To get an answer to this big question, there are a number of questions to determine where you are starting from and how well you already are working with partners.

Every plan is created based on 1) what you know, 2) what you are guessing and 3) what you are hoping for. Then in the execution of the plan, there is much learning, which needs to be fed back in to change the plan. Invariably, all the things you thought you knew, weren’t all correct or weren’t sufficiently clear and now you have better knowledge to reapply to the task.

It’s the balance of earning while you’re learning. We’re looking for progress on the earning path while learning to do it faster and cheaper. The pressure is often too short-term on earning and milestones must be met to stay in the game.

The expectations of the plan need to be set according to where you are starting from, and your various stakeholders need to buy into the journey and challenges in the plan. If you need buy-in from decision makers ‘upstairs’ then they too need to be educated on the ultimate benefits of a functioning sales channel and what it takes to build success.

Let’s see if we can establish the challenges in the plan by unpacking this big question:

Q1: How clear and validated is the profile of “a revenue-generating partner” for your company?
• A Clear Partner Profile has many subtle details that allow you to select and objectively evaluate a potential partner.
• A Validated Partner Profile means, the target profile has been developed and proven with a number of real-life partners demonstrating success in meeting the criteria and maybe through hard learnings, where partners didn’t meet the criteria and failed to meet agreed expectations.

Related Content:
• TenegoTV: Q: We want to build our partner ecosystem. Where do we start?

Q2: How long does it take for a new partner to be revenue generating?

If we assumed the best case, that the partner would immediately be proactive in generating business with you:
• What is the typical length of your sales cycle?
• Are you expecting the partner can sell faster than your typical sales cycle?
• In a comparative scenario, when you hire a new salesperson, how long does it take them to bring in their first sale, and this is with you handing them leads? Yet, your salesperson is full-time on your sales, and the partner is not.
• Does the partner have a number of existing customers that they can contact easily for your product?

Q3: How prepared is your business to actively support your new partner in gaining new business?
Much frustration and disappointment come from your failure to recognise and verify your assumptions.
• How capable is the partner in selling your solution?
• What capabilities are you assuming that the partner has along the necessary marketing and sales stages?
• If you assumed that the partner needed the same level of training as new marketing and salespeople, to what extent are you ready?
• Are you ready with the proven messaging and materials to allow the partner to open discussions with prospective customers?
• Are you ready to step in, support them and work with your partner through the first discussions and develop from there?

Q4: Where does your product fit into your partner’s plans?
This is the success and failure of partnerships and nearly always breezed over with too little attention given to Partner Fit, alignment with and through the partners’ business.
Now, be honest with yourself on this one:
• Are you interested in finding a way to help your partners to build their businesses
• OR do you expect partners to change their plans to sell your product?
• How well do you know the partner’s current business?
• The mix of company types and sizes they are selling to?
• The types of solutions and services do they sell?
• Their typical deal size and shape of licences and the different services they offer
• And what type of business do they ideally want more of?

Q5: What attracts the partner to work with you, or your product?
There is so much more to Your Partner Proposition than revenue opportunities and a great product.

Too many approach partners on the basis of having a great product and the partner should sell it. A great product for the end customer is important, but how is it a great product for the partner’s business?

Q6: How long does it take to find and secure revenue-generating potential partners?
With clarity on your target partner types, how many suitable companies exist in your target markets and how do you identify and get them on board?

• What criteria and evidence (facts) are you using to decide on your target regional markets?
• What search criteria are you using to generate source lists?
• What evaluation can you do on the company’s data to decide whether suitable, before you try contacting them?
• What pitch will open the door to get the partner talking to you?
• What evaluation is required by both, you and your partner to assess the opportunity?
• What elapsed time does it take to go from cold partner prospect to secured agreement, given that the partners are already busy with their existing plans?

Related Content:
• TenegoTV: Q: How do you find Reseller Partners?

Exercise: On your own or with your team, rotating into the role of the partners
• Detail the scenarios where the partner is acting on their current plans and is proactively engaging their customers and new customers with your product?
• Using the above questions to test each hypothesis, playing tough devil’s advocate and not accepting easy answers and honestly categorising what you know based on evidence, and what you believe but needs to be validated.

Then, like all great plans, you prioritise alleviating the greatest risks.

The answer to the question “How long does it take to build a revenue-generating partner channel?”, is different for every company and every product and changes with the market and learnings.

Answer:
• Let’s assume that you’re overstating how ready you are, how easy it is to secure partners and how easy it is for partners to sell your solution.
• Let’s also assume that you’ve underestimated the effort and the elapsed time to deliver on your sales channel goals.
• Yet, you are starting on structuring and building a highly scalable engine for international sales growth, so don’t sell it short, or count the score even when the game may have just started.
• Are you operating in the right balance of meeting earning goals and learning goals, whether from your own expectations or those you are reporting to ‘upstairs’?
• What does that add up to?

Consider selling the vision, the journey to attain that journey and key milestones along the way. This takes patience and investment but can be executed at a pace you can afford while continuing to learn, earn and scale.