Dan O'Leary walks you through a typical day utilizing partner data on Reveal to drive nearbound go-to-market strategies. Learn all the practical tips, best practices, and insights.
Dan O’Leary, Senior Director of Partnerships at Box, uses partner data on Reveal every day to run their nearbound GTM motions.
We asked him to break down what that looks like.
Typical day/week using Reveal
to see what updates came in overnight from my Reveal bot. This, at a glance, lets me know where partners have opened new opportunities and won deals that we want to align on. It’s a lot more fun and productive than checking X, or the weather.
After chugging a Sugar-Free Redbull (the more you drink, the faster Max Verstappen drives), I log in, and pull up my calendar, and then check Reveal’s dashboard to check for any new insights or significant changes in account activities that are in my pipeline or relevant to calls that I’m having with my team or partners that upcoming day.
Most of my time during my data review is spent analyzing account engagement patterns and identifying relevant cross-sell or up-sell opportunities with our “strategic accounts” and accounts where we are actively trying to land and expand Box.
I also regularly utilize the Account Mapping feature to align our internal pursuits and ABM strategies with our partners for our top targets.
Engaging AEs for Account Mapping and Planning
For account mapping and planning with AEs, I utilize Reveal’s collaborative tools, connected to Slack and Salesforce which are other key tools in my Nearbound toolbox
I often start by sharing insights on shared accounts from the ’Account Overlap’ data with a focus on our “A” (aka top tier accounts) and our strategic accounts where a Box AE likely has a joint success plan and account strategy created. Sometimes this is in a face-to-face meeting or Zoom, sometimes I send a screenshot on Slack.
We discuss account strategies using specific tactics around ’engagement levels,’ influencer and buyer mapping, industry and account location, and ’opportunity scoring.’ We aren’t spraying and praying—we are thinking about how and where we can create the most value for our customers, and seeing which partners can help.
This type of nearbound strategy allows us to establish a unified approach with our team and partners, ensuring our focus is on the right accounts and people at any given operating level. Reps, Sales Managers, and Sales Leaders all have meaningful views into the data.
Then, regular sync-up meetings or QBRs are scheduled to review these insights and adjust strategies as needed with both our partners and our sales teams. Planning is an ongoing process.
Engaging sales leaders and deciding on focus accounts
When engaging other sales leaders, both internally and with my partners, I present data-driven insights, particularly focusing on ’high potential’ accounts identified through Reveal’s analytics.
I frame the conversation in a way that aligns with our mutual business goals, like ’revenue growth potential’ with Box and our partners, and ’strategic account alignment’ where we might both already have a dedicated account team or plan. Decisions regarding focus accounts and prioritization are made by evaluating factors such as the ’Partnership Strength Score’ and historical performance metrics, but also things like who the account team members are and the eagerness and willingness of a customer to work with a partner.
Creating automation and workflows with the Sales team
I leverage Reveal’s automation capabilities to streamline our sales processes, especially with Slack, to connect with my global team. This includes setting up alerts for changes in account activity such as the addition of opportunities and won deals, sharing insights with AEs via Slack and in meetings, and integrating Reveal data into our Salesforce CRM to show up on Opportunities and Accounts for seamless workflow and consistency.
Regular training sessions are conducted in partnership with our Ops and Enablement team to ensure the Sales team can effectively utilize these automations, data, and my team.
Communicating wins with sales leaders and teams
Success stories and key nearbound wins are communicated through a combination of Slack channel posts in our #Nearbound-Wins channel, via our internal GTM and Partner newsletter, regular team and all-hands meetings, and dashboards within Reveal. It seems like a lot, but there are so many distractions that you need to be present in every medium that your teams work in to drive wins and messaging home.
To make it relevant for the team, we highlight specific cases where insights from Reveal and partners led to successful wins, helping to reinforce the value of nearbound tactics and using Reveal, and keeping the teams motivated to keep working with the right partners.
Accommodating new sales initiatives
For new sales initiatives, I ensure they are integrated into nearbound GTM and use Reveal routinely by thinking about how partners can leverage the 3 I’s—introductions, intelligence, and influence—to accelerate new sales initiatives via templates.
Tactically, this might involve creating new custom views or reports in Reveal to show data differently. For example, we are rolling out Box AI and are focused on getting the message out through a series of regional events. We are also working with partners to help drive attendance and inviting them to join us in person.
Additional notes/best practices
A best practice I’ve found valuable is regularly reviewing and cleaning the data within Reveal to maintain accuracy, and then working with partners to make sure their data is tidy and mapped in the right way. For example, we had one partner who marked all of their prospects as customers in Reveal, and it created a lot of false alarms. Encouraging open communication and feedback from our internal teams about the tool and our approach to working with them also helps in continuously improving our strategies and usage of Reveal. We also work closely with our Reveal CSM and account team, also via Slack where we exchange ideas and updates.
What does your nearbound GTM look like?
Are you tapping into the power of your partner ecosystem every day to power Marketing, Sales, and Success initiatives? You might be surprised how much value is sitting on the table.
Let us know if we can help you explore a nearbound strategy.
