Turning reseller relationships into gold

4 tips for maximizing your partner program

DEAR STAGE 2: We are a Series A company with some early signals that a partnerships channel could work well for us. We have had inbound interest from a few potential partners, have signed an agreement with one reseller (they brought us into a deal which was the start of the relationship) and we are starting to do the work to prioritize who we should proactively target. Can you share any advice on maximizing this first relationship and turning it into a repeatable partner program? ~EXPLORING PARTNER PROGRAMS

DEAR EXPLORING PARTNER PROGRAMS: Sounds like you’ve caught the partnership bug, and rightfully so — congrats on signing your first reseller and on closing your first deal together! Partnerships can be a catalyst for accelerating new logo acquisition and revenue, but they can also create a massive distraction for your team when not managed or activated well. 

To help guide you on this journey, I called on Stage 2 LP, Joe Fairleigh. Joe and I jumped on the phone this week to discuss all things partnerships. First, we just want to acknowledge that there is a lot of terminology around partners out there right now — Resellers, Referral Partners, VARs, Solution Providers, etc. So, when it comes to early-stage startups, the lines may get a bit blurred, but that’s ok! Regardless of what you call them, we’re talking about someone representing you and your product in the market. 

For the purposes of this question, we focused our conversation on Resellers, but agree that a lot of this advice holds for other types of partnerships as well. Here are four tips to get you started:

1. Keep “what’s in it for them” top of mind

As you pitch and launch the program to your reseller, all they are thinking about is WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”). Don’t lose sight of that. All your positioning and communication should be centered around the benefits your solution brings to their sales reps and their organization as a whole. Showcase how your software can help their reps achieve their sales goals, whether those goals are tied to margin, revenue, subscriptions, or appointments.

Joe says this is all about discovering how you can align and position to these goals: “Where are they focused? Where are they trying to grow that would add the most value? Is there a type of account that you’re currently trying to get into that your product or solution can help? For the existing accounts in which they want to continue to add value, is this their opportunity?”

Let’s say the individual reps can hit their quota without selling your product. That means you need to adjust your messaging to show them how you can help them hit quota faster or grow their stagnant accounts with new upsell opportunities. Finding these pockets of value are critical to integrating your program's goals with their sales reps' compensation structure and create a compelling reason for them to engage with your solution. This alignment ensures that your program becomes an integral part of their revenue-generation strategy.

2. Simplify training and enablement

Training is an essential component of any successful partner program, but don’t get sucked into the trap of oversharing — long presentations, multi-page PDFs, deep product tutorials all get ignored. Instead, Joe advises that when designing your training, focus on the "Why, How, What" structure: Why others use your solution and see the benefit; How it’s incorporated, and How the execution benefits the client; THEN What the actual product is (highlight a maximum of 3 salient details!).

It’s important to do the training in a very concise way, where you quickly convey how it benefits the seller. Instead of drowning them in details, hammer the same few points consistently, and offer details behind the scenes when people ask. This approach helps partners grasp the value quickly and effectively.

3. Find a toe-hold to expand the relationship

Successful partnerships thrive on strong relationships and you’re never going to activate 100% of sellers. In Joe’s experience, “It’s basically a bell curve of those that will be engaged. 2 of 10 may be aggressive in selling your offering, 4 only if it is obvious, and 4 others never will. Focus where you can maximize the leverage!”

Joe recommends looking for the region or the sales manager that is highly innovative and willing to do something new, or the sales reps that are most hungry and aggressive. Once you’ve identified a few people or teams, you want to lean in hard and get a couple of quick wins. These individuals can become champions for your solution, influencing their peers and managers to engage with your program more actively.

What does that look like in practice?

• Go the extra mile to help your partners achieve success by delivering a big win. Source a deal, set an appointment for them, bring them into a “done” deal — give before you get. Demonstrating your commitment and can exponentially increase your mindshare within their organization

• Celebrate wins! Even if their role was to effectively collect the PO, celebrate how effective that sales rep was, what a big win it is, and why it’s a big deal. The audience of your message is every other sales rep that may or may not know about the program and sales management who are reading it and potentially paying attention for the very first time

4. Layer in incentives 

Cash or stuff? Our answer is… both! In Joe’s experience, cash works well for ongoing transactional rewards, but incorporating “stuff” for top performer awards is critical. Over time, cash gets forgotten. A great “thing” is something they can take home, display, or use proudly. In both cases, you need to make sure your incentives are simple to calculate and track. 

Using cash as an incentive

Cash is often king and the ability for a rep to make a good amount quickly is a great incentive. Give concrete and simple examples of how they will earn their reward: X dollars per unit or subscription sold… or X percent increase in margin… or commission for each unit or per dollar sold.

Using “stuff” to supplement

Some companies don’t allow SPIFFs, and any promotion has to be run through the company. Other companies may want approval to ensure alignment, but will allow it to run outside their payroll. In any scenario, make sure to get your incentives cleared (this is not a time to beg for forgiveness) and you can always talk to sales managers for past successes and failures as reference.

These added SPIFFs are great monthly or quarterly type awards. When somebody earns a tangible item, it will often have more impact than cash. For example, if the top seller wins a 50” TV, they will be bringing it home to show what they just won and every time they look at it, it’s a reminder of you. Huge impact!

As you navigate this journey, remember that partnerships are two-way streets. You might definitely have to give more than you get as you work to establish strong long-term partnerships. 

Until next week!