You want partners to relieve your bottlenecks for growth, whether that’s in lead generation, closing deals and/or in customer implementation. But many Tech CEOs make the mistake of thinking their direct sales success will automatically translate to partners. It won’t. If you try to scale a broken or undocumented process, you will simply scale your problems.
Whether you have partners already or just starting, how ready are you?
The 7-Point Partnering Strategy Review:
1. Do You Have a Proven “Bullseye” Customer?
Specialists beat generalists. Have you identified your priority industry sectors, company types and use-cases where you can consistently win, or are you still chasing every opportunity? If you are a generalist, you are invisible to partners. Learn more about Bullseye Customer Focus here.
2. Is Your Market Selection Based on Data?
Don’t choose markets based on gut feeling. Do you have a decision matrix that balances Deliverability (can you support them?), Opportunity (do customers exist?), and Access to Market (do partners exist?)?
3. Have You Identified Your Bottlenecks?
Partnering is about capabilities. Which specific stages of your business process (Lead Gen, Closing, Delivery) is limiting growth? You must recruit partners specifically to relieve that constraint, while defining the capabilities of you need to augment your requirements at the specific stages in your process.
4. Does Your Deal Size & Mix Fit with Partners Businesses?
Partners want more of the business type they are current chasing. Does your deal size and shape fit a partner’s business? What part of your typical deal, services and licences, will a partner get? If you are services-heavy, a partner might make $9 in services for every $1 of license revenue—that is a strong proposition, as long as it’s the right services for the partner.
5. Who Are the “Fellow Travellers” in Your Ecosystem?
Stop looking for “Resellers.” Look for the companies interacting with your customer along their journey—consultants, service providers, and influencers.
6. Do You Have a Partner Fit Evaluation Scorecard?
Move beyond “I like them.” Do you have a template to objectively score alignment customer focus, product & services, marketing & sales, future plans, culture and commitment?
7. What is Your Partnering Execution Plan?
Do you have a 12-month objective across multiple activity streams? If you are “Starting in Partnering,” your goal is learning and validation, not instant scale. What is your starting point and what are your milestones to progress and ramp up investment?
Conclusion: Building a partner channel is a journey, not a switch you flip. If you skip the strategy, you will recruit the wrong partners and waste months managing relationships that yield no revenue.
Are you ready to see where your gaps are? Sign-up here to get access the Partnering Strategy Review Tool to assess your partnering activity and plans. The path to scalable growth starts with honest answers.
