Allyforce: the power of partnership

Most of the examples have primarily been around technology, but I have begun to work with companies that are decidedly non-tech.  And the way you build an effective system and eco-system for allies is just as critical.

It can be a little more difficult sometimes because I have found that given the complexity, leveraging technology to enable effective parternships is essential.  But it does work.

Find out more with the upcoming:  “Allyforce: How Any Sales Organization Can Increase Revenues Faster Through Partnerships That Work”

Although I typically use the example of technology companies, it works well if you are not.  You need to meet certain requirements:

• The potential universe of buyers is large
• The person making the decisioin in the universe is often unknown
• You target people and companies that at least one other non-competing company is targeting as well
• IF finding that person and company faster and more directly, you can speed up your sales cycle

There are some companies where this might not make sense.

Purely consumer-drive marketing companies that sell through major retailers or grocery-chains, for example, wouldn’t apply.

Utilities wouldn’t apply.

Manufacturers who OEM to a handful of key accounts wouldn’t apply.

It’s not about what you sell, it’s about HOW you sell.

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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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In  general, I think people instinctively get the idea of working with others for mutual benefit.

I had a conversation with someone who — off the bat — just wanted information, details, insights, a battery of questions of what he wanted…all without offering something in return.  This is a total stranger who approached me.  We’re still meeting, but how would you go into this discussion?

Warning signs: if that’s your approach to partnership — gimme, gimme, take, take — it gets flagged early.

Come bearing "gifts."  Put something out as a strawman: "Not sure if this works but here’s what I can provide you."

When I partner, I hunt and search to find someway that I can provide value, typically a contact name at minimum to help.  If I don’t — I try to find some common ground, or a promise to find them a lead — early in the conversation.  It’ hard — sometimes it’s not that clear and you have to rely on an existing relationship.  There are plenty of times I’ve asked someone I’ve met or know for just plain out help and the promise that someday something will circle back.

But you can smell it when someone’s approach is to take, and it colors future discussions as it has with this fellow.  The meeting will still happen, but now everything moving forward has that smell.

Come bearing "gifts" and a creativity to at least seeking to find something that will benefit them.  Strong partnerships can get built from that foundation, and I’ve seen some remarkable people do so and I continue to try to learn from them.

Think "give" before you "get."   

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Image by Manassas Cakery via Flickr

It’s happened to me more than once, and it’s the best.

A rep sent me the name, phone number, and email of a guy and said, “Call him.  He may be looking for what you’ve got.”

So I did.  And he was right.

It was a big multi-billion company in Southern California, which was technically part of my territory but I was only working with a select number of companies because I thought it would get re-assigned to someone else.

But he was actively looking for this particular solution.  I had, in fact, made a few dials in, spoke to someone, but it was the wrong group entirely!

Anyway, this is probably one of the best ways to get a contact short of the customer contacting you and saying that they are in the market for your product.

So why did this rep do this for me?

Because I gave him a few contacts to call.

It’s the Give-to-Get Economy.

To jumpstart it, you’ve got to Give first.

But I’ve done the same thing with another rep.  Gave maybe five good names and contacts to call, all solid.  Then I asked him, “So, what have you got for me?”

His response, via email:  “Uh…nothing, I guess.”

Wouldn’t it be great to not only track what you’ve given and what you’ve received, but see how they treat other sales reps as well?  I’d go with the rep who has a solid track record of both receiving and giving contacts anyday.

And I’d like my partners to be automatically notified of new contacts I could offer them without me going to them.

That’d be sweet!

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I came across one of those quotes that made me think back to my career and current status and went: “Oh boy.  Gotta take the game to a whole new level.”

The old stand-by for both sales and for your career has been: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

Okay, I suppose when you’re calling on people all day and having meetings and trying to do the networking thing, I guess you build a career around who you know.

But here’s what made me think (maybe you already know this, but this was a new twist for me).

It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you!

To me, that was a very different value proposition and way of going about doing business.

Part of the exercise is how do you get known…something which I’m still exploring.

But I realized that my existing habit of already trying to make introductions to reps I know could be accelerated to a whole new level.

I want to be known by as many people as possible as someone who can make the introductions (by sales reps) and who can continually add value (by prospects and customers).

Not easy but that’s how Allyforce is being designed, to make playing the role of network-maker a click away.

Check it out.

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As a sales rep trying to break into enterprise accounts, the primary way has been through cold-calling.

In an ideal world, the information that you can get from web-sites would be sufficient, but when I started informally asking my partners — sales reps at companies with complimentary products — to suggest names of people they’ve sold to, it worked.

Meaning, I would get a conversation going, sometimes a full-on meeting.

Did that always result in a sale?  No.

But you’re alot closer to a sale when you can discuss and talk with someone than bouncing around in voice-mail.

What are three elements why exchanging information with a partner rep worked so much better, anecdotally 5-times better that the traditional route?

#1: Contacts

In almost all cases, I got a name of someone I wasn’t able to drum up myself.  I had no idea who the right person was in the organization.  In many instances, the person was not only spot on the right person, but looking at a potential project.

Yet, I had no idea of the name, the title, and calling the CIO and the gatekeeper wasn’t getting me there.

#2: Context

I would get alot of information that was absolutely essential before calling that I couldn’t get elsewhere.  For example:

• They have a problem that you may be trying to solve
• He’s not a tough negotiator, but will have a long cycle
• She’s the actual decision-maker and she loves our product
• I heard that they are big Open Source shop

#3: Connection

This would vary based on the contact and the sales rep, of course, but if it was a product they knew and loved, being able to mention the sales rep’s name and product would help instantly give me relevance and credibility.

Of course, I would need to make the tie-in as best as I could, but it was better than coming in completely cold.

It worked so well that I tried to do this more often…but I had a hard time.

It was cumbersome…and that’s when Allyforce was born.

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Let’s back up further in the prospecting process.

In the previous blog, I said that the losses, those terrible but rare times you lose a deal, could now be monetized by providing contact and context about the account to other partner reps to get similar information in return.

What if you disqualified them early.  They don’t have budget, it’s not a priority, it’s something they don’t experience yet, they have a competitor in-house, whatever.

Typically, you move on and forget.  You don’t have time to spend with that customer.  And if there really is no chance that person could buy your current product, why spend the time.

Will you sell the same product for the rest of your life?

I know I wish I had kept in much better touch with those I qualified out when selling one type of solution (it was a very niche product I felt) when I started selling more broadly.

But I didn’t.  Why?

Actually, I didn’t have a good reason to.

When you provide referrals to another rep, make sure you get included in the conversation!

It’s a great way to maintain relationships with that account (as long as you are doing so intelligently, such as knowing their business and believing there’s a fit…don’t be indiscriminate).

Key takeaways on monetizing every contact through exchanging with other sales reps:

• Keep in contact with prospects who don’t buy now by brokering other solutions — be a thought-leader
• Find other deals from other reps by exchanging your losses for potential “at bats”
• Take your installs to exchange for other installs with partner reps

Now rather than coming away with only 1 out of 3 contacts being worth the time…you can turn both wins and losses into potential new customers more quickly and easily.