Increase your luck surface
A wise man once told me, "innovate, don’t invent."
When you find something that works, lean into it, learn why it worked, and then emulate it.
The goal isn’t to copy, but to build off of what took others years and failure to figure out.
Tap into your execs’ wisdom, ask questions to the people around you, embed yourself into communities, participate on LinkedIn, and listen to podcasts like PartnerUp.
There’s a concept called “increasing your luck surface.” When you embed yourself in all of these different places, you’re increasing the probability that you stumble into something important/helpful.
Vidyard’s partner program case study
Vidyard’s ex-VP of Strategic Partnerships, Ashleigh Gray, explained how Vidyard’s partner program went from optimizing for volume to value, and from transactional relationships to strategic partnerships.
Their 5 criteria for choosing partners are now:
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Commercial compatibility — partners who have a strong business value proposition and can help generate revenue (paying attention to ICPs and target markets)
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Cultural compatibility — partners who are a strong fit in terms of values and business culture
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Strategic compatibility — partners with a strong alignment of vision, goals, and objectives
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Technical compatibility — partners who provide solutions or services that are compatible with, or enhance their product offerings
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Operational compatibility — partners who are operationally aligned, and willing to put in the same work and effort to succeed
We work every quarter with our partners to measure the strategic nature of our partnership, to figure out what we have to do next, and identify what we’re missing. From there, we do quarterly business reviews to ensure that we are moving the needle. It helps us make action plans and achieve more.
Read the full Kiflo case study to learn about the non-binding contracts Vidyard used to increase partner engagement, how they approach value versus volume, and to hear Ashleigh’s advice on improving partner program strategy.
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Send someone the PhD and this case study, outlining a couple of specific points you think will be helpful for them to implement into their partner programs.
On last thing...an event worth checking out
Confessions of Partner Leaders looks like a great new series of conversations from our friends at PartnerStack. Check out the first event July 19.
