams who embrace Nearbound and actively contribute to its success. Provide incentives and rewards that align with your partner team objectives and motivate them to fully engage with Nearbound. This can include financial incentives, recognition programs, exclusive access to resources, or opportunities for career growth within the partnership ecosystem.

‍Continuous evaluation and improvement

Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of Nearbound implementation and its impact on partner teams and overall business outcomes. Collect feedback, analyze data, and adapt strategies accordingly. Embrace a mindset of continuous improvement, iterating on approaches, and refining tactics based on lessons learned and evolving market dynamics. 

Connor Jeffers shares a tip on how to build Nearbound champions

You’re the key to making Nearbound a success, but you never have to do it alone. We’re here to help you make everyone in your partner ecosystem a Nearbound champion. 

Here’s how. 

Creating Nearbound partnership champions

Creating Nearbound partnership champions involves empowering and motivating partner teams to actively participate and excel in the implementation of the strategy

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Here’s how to turn your partners into Nearbound believers: 

1. Identify and prioritize key partners: Identify partners who have demonstrated a track record of high conversion rates and successful collaboration. Prioritize these partners to focus on building strong relationships and leveraging their expertise. 
2. Create reciprocal opportunities: Discover where your partners can help you and identify opportunities to help your partners. Seek ways to align your goals and collaborate on joint initiatives that leverage the strengths of both organizations.
3. Engage the revenue team: Involve the revenue team, including sales, marketing, and customer success, in the Nearbound strategy. Demonstrate the value of incorporating partner presence and data into their day-to-day activities.
4. Conduct data-driven meetings: Provide access to real-time partner performance metrics, customer feedback, and market intelligence. Equip partner teams and internal stakeholders with up-to-date data and insights to conduct more efficient and productive meetings.
5. Drive partner marketing initiatives: Collaborate with partner teams to develop and execute joint marketing initiatives. Align your marketing efforts to amplify each other’s messages and extend reach. Co-create compelling content, run joint campaigns, and leverage partner networks to expand your market presence. 

If your partners’ teams aren’t fully convinced about joining your Nearbound strategy, all you need to do is to mention that Nearbound helps to identify the best potential partners to drive an increase of 2x their revenue. 

Creating Nearbound sales champions

To create Nearbound sales champions, it’s essential to empower and enable sales teams to leverage the power of partnerships effectively.

1. Customize your sales pitch: Customize sales pitches based on the partner’s presence and technology stack. Understand each partner’s specific value propositions and strengths to tailor your pitch accordingly. Highlight how the partnership enhances the overall solution and drives customer success. 
2. Gather intel and leverage partner influence: Encourage sales teams to gather intelligence and insights from partners. Leverage partner relationships and their deep understanding of the market to identify customer pain points, preferences, and buying behaviors. Sales teams tap into partner influence to establish credibility and trust with customers.  
3. Co-sell with partners: Foster collaboration between sales teams and partner representatives to co-sell effectively. Jointly identify opportunities, align on strategies, and engage in joint sales efforts. By leveraging each other’s strengths and resources, sales teams can tap into partner networks and customer relationships to expand their reach and accelerate deal closure. 
4. Save low-converting deals with partners: Identify deals that are low-converting or facing challenges in the sales process. Engage partners to provide additional support, expertise, or resources to help overcome obstacles and close those deals. Sales teams can collaborate with partners to address customer concerns, provide complementary solutions, or offer unique value propositions. 
5. Identify missing stakeholders: Work closely with partners to identify missing stakeholders within customer organizations who should be included in the sales conversation. Engage partners in mapping the decision-making process, understanding organizational dynamics, and identifying key stakeholders who can influence the buying decision.

And if that is not enough, you can always pull out this joker to leverage joint open deals: 

Your Sales team only needs to compare stakeholders involved on both sides and identify the ones you’re not speaking with, or get introduced to the partner AE and strategize together on the joint value prop and comms. The result, from our experience, will be a 41% average increase in deal size and a 43% increase in the average win rate. 

