Article
|
3
 minutes
Nearbound Daily #011: The promised land
Article
|
3
 minutes
Monetize Your Tech Partnerships in 2023 with The Digital Bridge GoToEco Referral Flywheel
Article
|
3
 minutes
Meet your new partnerships mentor
Article
|
2
 minutes
Kind Folks Finish First: An Anthem For A New Era of Business
Article
|
3
 minutes
Introducing the Partnering Reference Architecture
Article
|
4
 minutes
Influence is the New Inbound
Article
|
6
 minutes
In the Face of Recession Pain, Partnerships Are the Answer
Article
|
28
 minutes
Howdy Partners #20: Partner Certifications
Article
|
28
 minutes
Howdy Partners #2 - Why You Need (Or Don't Need) A Partner Program
Article
|
8
 minutes
How We Use Partner Data to Drive Conversions and Product-Led Growth
Article
|
5
 minutes
How to Roll Out an Integration the Right Way: the G2 and ZoomInfo Story
Article
|
11
 minutes
How to communicate effectively with your customer success team about partnerships
Article
|
7
 minutes
How to Make Your First Co-selling Motion a Success: SugarCRM’s Step-by-Step Guide
Article
|
6
 minutes
How to land your next strategic partnership and build your reputation in the market
Article
|
13
 minutes
How to Get Your Partners’ Teams Using Nearbound
Article
|
7
 minutes
Harnessing the Power of Partner Led Sales with Lisa Lawson of SaaSy Sales
Article
|
4
 minutes
GoToEco for Sales
Article
|
1
 minutes
Google No Longer King: We've Entered the "Who Economy"
Article
|
18
 minutes
From Pitch to Partner-Influenced Revenue: How to Build and Scale a Partner Program in One Year
Article
|
1
 minutes
Ford and Tesla Shock the World with a Supercharged Partnership
Article
|
1
 minutes
Exclusive: In Revenue Capital Announces Launch on Nearbound Podcast Podcast
Article
|
4
 minutes
First-Giver Advantage
Article
|
3
 minutes
ELG Insider Daily #634: Amplify MEDDIC with ELG
Article
|
4
 minutes
ELG Insider Daily #633: The Ecosystem-Led Growth is coming from inside the house
Article
|
5
 minutes
Driving Partner Activation with ABM
Article
|
3
 minutes
ELG Insider Daily #615: Give Your Sales Team Ecosystem Intelligence
Article
|
10
 minutes
EcoOps and Scaling Partner Ecosystems
Article
|
3
 minutes
Connecting your CRM to The Partnerverse
Article
|
5
 minutes
Collision 2023 – Authenticity Is More Important Than AI
Article
|
10
 minutes
Building a Nearbound Strategy at the Nearbound Summit
Article
|
7
 minutes
Become a World-Class Partner Ecosystem Leader - Todd Hussey of SEBS
Article
|
1
 minutes
Bitly Bets Big On Partnerships With New VP of Partnerships Kevin Raheja
Article
|
7
 minutes
B2B Ecosystem Collaboration with Hubspot's Scott Brinker
Article
|
2
 minutes
A model to guide you to partnership success
Article
|
6
 minutes
4 Ways Partner-Sourced Leads Outperform Cold Leads Every Time
Article
|
19
 minutes
14 Things We Learned at Supernode: A Conference for Those Who Grow and Scale Partner Ecosystems
Article
|
7
 minutes
3 Steps to Ensure Partnerships Outperforms Outbound Sales
Article
|
6
 minutes
The Rule of 99: Why Partnerships Get Complicated at the 100-Employee Mark
Article
|
9
 minutes
It’s Time for the Other CEO: Chief Ecosystem Officer
Article
|
6
 minutes
How Bombora discovered hidden pipeline and closed $100K in 2 months with Crossbeam
Article
|
5
 minutes
Build Affective and Cognitive Trust to Bond With Your Remote Team. Here’s How.
Article
|
5
 minutes
7 Questions to Ask Before Starting a B2B Partnership Program
Case Study
|
 minutes
How Sendoso Doubled Their Partner-Influenced Pipeline In Just 3 Months with Crossbeam
Case Study
|
 minutes
How LeanData Makes it Easy for Reps to Close Partner-Sourced Revenue
Video
|
 minutes
The Problem is Access
Video
|
 minutes
The Nearbound Mindset: Part One
Video
|
37
 minutes
The 2023 'Boundie Awards - LIVE
Video
|
 minutes
SPECIAL RELEASE: Harry Mack Freestyles Nearbound Anthem: Nearbound Podcast #134
Video
|
27
 minutes
Session three. The Journey to Chief Marketing and Ecosystem Officer by Allison Munro and Jill Rowley
Video
|
 minutes
Session three. How PRMs Have Been Doing Things Wrong by Pete Rawlinson and Ornella Nardi
Video
|
30
 minutes
Session six. Biggest Problem in GTM: Lack of a Unified Operating Model by Sam Jacobs and Kathleen Booth
Video
|
 minutes
Session six: The 7 Deadly Sins of Customer Success in the Nearbound Era
Video
|
 minutes
Session seven. Partnerships as a Path to Acquisition by Andrew Gazdecki
Video
|
 minutes
Session seven. Gain Grow Retain LIVE at the Nearbound Summit by Jay Nathan and Jeff Breunsbach
Video
|
17
 minutes
Session one. Nearbound and the Rise of the 'Who' Economy by Jared Fuller
Video
|
 minutes
Session five. Why You Must Integrate to Differentiate your Product (And How) by Alexis Petrichos
Video
|
