If you ask any leading channel executive what keeps them up at night, then you may think that it is partner sales or even driving customer adoption. That’s not true though. In fact, what most partners are worried about is actually the major damage that social distancing has done to their relationships and nurturing abilities. If you do not have a plane flight booked or even a dinner meeting with your partner, then how do you make sure that your relationship stays positive? At the end of the day, partnering is personal and it would seem that the pandemic has significantly hampered various relationships in a huge number of ways. We cannot safely break bread in a bistro or shake hands to fully agree with something, but it’s important to know that relationships go far beyond personal touch. Creating a personal relationship with a partner ultimately means that you need to personalise the way that you do business.
What is a Partnership?
A strategic partnership tends to involve two companies that both have similar buyers. They work with one another to try and increase both sales and revenue. SaaS companies will generally try and engage in partner marketing with various other companies so that they can find others who complement their services. Between 2017 and 2019, the number of companies that formed partnerships that were data related rose from 21% to 40%. On top of this, a growing share of competitors is also connecting with their data more, rising from 7% to 17%.
What Are The Disadvantages Of A Partnership?
Some of the disadvantages of having a partnership include the fact that it takes a lot of time and money to nurture the relationship. On top of this, you also need to regulate performance and track how everyone is doing. It’s time-consuming but rewarding.
What are the Advantages of a Partnership?
Having a SaaS partnership can result in lower costs, a higher marketing reach and the ability to scale and integrate when required. So many companies are opting for the SaaS model partnership, as it is a great way to differentiate while offering specialised outcomes.
Is Every Partner the Same?
If you look at the differentiation when it comes to delivering outcomes, you will soon find that increased differentiation gives you the chance to deliver a specialised outcome. This means that no two providers will have the same business model. Technology offerings, service capabilities, sales and even customer segments are all addressed and so is the business size and the general region. Some partners will focus more on things like pre-sale advice or consulting, and others will prioritise things like post-sales or implementation. Some of them have developed service offerings and others are choosing to make a name for themselves in terms of driving customer adoption or success. There are even some out there who are choosing to develop their own IP and become vendors in their very own right.
Vendor Partner Programs
Vendor partner programs are segment partners. This can include VAR, ISV, system integrators and distributors. The partner ecosystem on the other hand is a mix of organisations that can be all, or just some of these things. Partners have managed to carve out their niche where they can be classed as being trusted advisors. They perform a lot of different roles and they also have different needs from the vendors that they work with. The businesses themselves are unique and to say that you cannot paint them all with the same brush would be a huge understatement. Trying to provide benefits to partners who are segmented by type, means that you will have partners in various segments that are unsure of their expectations. If you want to work around this then you need to offer flexible engagement where partners can easily choose how much they want to be invested or the benefits they are going to get.
Understanding the Business Model
The partner manager of the future has to be able to understand the partner business. This is challenging during the pandemic as it is impossible to visit one another in person. A PAM, or partner account manager is really a PDM, or partner development manager. They are someone who needs to understand every partner’s business model and they also need to track changes that could be happening. If a partner is in the middle of essentially transitioning their model, then the PDM needs to take the holistic approach and look into the long-term and short-term business goals.
At the end of the day, it’s sad that not every single partner is going to make it through this pandemic and your manager should essentially be asking questions about the business model and goals to ensure that you are happy with the partners you would much rather keep in the ecosystem. How is your revenue going to change when a partner changes from resale to a reoccurring model? How is the partner’s business standing when it comes to vendors, is this going to be influenced by the shift? Do you want to support enablement? In a year’s time, are they going to be the type of partner you want to have in your ecosystem?
Technology and Vendors
If you work in a digital industry, you will know that a lot of the talk revolves around developing partnerships between organisations. This is usually done between a technology vendor and someone who is able to provide a solution. The relationship however is actually between people. The PAM and PDM example mentioned above shows how strong a relationship can be. When you talk about things such as enablement, the partner will be enabled to market and then sell a solution. Really though, you’re talking about the individuals at the partner company. Every single one of the individuals will have their own set of skills, their own background and even career goals. They will also have various ways of learning that are unique to them. In any engagement, you need to make sure that you talk and engage with them.
One day, we will all be able to have dinner with our partners once again. You will be able to go golfing and even attend conferences. It’s nice to be able to read body language but at the end of the day, that doesn’t change the underlying facts. Partnering has to be personal. Make the effort to personalise your engagements, and the rest will fall into place.