Alex Buckles
*B2B Partnerships:* Why They Should Matter to Sales Reps
Understanding the value of business-to-business (B2B) partnerships is crucial for your sales reps. Often, when thinking about partnerships, fears and concerns come up. Questions about deal management, partner spend, and the overall impact of having somebody else involved in the deal can lead to a spiral of negative thoughts.
However, these fears are valid only when partnerships lack proper management. When companies provide the right processes and infrastructure, worries diminish significantly or go away altogether. Sales reps can move from apprehension to enthusiasm as partnerships become sources of real value and lead to tangible wins.
Embracing Strategic Partnerships
Sales reps: Take a moment to think about your partnership fears, ideally writing them down.
Now, set those fears aside and envision a scenario where they don’t exist and cannot impact your deal. Consider your partner as a teammate – without them, you can’t win your net-new deal because the competitors involved can legitimately deliver more value against you as a standalone product.
This collaborative approach is known as a Co-Sell Scenario. In this case, it’s a net-new Co-Sell Scenario where the partner offers valued features critical to winning your net-new deal.
Getting Started with Co-Selling
Getting started with co-selling can be daunting for your sales reps who may not know where to begin. Let’s simplify the process into actionable steps.
Step One: Get account overlap data using free tools like Crossbeam. Start by asking your partner organization, as they likely use one of these platforms. They’re table stakes! If they don’t have access (and they really should), ask your revenue operations team to help.
Here’s a quick email template:
Dear Name,
I’ve attached my customer list. Could you please pull our account overlap data from Crossbeam to identify where our partners already have my accounts as customers or open opportunities?
Step Two: Find commonalities. If 40 of 100 accounts use the same tech that’s also your partner, that’s a big deal! It means this one tech partner has access to 40 customers on your list. This step helps focus on which partners to prioritize.
Step Three: Execution. How will you engage with these partners? How will you incent them to systematically share intelligence to help kick off cycles or advocate on your behalf?
Let’s explore some strategies.
Co-Selling Strategies
In a Co-Sell Scenario where your partner has an existing customer that’s a new opportunity for you, there are two approaches you can use to leverage them effectively: asking for intelligence and seeking advocacy.
Asking for Intelligence
This approach involves gathering insights from your partner about the customer, their pain points, decision-making processes, and current satisfaction levels. With this intelligence, you can tailor your positioning and offerings to meet the customer’s needs.
Asking the right questions is fundamental to being a good partner. If you start by immediately requesting introductions to their clients, they’ll likely become defensive. Instead, show them you’re focused on solving their customers’ pain points and adding value, not just throwing yourself into the conversation.
Potential Questions to Ask Partners:
- Why did they buy?
- What pain were they trying to solve for to begin with?
- How are you serving them today?
- Are they happy?
- Which stakeholders are you engaged with?
- What was the purchase process like in terms of procurement?
- What was the decision process like?
- Where did the budget come from?
Additionally, consider questions specific to what you sell.
When you invest time in asking for intelligence and engage in a conversation, whomever you’re speaking to on the partner side, whether a customer success manager or sales rep, will see your commitment. They’ll see the value story you deliver through your line of questioning.
For example, imagine you’re a video recording tool provider asking your partner questions about pain points related to your product. In that conversation, you educate the stakeholder about your offerings, building credibility for your brand. They become more comfortable recommending you as they understand your value story. They may even introduce you, making themselves look like heroes by adding value to the customer.
I used to bring partners into deals to look like a hero all the time. It works. While selling a marketing automation product, I had a partner offering a streamlined landing page and email template builder that simplified the process inside our platform. While I didn’t promote this for new deals, I used this partnership with existing customers to build relationships and credibility. I shared how the tech improved my design work when I was a marketer and offered introductions to the founder of the partner. About 70% of prospects said yes! While I didn’t receive commissions from these sales, I fed my partner business and added value to my customers. Plus, I earned the right to ask for business from that partner.
There’s a mutual relationship to be had. It starts with you giving first, which pays dividends down the road.
Seeking Advocacy
Partner advocacy means partners inform their customers of you or introduce you to them. Ideally, you want them to introduce you. However, getting them to do this requires understanding their motivations and giving them compelling reasons.
This is where Forecastable comes in. We specialize in setting up effective co-sell strategies. This process includes crafting your value story and securing commitments from partners to take necessary actions. When you allow us to manage these aspects, you avoid the potential pitfalls of managing them yourself
Under Forecastable’s management, all processes are under control. We handle:
- Building buyer maps (for your reps)
- Managing close plans (for your reps)
- Calendering and scheduling (for your reps)
- Gathering call recordings and notes (for your reps)
- Reporting on deals status and close dates (for your managers)
- Increasing accuracy and confidence in partner-involved forecast (for your CRO)
Why risk losing control over the most-critical phase of your joint cycles? By partnering with Forecastable, your collaborative efforts are streamlined, informed, and executed flawlessly, maximizing the potential for success.
Conclusion
Understanding the value of B2B partnerships means using effective co-selling strategies, such as asking for intelligence and seeking advocacy. Asking the right questions, understanding partner motivations, and giving first are critical steps to building lasting two-way relationships.
Partnering with Forecastable delivers predictability and confidence in your partner-involved forecast, ensuring every aspect of your co-sell motion is well orchestrated and within your control.
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Whether starting with a single sales team or a single partner, any co-sell motion can be live within 30 days.
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