A quick recap of the PhD from this week:

• Don’t Be Normal
• Ask the Right Questions
• It Starts With Trust
• Keep Your Head Up
• The First Mover Advantage

Recently published:

• PartnerUp #107 - How Nearbound is Different From Channel with Fredrik Mellander
• The Partnering Reference Architecture: Managing Your CRM by Brian Hattaway
• Bridging the Gap Between Insights to Outcomes Requires Playbooks + Training by Chris Lavoie
• Howdy Partners Episode #30: Can ChatGPT replace us partnership folks?
• The CRM vs. PRM Debate: Focus on the Task, Not the Tech by Bob Jones
• Marketing Together #9 - How to Leverage the Weirdos on Your Partnerships Team with Logan Lyles and Cody Snyder
• What’s in a Vibe? by Jessie Shipman
• Ecosystem Creator Lab #8: How to Tell a Compelling Story by Micaela Richmond and Will Taylor
• Weak Economy Equals Nearbound Opportunity says Bain Executive by PartnerHacker
• Selling Together #10: Close More Deals With The Secret Partner Sauce with Jessie Shipman and Jared Robin
• The Partner Experience Weekly: Partner Ops is a Strategic Role by Aaron Howerton
• "The End is Near" For 3rd-Party Data Says Scott Brinker by PartnerHacker

It takes more than great tech to win in B2B SaaS

Front-Commerce makes some of the fastest front-end eCommerce software available.

When Christian Lelaidier took a role as the Strategic Partnerships Development Manager at Front-Commerce, he leaned into partnerships 100%. His product was way better than the competition, but that wasn’t the only thing that mattered.

Christian said,

It’s just line of codes. I don’t have a SaaS product that I’m going to be able to show to a business user the pain they could offload.

So, it made sense for us to be 100% partner driven. Not only did we have to bring benefits to the final customer, but we also had to bring benefits to the agencies integrating the solution.

It’s not because you have an incredible product for the final customer that your partner is actually going to want to implement it or to propose it to their customers.

Understand what’s in it for your partners before reaching out to them, customer satisfaction is not enough to make partners move forward. That’s something I’ve learned.

Christian includes partners on all leads that come his way. When a customer wants to implement his front-end solution for their e-commerce store, he brings partners in on the deal right away.

The secret to Front-Commerce’s success is that they’ve used partners to deliver value all the way from the developers down to the shopper online. The online shopper has a better and faster buying experience, the merchants have lower costs, and the developers have less maintenance time.

Focus on one common shared goal

Christian mentioned that sometimes partnership discussions can waste time. Discussions can go on for months on end without any real progress.

It’s important to get clear on what you both are after.

You need to focus on one common shared goal. It’s a tactic Christian learned by listening to a podcast with former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss.

To get to a common shared goal, you need to ask focused questions and listen intently.

You need to get clear on questions like these:

• How many customers should we aim to get this next quarter?
• Are the customers in our install base?
• How many customers do we need to talk with every week to get to this goal?

Partnerships > tech

Talking with Christian made me realize that you can have the best software, but without a great GTM strategy, you’re dead in the water.

Christian had to use partners because his software didn’t lend itself to one-on-one demos. So, he used a Nearbound motion.

Through partnerships, Front-Commerce reached its goals while improving the online experience for shoppers, merchants, and devs. 

How have you used a Nearbound motion to go to market and hit your goals?

Send me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear your story.

Register for the Summit!