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PRINCIPLES

Intel is power

You’ve done the work to qualify your buyer, but there are still key things—things that can make or break the deal—that you don’t know about them. Things like: 

• How their vendor selection processes work
• Who the executive buyer is
• What kinds of initiatives they are kicking off
• Key pain points
• What technology they are already working with 

The good news is that this information already lives in your ecosystem. When you and your partners share insights—like customer needs or recent purchases the partner made with your buyer—you're basically getting the "answers to the test." 

This kind of info-sharing preps you to close deals faster, score bigger wins, and keep customers happy longer. 

Use that intel to prepare for your discovery call. Instead of asking basic discovery questions — which you already have the answers to — you can dive in directly into how you fit into your prospect’s current tech stack and how you can make their lives easier. 

It’s all about being ahead of the game and using that shared knowledge to outshine the competition.

TACTICS

5 questions you should ask your partner’s sales reps

It’s the first month of the quarter, a new start, and you’re trying to break into an account. 

Out out of nowhere, you get ghosted:

• Your point of contact at the account no longer works at the company  
• You have little visibility into who would be using your product, who has the buying power, and what their buying process and timeline is like
• You’re unsure of your prospect’s business priorities and how to best tailor your pitch 

Don’t worry, you’re still going to close that deal before the end of your quarter. 

You just need a little bit of help. You can get all of that intel and more in just minutes — with a little help from your partners. 

Here are the questions to ask to your partner’s sales rep to get the answers you need to close the deal: 

Question #1: Who’s your champion at the account?

You need to understand who you should be speaking with at your prospect’s account. 

If you don’t have a champion yet, this is a great opportunity for you to skip ahead in your outreach to engage the right stakeholder or to ask for a warm intro. 

However, you should ensure that it’s the right time for an intro — asking for too many intros at the wrong time can sour your relationship with your partner and cost you the deal. 

Question #2: Do you think your customer is at the right stage to adopt our joint solution/integration?

Your partner’s account executives (AEs) or customer success managers (CSMs) have valuable intel about how your prospects are using their products. 

It’s possible your product can help their customer achieve their current or future goals. Additionally, they might have insight into the customer’s budget and when they’re looking to expand or modernize their tech stack. 

Sometimes, the right time to sell your joint solution and/or integration is right when your prospect becomes a customer of your partner. 

Question #3: Could you tell me about the buying process/timeline?

This question will help you understand who needs to be involved in the procurement process — including practitioners, stakeholders with buying power, legal and security teams, and more. 

This intel can help you gauge how long the sales cycle will be, understand when the best times are to check in with your prospect, and know what to proactively include in your pitch, decks, and emails. 

Question #4: What’s your customer’s most pressing pain point right now? 

Knowing your prospect’s pain points can help your sales reps tailor their email outreach and pitch decks in a way that shows the value of your product for the prospect’s existing needs. 

Question #5: What are some of the tools your customer is using right now? 

Tech stack insights are gold. Your sales development representatives (SDRs) can mention relevant integrations in their outreach, and your AEs and solutions engineers (SEs) can speak to the integrations relevant to your customers during the sales conversation. 

Want to get another 10 questions you can ask your partner’s sales reps? Click here.

MEME OF THE DAY

Let intel be your proton pack* to catch all those ghosts

*Proton pack: a fictional energy-based capture device, used for controlling and lassoing ghosts in the Ghostbusters universe.

UPCOMING EVENT

Catalyst 2024

Join Crossbeam at Catalyst August 14-16 in Chicago to meet the team, grab some killer Ecosystem swag, and get the most up to date intel on our recent merger with Reveal. 

Click here to pre-book a meeting with our team and as a bonus, register here for the Partner Tech 'Appy Hour' co-hosted by Crossbeam, Suger, Superglue, Magentrix and Partner Fleet.

Stuff you don't want to miss!

• August 14th — From Data to Dollars: Strategies for Nurturing Event Leads to Drive Success: Benito Aguila (Events Marketing Manager from Google) and Airmeet’s CEO, Lalit Mangal will share how to capture valuable data at events to implement targeted follow-up strategies. Register here. 
• August 20th — Exploring the Power of the Benefits Broker Channel: Leveraging HR’s Most Trusted Consultants: Ryan Taguding (Founder and Principal at Temio Consulting) will share where to begin, how to identify your ICP and distinguish sales blockers from champions. Register here.

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