Forecastable's Education Center -- The best advice on building partner programs that produce forecastable revenue.
What is a close plan? Short answer: A close plan is the dated, step-by-step sequence that a seller and a buyer agree to follow to get from the current stage of a deal to a signed contract, naming each step, who owns it, and when it is due. It replaces the vague hope that a […]
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What is an MDF event? Short answer: An MDF event is a partner-funded or jointly funded field marketing motion where market development funds underwrite a customer-facing activity (executive dinner, regional workshop, conference booth, or industry breakfast) with a named pipeline target and a sourced and influenced reporting back to the funding partner. It is not […]
Demand generation that runs through partners by borrowing their trust, measured as pipeline.
Short answer: most MDF (Market Development Funds) programs in B2B SaaS waste 50 to 70 percent of their budget. The cause is structural, not size. MDF gets framed too narrowly as marketing money. It then goes to partners who will not run the activity that drives pipeline. The fix is a defensible MDF program that […]
What is a close plan? Short answer: A close plan is the dated, step-by-step sequence that a seller and a buyer agree to follow to get from the current stage of a deal to a signed contract, naming each step, who owns it, and when it is due. It replaces the vague hope that a […]
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What is a sales close plan? Short answer: A sales close plan is the rep-owned, dated map of every step a deal has to clear to get from the current stage to a signed contract, used inside the sales cycle to keep the deal moving and to make the forecasted close date hold. It is […]
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What is a close plan? Short answer: A close plan is the dated, mutually agreed list of steps a buyer and a seller will take to move a deal from its current stage to a signed contract, with an owner and a due date on each step. It answers the question of what specifically has […]
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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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