With busy work and family schedules, I struggle to fit in my cycling training and I’m forced to train in shorter spins; typically, a maximum of 1.5 hours at a time, 2 to 4 times per week. Now this will not prepare me for the Tour de France, but thankfully it does keep me up to speed for Tour de Munster. What I stumbled upon in my cycling training is the elimination of Waste Miles. Rather than prolonged flat spins, I aim for high-intensity and more climbs per distance travelled, it’s simply more efficient on time.
In recruiting sales partners for software companies/ISVs, we constantly work to remove the waste miles from the Partner Recruitment process to optimise our client’s time. In Tenego’s Partner Recruitment Process, we set out to:
1) optimise the time needed for key client resources
2) optimise the elapsed time to decisions within the process
3) optimise the engaged sales partners’ time in securing interest and building trust in the process and our client’s product and company.
In so many companies we engage with, we see a number of inefficiencies that bring no value to the Partner Recruitment process, and in the majority of cases are pure waste. So often we hear from potential partners, and sometimes clients, that this is how they want to do business. In almost all cases when we outline the logic of saved time, effort, and money we gain agreement, though occasionally people would rather continue doing business inefficiently and we simply walk away.
Below I have outlined my Top 5 Wasted Miles in Partner Recruitment. Each of these can potentially drain your company of time and money, not to mention creating great frustration for all involved.
1) Travelling to meet before qualifying Partner Fit: Business & Technical
“We want to meet who we are dealing with, or we can’t progress”
“Travelling to meet the partner is a show of commitment”
“I want to see the whites of their eyes to see if they will deliver on this”
“If I get to meet them, they will be convinced about the opportunity”
There are many reasons software business leaders want to meet with prospective sales partners as part of discussions and I agree, but at the correct stage in the process. A past client of Tenego’s once stated that their normal partnering would have cost them 2 to 3 times more, based on time and travel costs. Sometimes, partners want to meet, as this is how they do business. The answer to a request to meet is of course, YES, but in preparation, you need to go through a few key steps to make your meeting more efficient, thus conducting a Partner Fit Evaluation both Business and Technical. Partner Fit Evaluation is a mutual evaluation process where the Sales Partner and the Vendor get to evaluate the joint opportunity in working together.
Don’t travel until you know that it makes sense.
2) Talking About Technology before qualifying Business Partner Fit
“We like what we see, and we would like to see the product before we progress discussions”
“We’d like our technical team to evaluate first and bring to our business leaders”
Strong technology-led companies want to talk technology first, and this may seem like a reasonable request. Two issues I have with this is that we could simply be wasting time talking about the product when there is no business opportunity and secondly, many people tend to be too superficial on business partner fit evaluation and experience problems deep into the recruitment process or at the go-to-market stage.
I’m a software techie by background and one key lesson is that one day at the design stage can save up to 10 days at the implementation stage. Once you know what you are looking for and have a clear structure and process of evaluation, the whole process is optimised for all parties. See our article on “Partner Fit Evaluation“ for further reading on this.
Don’t be sucked into a rabbit hole of technical discussion, until you have a view of the business opportunity in the partnership.
3) Protracting Discussions – Long Agreement Negotiations & Planning
“I want to be sure that we are not leaving money on the table here and get the best deal possible”
“The better commitments we can negotiate the greater the success”
“We need to manage our downside risks here and ensure we don’t give away the jewels”
One of the things we seek in potential sales partners is the experience in partnering. The companies who have partnered before know that they don’t need to fuss over so many things and get on with it. The only success here is that they can win end customers for your product as quickly as possible and build a long and fruitful relationship.
Too many want to fret and fight over a share in an imaginary pot of gold, or the perception that the partner wants to steal your idea. Of course, protect your business, but seek to enable market engagement as fast as possible. Only then do you really know if there is an opportunity? If there are doubts about a potential partnership and if there is caution about a full partnership, then agree to enter into an investigative agreement to assess the market and product fit.
Don’t waste time-fighting over an imaginary success, that neither party know exists until you engage the market. Seek to engage the market while the opportunity is hot.
4) Courting a Giant (The Long No)
“If only Accenture would sell our product”
“How do we get SAP to resell our product?”
Yes, getting one of the global giants to sell your product is a real business-changing deal. See our past session on “Partnering with the Giants”. I continue to hear stories of companies who spend years in discussion and the challenges in dealing with these large companies. There are clear cases where it makes sense but there is also a risk of wasting an enormous amount of the time of key people in your company. Imagine the alternative of dealing with 10 smaller companies chasing the same customers in the same regions; you have 10 options for success/failure, not one long no. You have faster decisions and learnings for your business, you have faster revenue while building the foundations for sales growth, much lower risk, and faster return on effort invested.
Don’t waste your time courting the global giants unless you know it will make sense, there are many better options.
5) Disqualifying Potential Partners as they are not an Ideal Partner Fit
“Unless they meet the full criteria, we don’t want to engage”
“With too many signed partner agreements and not enough real sales partners. We need 100% fit”
Every step of your partner recruitment campaigns, you are managing your time invested. Very few potential sales partners score 100% on all requirements, and many with deficiencies have great potential, each carrying a requirement for greater support and risk. The question then is whether you want to take the risk or not. Do you risk losing the potential partner to a competing solution or do you assess the prospective partner’s interest, commitment, and capabilities to sell your product and overcome any deficiencies? You can assess the potential pace. You can set an appropriate engagement plan and escalate investment as progress is made. You can manage expectations and decide as you go, to continue or cut at any stage.
Don’t drop a potential partner due to a deficiency, assess if they are capable and committed to delivering and whether you can support them to progress.
In Partner Recruitment, as in sales, you are only in control in so far as you have options and with too few potential sales partners you will waste time on the wrong partners. If you want to do partner recruitment efficiently, then put a process in place that gives your company enough options and that optimises time and money.
If you want a casual cycle to enjoy the scenery, then carry on. However, if you are results-focused and want to train to get better, do consider dropping the wasted miles and intensifying your efforts to save time. This will leave you with more time for family and friends as you’re probably spending too much time at work already.☺