Nearbound’s impact

Creating Nearbound marketing champions

To fully unlock the potential of Nearbound, it is vital to have marketing teams who champion and effectively implement the strategy. Here’s how to get marketing’s buy-in: 

1. Generate Nearbound Qualified Leads: Collaborate closely with partners to generate qualified net new prospects. Leverage partner networks, industry insights, and Nearbound data to identify target audiences that align with your solution. Develop joint lead generation campaigns, webinars, or content collaborations to attract and engage prospects.
2. Build hyper-targeted email marketing strategies for prospects: Leverage partner data and insights to build hyper-targeted email marketing strategies for prospects. Segment your email lists based on partner affiliations, buyer personas, or specific market segments. Craft personalized and compelling messaging that highlights the combined value of your solution and the partner’s offering.
3. Implement Account-Based Marketing (ABM) activities to boost partner app installs: Collaborate with partners to implement account-based marketing (ABM) activities aimed at boosting partner app installs or driving the adoption of joint solutions. Develop targeted campaigns focusing on key accounts or specific industries, tailoring the messaging to address their unique pain points and challenges.
4. Launch co-marketing initiatives: Work closely with partners to launch co-marketing initiatives that amplify the reach and impact of your messaging. Collaboratively develop content, webinars, events, or thought leadership pieces that showcase the partnership and provide value to the target audience.
5. Better score prospects for your sales team: Collaborate with partners to develop a unified scoring methodology for prospects. Combine partner data, engagement metrics, and marketing automation tools to score prospects based on their likelihood to convert or engage with the sales team. 

The best thing about Nearbound is that it opens doors that without partner influence, those opportunities won’t exist, for example: 

You have a cold prospect that has been “ghosting” you for the last 4 months. Well, here’s what you can do: double your marketing efforts and re-engage or send ABM campaigns about the synergies with your partner. Your prospect is buying your partner’s solution, meaning that is investing in your ecosystem—which is a big opportunity to generate an open opportunity for your Sales team. 

Connect your tech 

As you can see, a clear communication process is key to creating champions in every corner of your organization. And what better way to communicate than adding Nearbound intel to your single source of truth, your CRM. Reveal puts that Nearbound intel at your fingertips. 

For Partnership teams

One way to get your partner teams onboard is to give them access to the Nearbound data they need to successfully achieve their KPIs. The best thing you can do is introduce them to a platform that can help them identify and prioritize potential partners. 

In Reveal, you can use the Nearbound intel in your partner’s overview, where you and your partners can prioritize by the percentage of each Market and Persona overlap, Win Rate, and Revenue Potential.

My Partners dashboard in Reveal

For Sales teams

AEs can use the Get Intro buttons in Salesforce and HubSpot CRMs to immediately send a request to the Partner Manager for a connection to that partner. This provides connections and intel that they would previously have been restricted from. 

What this does is uplift the processes and strategies they are already using. Sales teams don’t have a heavy lift—they are embedding their current pipeline with even more support on the accounts that matter to them, in addition to adding more accounts to their pipeline. 

Give your AE the power and control to work on the accounts they both want to work on and that will close 35% faster.  

Reveal’s HubSpot Widget overview

For Marketing teams

Marketing teams are tired of wasting time and resources on campaigns that fall flat. They have KPIs for MQLs they need to meet, but with the constant noise of inbound and outbound strategies in the wider market, they are struggling to do so. 

Nearbound intel that can help them tailor their outreach and marketing campaigns. 

Marketing teams can use 360 mapping to find companies with high audience overlaps. 

We know it’s hard to introduce another tool to your partners and their teams, so in case they need a little push to be onboarded in Reveal, here’s what you can do: 

1. Schedule a call with your partner and personally demo Reveal’s top features. Showcase the ease of performing Account Mapping and 360° Mapping, emphasizing the time and manual labor saved with Reveal. Highlight the benefits of moving away from outdated spreadsheets. Pro tip: Involve a Revealer who can conduct the platform demo on your behalf. Our teams are always ready to assist you.
2. Share the following link with your partner for easy onboarding. This link will guide them through the onboarding process.
3. Utilize a customizable invitation template along with a demo video that dives into Reveal’s key features. Personalize the template with your partner’s name and provide them with the demo video for an in-depth understanding.

A template you can use to get your partners’ teams on board with Reveal

All for one and one for all

Getting your partners’ teams on board with Nearbound requires a strategic and collaborative approach. By empowering partner, sales, and marketing teams to become champions of Nearbound, you can maximize the potential of this Go-To-Market strategy and drive mutual success within the ecosystem. 

Nearbound’s potential can only be fully realized when partner teams are actively engaged and aligned with the strategy. To overcome potential challenges and create Nearbound champions, it is crucial to address communication gaps, align goals, provide resources and support, encourage collaboration, recognize achievements, and continuously evaluate and improve the strategy.

Ready to unlock the full potential of Nearbound and revolutionize your Go-To-Market strategy? 

Book a demo and accelerate your growth with Nearbound.

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