 minutes
Session five. How to Align Your Success Team with Your Partners by Bruno Yoffe and Sunir Shah
Video
|
 minutes
Session eight. Nearbound Ecosystem Strategy and Orchestration by Allan Adler
Video
|
52
 minutes
Sam Jacobs & Bob Moore: The Future of an Ecosystem-Led World | Supernode 2023
Video
|
57
 minutes
Partnerships and Contracts: Navigating the Legal Jungle
Video
|
31
 minutes
Nick Gray: Closing Keynote | Supernode 2023
Video
|
38
 minutes
New Video
Video
|
 minutes
NEARBOUND.COM Announcement
Video
|
32
 minutes
Nearbound Sales #19: Email Template — Use This To Get Account Intel
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Sales #2: You Might Need to Rethink Your Sales Quota Says McKinsey
Video
|
27
 minutes
Nearbound Sales #16: Buyers Want Nearbound
Video
|
35
 minutes
Nearbound Sales #12: Why Sellers Don't Use Partner Leads
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #164: Why Your SaaS Partnerships Aren't Delivering Scott Wueschinski's Solution
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #98: Thinking Like a CEO as a Partnerships Professional with Kim Walsh
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #163: How to Go All In on an Ecosystem, with Daniel Zarick
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #157: The GTM Revolution and How AI Will Influence Sales
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #156: The End of Silos and the Need for Collaboration with Lizzie Chapman
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #152: Shifting From the How Economy to the Who Economy with Chris Walker
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #149: Evolving Partnerships in Business with Pete Rawlinson
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #147: Unlock the Power of Strategic Partnerships by TK Kader
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #139: Unleashing the Power of Nearbound Strategies to Close More Deals
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #138: Insights in Building Customer Success and Partnerships for 2024
Video
|
 minutes
NearBound Podcast #137: Marketing Against the Grain LIVE at the Nearbound Summit
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #136: SPECIAL RELEASE LIVE from the Nearbound Summit House
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #135: The Power of Owned Media with Anthony Kennada
Video
|
129
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #127: The Nearbound Moment is Here
Video
|
46
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #118: Insights From Over 100+ Conversations With Partner Pros
Video
|
44
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #116: The Future of AI, Agents, and Agencies
Video
|
53
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #110: HubSpot is Coming for Salesforce —The 4 Epochs of the Ecosystem
Video
|
33
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #109: 6 Do's & Don'ts of Partner Marketing You Can't Ignore
Video
|
45
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #107: How Nearbound is Different From Channel
Video
|
51
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #081: Exploring the 16 Types of Network Effects with James Currier of NFX.com
Video
|
52
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #065: WTF Is An Ecosystem?! - Elevating Partnerships Out of the Shadows
Video
|
50
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #064: "The Challenger Sale" Author Takes the Partner Pill
Video
|
33
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #6: Not Your Grandma’s Co-Marketing Campaign
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #7: Understanding the Will of Your User s Existing Communities
Video
|
33
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #22: Trust + Scale — Where Partnerships & Marketing Come Together
Video
|
30
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #26: How to Identify the Nearbound Evangelists in Your Ecosystem
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #13: The 3 Marketer Personas Of the Future
Video
|
29
 minutes
Maureen Little: Scaling ain’t easy | Supernode 2022
Video
|
26
 minutes
Mike Stocker: 10 Partner Metrics Every Executive Ought To Know | Supernode 2023
Video
|
29
 minutes
Maureen Little: Scaling ain’t easy | Supernode Conference 2022
Video
|
29
 minutes
MythBusters: The GTM Edition
Video
|
23
 minutes
Lizzie Chapman: How to Make Your Leadership Care About Ecosystem-Led Growth | Supernode 2023
Video
|
18
 minutes
Lisa Hopkins: Navigating The Messy Teenage Years Of Your Partner Program | Supernode 2022
Ecosystem-Led Sales: Deals and Revenue
AEs are Leveraging Ecosystem-Led Sales to Close Deals 46% Faster
by
Olivia Ramirez
SHARE THIS

