What does it take to fully build a company that successfully partners?

Committment from the Top Levels and Consistent Throughout

Commitment from the Top

Senior executives absolutely must believe there is value in enabling their partners to win, and in ensuring that partner deliver value.  They must also start to think of partnership as ways to execute in the field, not just PR or product offerings.  The committment must be stated and time and attention must be given, including to asking questions such as, "How healthy are the partnerships?  Are we allocating some resources to manage it down to the field?  What are the metrics — number of leads or conversations started and can we tie these to revenue?"

Some companies don’t have that top-level leadership.  They focus on either traditional lead-generation that works in isolated silos, or they see partnership at a level too strategic without drilling down into the metrics and execution.

It begins with a mindset, a way to start thinking of cultivating friendly "allies" who become feet on the street and seeing this as an essential way to win the war.

Consistent Throughout

Specifically, the field must have a way to experience consistent support and to be consistent in their efforts.  Revenue-generating alliances are not an instant panacea.  It takes cultivation to begin to see the fruit, and demands consistency of effort even without a ton of results right away.

That’s why it takes a delicate balance of consistency without time-consumption of the field-reps, but also strategic insight into which types of partnerships will yield some kind of fruit to keep them motivated.  It is an essential component of success.

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