Time to turn off extra hard mode

Partner-sourced closing at a higher rate than your inbound or outbound leads?

To. Be. Expected.

If your inbound & outbound efforts are beating your nearbound efforts, though, then you have a problem with your partner ecosystem.

Why am I bullish on this?

Look at the processes.

Inbound

🖥️ They’ve done some online research

📃 Downloaded a white paper

📞 Been called by an SDR

👤 Sat a demo & trial with your AE

🤔 Research competitors & sit demos

They are in-market.

They may be qualified.

They may have only spent 2-5 hours engaging with your brand.

How much influence does your AE have over that prospect?

Outbound

📞 Been called by an SDR

👤 Sat a demo & trial with your AE

🤔 Research competitors & sit demos

They probably weren’t even in-market.

They should be qualified.

They’ve spent less time engaging with your brand.

How much influence does your AE have over that prospect?

Partner sourced

👥 They’ve been working with your partner for 6 months

✅ The partner introduces & qualifies your product & discusses how it adds value to what they’re providing for them

👥 Partner joins & adds value through demo & trial process

ℹ️ Partner feeds valuable intel to the AE throughout

🙌 Partner shuts down objections

They are in-market.

They are qualified.

How much influence does your AE have over that prospect?

✅ Considerably more!

What’s the key contributing factor here? Trust.

Trust drives influence.

Influence is the new inbound.

Thanks for contributing to this section of the PhD, Chris Murray!

How should execs think about Nearbound strategies?

Last week on LinkedIn, our Head of Partnerships, Will Taylor asked:

How SHOULD execs think of a Nearbound ecosystem strategy to growing and retaining business revenue?

86% said that Nearbound should be seen as an efficient business growth strategy.

Allan Adler even responded with a video. He said:

If you’re a smart exec sitting on a go to market program that’s not working, the best way to move forward is to start to pilot and experiment with ways to create partner influence and partner source business that will change the trajectory of your go-to-market strategies.

Check out Allan’s full reply, where he breaks down the Nearbound tactics needed to accelerate growth in a down economy:

Allan Adler tells us how to use Nearbound strategies to serve our customers. Click here to watch.

Ecosystems > Partnerships

The ChatGPT ecosystem just keeps growing 🌳.

OpenAI has launched the ability for ChatGPT to call third-party apps. You’ll soon be able to ask ChatGPT to help you plan your dinner menu while adding the ingredients to your shopping list in Instacart.

This will change everything.

No more having to remember how to navigate a new app. You’ll just ask ChatGPT to complete the task for you.

That’s the power of ecosystems.

Learn more here.

Happenings

• CHANNEXT - The Partner Recruitment Trap, Balancing Quantity vs. Quality - April 5th, 2023, 9:00 PST, 11:00 EST, 17:00 CEST - We’ve gathered industry experts to join us for a discussion regarding everything partner recruitment. Register here.
• Magentrix - The State of Partner Engagement and Partner Portals in 2023 & Beyond - April 12, 1-2 PM ET - Hear from Aaron Howerton, Rob Rebholz, and Paul Bird about the root causes behind a lack of partner engagement with your portal and what you can do about it. Register here.
• Firneo - Now - April 14th - Applications are being accepted for Certified Partnerships Professional Spring 2023 cohort. Learn the frameworks and tactics to excel in every facet of your partnerships role. Apply now.