Modern sales teams are adopting Ecosystem-Led Sales to generate high-quality leads that are 53% more likely to close and to close deals 46% faster. By using second-party data, AEs can reference their prospects’ tech stacks directly in their sales outreach, pitch decks, and demos. They can also swap intel with partners to learn about their prospect’s buying process, get warm intros, and team up to close the deal.

by
Olivia Ramirez
SHARE THIS

In this article

Join the movement

Subscribe to ELG Insider to get the latest content delivered to your inbox weekly.

As a salesperson, one of the best feelings has got to be hitting your quota early (that, and the day you get your commission check 🤑).

When you hit your quota early, you can spend the rest of the quarter lining up new leads, establishing relationships to lay the foundation for upcoming quarters, and cheering on the rest of your team. (Well done!)  

But in 2023, we’ve seen evidence that traditional sales tactics like cold outbound haven’t been as effective as in previous years. Perhaps you’ve seen the effects first-hand as your response rates decreased or as prospects shared they’re not in the market to buy right now.

June 2023 Pavilion Pulse report, 43% of sales professionals reported adjusted their revenue goals for the year, and most decreased their targets by 11-20%. Buyers are feeling the pressure to procure the most cost-effective tools that work seamlessly with their existing tech stacks, and sales teams are struggling to get a call on the books and prove their product fits the bill.  

23% of GTM leaders said their primary focus for 2H (Second Half) was Ecosystem-Led Sales (or partnerships) to co-sell with partners who already have existing relationships with their prospects.  

53% more likely to close when a partner’s involved. Ecosystem-Led Sales in action could look like getting intel about your target account from your partner, getting a warm intro into the account, and more.

Below, we’ll share the basics of getting started with Ecosystem-Led Sales, including three tactics you can implement right now.

What to expect:

  • What is Ecosystem-Led Sales?
  • Tactic #1: Include Tech Stack Insights in Your Sales Outreach
  • Tactic #2: Swap Intel With Your Partner
  • Tactic #3: Team Up With Your Partner to Sell Your Integration
  • More Resources for Getting Started With Ecosystem-Led Sales

What is Ecosystem-Led Sales?

 Second-party data (“partner data”) to generate high-quality leads, accelerate sales cycles, and drive account expansions.

 With second-party data, sales reps have insight into the tools their prospects are using in their tech stacks and which partners can help them close the deal. Sales reps use second-party data to write sales outreach mentioning their prospect’s tech stack and relevant integrations. They also collaborate with partners to get valuable intel about the account, team up to sell their joint solution, and get warm intros.  

