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The Program or the Portal

10.02.24

Which comes first for partnering success?

In the ever-evolving landscape of partnerships, the debate continues over whether to start with a partner program or a partner portal. Both are crucial for fostering successful partnerships. In fact, some people might say one without the other is just as bad as having neither.

Topics: Partnering Tips

Engage Your Partners at Every Step

09.18.24

6 Action Items for Success Along the Partner Journey

In the world of technology partnerships, vendors must constantly evolve to meet the needs of their go-to-market partners. As highlighted in our report, “The Partner Journey Through Partner Eyes,” vendors need to take specific, actionable steps to strengthen their relationships with solution providers at various stages of the partner journey. Below are six action items, one for each stage of the partner journey, to help vendors ensure they remain competitive and attractive to their partners.

Topics: Partnering Tips

Think About the Karma

09.04.24

How our partnering community can help each other.

I believe in karma. What you put out into the world comes back to you. ‘Do unto others’ and all that. However, I’ve become concerned about a general trend towards ‘taking’ versus ‘giving’ in our global economic, political and social environments. We’re hearing fewer stories about unqualified generosity and more about wars, dictators, and selfishness.

Topics: Industry Perspective

Listen, Learn & Follow Through

08.21.24

Embrace the fundamentals to achieve success as a partnering leader.

My stepson, like many recent college graduates, is trying to figure out what he will be when he grows up. On a recent trip for his graduation, he asked me about how I got into partnering and what skill set I consider important for the job. Trying to answer these questions prompted our summer series of interviews with partnering executives: Bob Skelley, Beth Glasstetter and John Schwan. I asked our first webinar guest, Bob Skelley, Vice President of Channel Sales & Strategy at Arctic Wolf, how he got into partnering and what skill set he thought would be important. His answers about listening, lifelong learning, and consistent follow-through align with those I’ve found to be true.

Topics: Partnering Tips

High-Fives or High-Performance?

08.07.24

3 Strategies to Ensure Partnerships are Both Friendly and Impactful

Partnerships play a pivotal role in driving growth and innovation. However, not all partnerships are created equal. When the long lunches and social events are over, you may be faced with tough conversations about missed growth goals. A friendly partnership may seem beneficial on the surface, but it doesn't always translate to a successful and mutually rewarding relationship. Check out three strategies to help you navigate the complexities of professional collaborations and build partnerships that stand the test of time.

Topics: Partnering Tips

Are complex solutions causing a problem?

07.24.24

Help your partners sell simplicity for improved customer satisfaction.

I’m a fan of indirect channels and I’ve spent years helping companies engage, empower and evolve partner ecosystems. I’ve always defended solution providers to vendors who undervalue partner contributions. But lately I’ve noticed that customers are being sold complex solutions when simpler ones will do – and I suspect partners are partly to blame. Don’t get me wrong, direct sales are also guilty of selling complexity. The fact is: complex solutions ensure lucrative services revenues (which is bread and butter for partners). But ultimately, everyone wants happy customers. If the right thing for the customer is a simpler solution (with a faster install, easier onboarding and less ongoing maintenance), how do we encourage a shift in sales priorities?

Topics: Partnering Tips

You Can’t Escape Partnering (Hurrah!)

06.05.24

3 Reassuring Takeaways from My EMEA Event Tour

Recently, I had the pleasure of going ‘on tour’ in Europe to help Impartner host three Partnership Leaders Meetup events. PartnerPath is the Impartner Partner-of-the-Year for 2024 (what a mouthful) and I jumped at the chance to meet partnering enthusiasts on my side of the pond. The ‘tour’ was more networking and finger food than guitars and trashed hotel rooms, but still a very cool experience.

Topics: Partnering Tips, PRM

Our Three Secrets to Managing Change

05.14.24

Change management is leading to sleepless nights. More than 80% of the attendees at our last partner programs roundtable indicated it’s keeping them up at night (yowza). After two decades of partnership model and program consulting experience, we’ve seen all the warning signs of failure. Without organizational change management, your new program, compensation plan, or portal initiative is pretty much worth the paper it’s printed on.

Topics: Partnering Tips, Industry Perspective

10 Steps to Ensure Successful Partner Automation

05.01.24

“We must consider the complex inputs to get to the desired output.” This quote from our webinar guest Lisa Stifelman-Perry, Director, Global Partner Experience Operations at Splunk, A Cisco Company, sounds so simple and yet so many companies don’t properly plan ahead before selecting and implementing partner automation tools.

Topics: Partnering Tips

Is the juice worth the squeeze?

04.17.24

Putting in the work on PRM tools pays off.

Your PRM, known as the Partner Portal to your partners, should hold all the sales tools, automated processes, and enablement necessary to help partners sell your joint value proposition (and deliver on it). That’s easy to write, but in reality, it’s more complex. Anyone who has been through the experience of solution evaluation, implementation, change management and ensuring post-launch success has at some point asked themselves whether “the juice is worth the squeeze.”

Topics: Partnering Tips, PRM