Forecastable's Education Center -- The best advice on building partner programs that produce forecastable revenue.
What a sales channel strategy is Short answer: A sales channel strategy is the deliberate choice of which routes to market you use to reach customers, direct, reseller, referral, marketplace, or a mix, and which route serves which segment. It matters because most companies accumulate channels by accident, adding a reseller here and a marketplace […]
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What a B2B partner marketing strategy is Short answer: A B2B partner marketing strategy is the plan for how you market to partners, through partners, and with partners, so partner relationships turn into pipeline rather than logos on a slide. It works when each of those three audiences has its own goal and the whole […]
What a channel partner marketing plan is Short answer: A channel partner marketing plan is the written, one-page artifact that says what you and a partner will do together this quarter to source pipeline, who owns each part, and how you will measure it. It turns a marketing strategy into a specific set of commitments […]
What a channel partner marketing strategy is Short answer: A channel partner marketing strategy is the plan for generating demand through your partners, using co-marketing, funding, and partner-ready assets to produce pipeline in their markets. It is a through-channel motion you design and fund, not a one-off co-branded webinar you run when someone remembers to. […]
The layer where forecast accuracy is made or lost, and why most revenue orgs under-invest in it.
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Knowing how to leverage partners to win deals opens the door to endless opportunities. As a sales manager, fine-tuning the tag-teaming approach – strategically choosing which partners to bring in and why – can significantly impact your sales cycle. Being on the front lines lets you see how wins happen across the organization, build relationships […]
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As a frontline sales manager, your team’s success can hinge on your ability to identify partners who can make or break your deals. The best way to gain this insight is through the experiences and observations of your sales reps. They know which partners stand out as valuable assets and which pose barriers to closing […]
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The fear of a partner “screwing up your deal” is a common one for sales reps. While partners can bring expertise, resources, and reach to your efforts, a mistake can quickly unravel all your hard work. This concern is valid. Bringing any new human – partner or not – into a deal adds risk. For […]
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Alex Buckles
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 […]
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In the complex sale, generating group consensus is the name of the game. This means the goal should always be to definitively determine who’s in your corner and who’s not in your corner, so you’re taking the appropriate actions. A misdiagnosis here will almost certainly result in unwanted surprises down the road. If someone’s in […]
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A frontline sales manager’s mission is to attain team quota, which is usually a large number that’s split by a team of individual sales reps. If all reps attain their individual quotas, the manager’s number is also met. Simple, right? Ha! It’s not as easy as it sounds. Why? Because every single sales professional has […]
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Many sales organizations leverage the MEDDPIC sales qualification methodology. For those that don’t, it’s: Metrics Economic Buyer Decision Criteria Decision Process Paper Process Identify Pain Champion The two areas we’re focusing on are Decision Process & Paper Process. Decision Process: Before walking through all of the contracting paperwork, someone within the buying organization must first […]
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Account Research is all about answering the question, “Does this account have a need for what we’re selling and to what extent?” The best B2B sales reps in the world are consultative in nature and take great pride in solving customers’ challenges. If your customer doesn’t have challenges your solution solves for, then why spend […]
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That initial close date is one of the hardest dates to pick for most sales reps. Most think, “Who cares? It’s going to change anyway once we get into the deal.” And that may be the case, but if you try diligently to get as close to the mark as possible from day one, it’ll […]
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