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How Kolleno Reduced Their Time to Close by 50% with Ecosystem-Led Growth

Kolleno, the accounts receivable management software company, wanted to build a partner program to increase brand awareness, opportunities and decrease deals’ time to close.  

To achieve that goal, Irina Anichshuk, now COO and Head of Partnerships, decided to use Reveal in tandem with an Ecosystem-Led Growth strategy and partner intel. After 15 months, here’s what Irina’s team started to notice: 

• When the sales and partnership teams tapped into ecosystem data and partner intel, they accelerated the deal progress from qualification to discovery, cutting up to 3 hours of prep time per discovery call.
• When the sales team involved a partner in the qualification and prioritization process the deal could increase its size by 30% to 40%.

• When the sales team leveraged ecosystem data, in tandem with partner intel, influence, and intros, the deal closed 50% faster.
• Deals that came from customer referrals had a closing rate 4x the rate of other deals.
• Read on to learn how Kolleno’s partnership and sales teams are leveraging ecosystem data, partner intel, influence, and intros to accelerate deals, and access their strategy to get buy-in from their sales team. 

How Kolleno is accelerating deals with ELG

To achieve her company’s goal for the partnerships team, Irina knew she had to rely on the power of Kolleno’s ecosystem, but the main problem she faced was that some of her partners weren’t as committed or involved as she needed them to be. 

So the first action she and her team took was to establish an Ideal Partner Profile, primarily based on the account and customer persona overlap they could see on Reveal. 

“That ecosystem data let us identify if they were a good partner for us, and gave us a good jumping off point, so we could see who we should speak to,” says Irina. “If there’s a huge persona overlap, it’s more likely that it’s going to be a successful partnership.”

Once they identified their ideal partner, they immediately started thinking about:

• The partner activation process
• Their expectations for the partner
• The value they could bring to their partner
• The top accounts they would like to “have access to” — meaning the ones they need help with 
• The partner signals their prospects have
• “What Reveal, now Crossbeam, allows us to have a bird’s eye view of the top accounts from our side, share them with our sales team, and explain to them which of our prospects have overlap with our partners,” says Irina. “If our prospects are already using five of our partners that we have on [the network], that is a huge signal — this means they are using software that complements ours, and that they might be open to purchasing ours.” 

By implementing an Ecosystem-Led Growth strategy, the partnerships team could leverage partner signals to qualify prospects before their sales team asked for an intro to their partners. 

An example of an ELG sales play

Kolleno’s deal acceleration strategy is not only about requesting intros — it’s about building a customer experience based on partner intel, influence, and ecosystem data. 

One of their strategies included a dinner with a top prospective account [Company A] thanks to the support, analysis, and intro from one of their ERP Implementation Consultant partners. Kolleno leveraged this opportunity to have some face time, build a relationship, and evaluate whether or not the account was a good fit. 

A couple of months later, Company A popped up on Reveal, and Irina discovered that their tech stack included all of Kolleno’s partners. 

The first question Irina asked herself was ‘how can we fit in that equation?’

Before answering that question and creating a strategy, she knew she needed more intel, so her next step was to meet with her partners (who had Company A as a customer) and ask them questions like

• How is Company A leveraging your platform?
• What is their objective?
• What’s their opinion of your platform?
• How long have they been your customers?

All of these questions were just to confirm what she could see in her 1:1 account mapping with her partner — just in case they didn’t keep their CRM clean. 

“Sometimes partners forget to update their CRM data,” says Irina. “You end up asking yourself if the account you’re looking for is actually your partner’s client or did they just forget to mark them as churned.”

The intel she got was that Company A: 

• Used several of Kolleno’s AP partners in a very distinctive manner, not in spend management, procurement, invoice payment, or even bulk payment use cases. 
• Leveraged an employer of record tool, which fortunately was about to be Kolleno’s partner.
• Used the same ERP who introduced them some months ago. 

Equipped with all the insights, Irina drafted a better together story and set up Kolleno as a good fit for Company A. Thanks to that, Company A booked a discovery call. 

During the call, instead of just sitting and asking things related to Company A’s objectives, the number of invoices issued per month, or even the ERP they were using, Irina could directly address their pain points and how Kolleno fit in their tech stack equation. 

“Partner signals and intel can save you up to three hours of work,” says Irina. “With Ecosystem data you don’t have to prepare that much to understand what company you are talking to, or even work that account from the marketing or outbound perspective to get that discovery call. 

After the discovery call ended, the deal progressed more quickly because of all the intel their partners shared with Irina. 

“Besides the intel we had, our AP partners, which we have a good relationship with, made a little bit of their magic happen by mentioning us in the conversations they had with our prospect,” says Irina. 

“Mentioning that we were a really good partner, that they liked working with us, and mentioning that we already have several successful common customers really helped us to accelerate the deal process and trust in that process a lot more. 

The result of leveraging ecosystem data, at the right time, and involving the right stakeholders resulted in a deal won in 30 days (versus a 60-day close time without partners). 

Getting buy-in for an ELG strategy

That deal was a big win for partnerships, and an excellent example of how easy it is to accelerate deals when sales teams attach a partner to it. However, it wasn't always a walk in the park. 

“It took me a couple of months to get the sales team to understand this,” says Irina. “I think they only hopped on board when they saw more and more referrals coming their way, and they started to have discovery calls with a partner involved.”

To get buy-in from her sales team, Irina proved that having the technographic intel of your prospect is key for avoiding cold emails. 

She used examples like this one: 

You’re a member of Partnership Leaders, and they send you an email on how Company B and Partnership Leaders just launched a partnership. 

Those communications around that partnership should include the joint value proposition, how that value proposition helps you reach your goals, and the perks you have as a member of Partnership Leaders. 

This email is not cold, because it includes a company that you already trust, Partnership Leaders. 

In this case you’re more likely to open the email and dedicate 15 minutes to what they have to say. 

This type of example proved that when her sales teams leveraged the ecosystem data they had in hand, and the trust their prospects have on their partners, they can close deals faster.  

A final thought

Kolleno's success in cutting their time to close by 50% highlights the power of an ELG strategy. 

By leveraging ecosystem data, partner intel, and strong partnerships, Irina and her team transformed their sales approach. Instead of cold outreach, they’ve built a process that integrates partners into every stage, resulting in faster deals, larger pipelines, and more meaningful customer interactions.  

This strategy didn’t just happen overnight—it took careful planning, collaboration, and a shift in mindset, proving that when done right, partnerships can be a game-changer for growth.

Use cases

• Accelerating deal closure
• Drafting a joint value proposition 
• Getting intel, influence, and intros to their partners customers who are their prospects

Kolleno’s Ecosystem Profile

Company size: 51 - 200 employees

Partnership team size: 3+

Partners: +20

Customer since: 2023

Stats

• 3 hours of saved work per discovery call
• 50% decrease in time to close with partners involved
• 4x closing rate when a customer comes from a referral
• 30-40% larger deals in pipeline with partner involvement