State of the Partner Ecosystem report:

  • Ecosystem-Led Sales contributes to 46% faster sales cycles
  • Deals are 53% more likely to close when a partner’s involved
  • Partners contribute 32% of total pipeline, on average
  • Integration users are 58% less likely to churn

 A few success stories from companies like yours:

  • 40% more likely to book a meeting with a sales rep than cold leads and had 2x the close rate
  • 60% larger deal size when co-selling with partners, and partners contributed 58% of the revenue generated by Highspot’s top sales reps
  • 50% faster time to close when swapping warm intros with partners

 

An increasing number of B2B SaaS companies are adopting this strategy.

Now, let’s cover three Ecosystem-Led Sales tactics you can start using right away.

Tactic #1: Include tech stack insights in your sales outreach  

Knowing which tools are in your prospect’s tech stack can help you hone in on specific product features and integrations relevant to your prospect’s tech stack and existing workflows. With this intel, you can finetune your sales pitch and your demo to show your prospect value right away.

If your product integrates with your prospect’s CRM software, you can speak directly to how their GTM teams can get more value from using your product with their CRM. You’ll help your prospect envision your product as part of their tech stack and as an integral part of their existing workflows.  

Second-party data enables you to see which prospects you have in common with your partner’s customer base. If you see that your tech partner Hextall & Co. has your prospect as their customer, that’s a signal that your prospect is using Hextall & Co’s software.

 

Crossbeam Salesforce Widget

 The Crossbeam Salesforce Widget in the account dashboard, which shows which partners can help close the deal

 The below image shows a closeup of the Crossbeam Salesforce Widget. In the second row, you can see that your hypothetical tech partner Holver has your prospect as one of their existing customers. Speaking directly to your joint solution or integration with Holver could help you accelerate the sales cycle.  

 

A close-up of the Crossbeam Salesforce Widget  

 By including tech stack insights in your sales outreach or pitch, you can:

  • Catch the attention of your prospect by mentioning the tools they’re already using and how your product fits into their tech stack directly in your sales outreach to your prospect
  • Skip ahead in the sales process during your first sales call with your prospect to show how your product increases value from the tools they’re already using
  • Finetune your demo to show the aspects of your product that relate most to your prospect’s existing tech stack and business goals. You could even include your partner on the call to help showcase your joint value proposition.  

  

Tactic #2: Swap intel with your partner

You’re no stranger to looking for mutual connections between your prospects and your LinkedIn network. Think of swapping intel with partners as the “turbo-boost” version of LinkedIn networking, where your partners expect you to reach out for help, likely have valuable intel about your prospects, and can help you accelerate the deal.  

Your partner could have valuable intel about:

  • Who’s the stakeholder with the most buying power
  • Who would be the practitioners using your product every day
  • Your prospect’s buying timeline and budget
  • What your prospect’s buying process is like, including about their legal and procurement process
  • Whether or not your prospect is ready to buy and adopt your product (and when they might be in the future)
  • Your prospect’s existing tech stack and business goals
  • Any competing products your prospect’s considering buying

Tactic #3: Team up with your partner to sell your integration  

If your partner is in an existing sales cycle with your prospect, it could make sense to team up to sell your joint solution or integration. If you’re both in the opportunity stage, it would make sense to show the value of your integration to your prospect so they can optimize their workflow using your products together and achieve better results than they would using your products alone. In some cases, selling your integration could also help increase the deal size.

Ideal second sales calls always includes a partner. During her first call with a prospect, she focuses on listening to identify the prospect’s pain points, including pain points her own product may not be able to fix.

Then, she brings in a partner who can help alleviate the prospect’s pain points. When she has identified a partner who can help, she and her partner have a call to discuss their joint value proposition and establish a game plan. In some cases, this involves demoing their integration together for the prospect. As a result of co-selling with partners, 18% of Monarch’s sales pipeline comes directly from partners.  

 

 

 

You’ll also be interested in these

Article
|
7
 minutes
4 Parts of the Sales Cycle Where Partnerships Can Help
Article
|
7
 minutes
ARReasons to pay for Crossbeam
Article
|
7
 minutes
Co-Selling for Success: How Chili Piper and Gong are Generating Millions in Revenue by Partnering Up