The infinite loop of ecosystems

Trust and revenue aren’t grown in spreadsheets.

Trust and revenue are built in the public and private ecosystems where your buyers and partners live.

Vaughn Mordecai, SVP of Partnerships and Business Development at MindMatrix explained public and private ecosystems like this,

In partnerships, a public ecosystem involves all the potential partners, consultants, influencers, resellers, referrers, and integrators that an individual company could work with, and the tactics, recruiting, and marketing activities involved in engaging them.

Private ecosystems are the partners that have "behind the scenes" access to each other to build, create, and plan shared products and services. These are the relationships you see when established partners sell and plan together, and use co-sell strategies to go to market together.

Public and private ecosystems depend on each other to build continuous value.

Public ecosystems can help you sell, retain, discover, prioritize, and expand your partnerships, while private ecosystems help you onboard, enable, strategize, and engage partners.

Read Vaughn’s article to learn how to take advantage of your ecosystems and continue reading to learn about the ICE framework.

How to leverage public and private ecosystems

As a partner pro, your job is to uncover and tap into the full value of partnerships. To do this effectively, you need to leverage both public and private ecosystems.

Public ecosystems are your marketplaces, socials, partner locators, and partner events. They are where you find intel from partners and the market.

Whereas private ecosystems are your Next-Gen PRMs, account mapping tools, business planning software, and fund management platforms. These ecosystems allow you to grow and deepen your partner relationships.

The ICE framework explains how you can find partners, evolve your relationship, and go-to-market together to create a flywheel of value for your company.

I - Identify (Public Ecosystems)

Initially, you use public ecosystems to identify partners and uncover information.

As Harbinder Khera (CEO at MindMatrix) put it in his session at the Nearbound Summit,

“You need to find partners. There’s not a LinkedIn for partners. [In public ecosystems,] you can find companies, start the dialogue, then once there’s a relationship created you can bring them into the private ecosystem for enablement.”

Data on things like the market, your persona, and revenue potential is crucial in recruiting great partners and creating strong joint value propositions.

C - Collaborate (Private Ecosystems)

Once you’ve identified your partners and gathered data, you need to bring them into your private ecosystems to systematize that data and deepen the relationship.

In this phase, you’re working to onboard partners, get quick wins, and cultivate the foundation for a longer-term revenue-impacting relationship.

E - Execute (Public Ecosystems)

The last stage in the ICE framework is to go to market with your partners instead of through them. You and your partner will co-market, co-sell, and co-service to create multiple touchpoints for potential partners and customers to learn about the offering and reach out.

Read the full article or listen to the session from the Nearbound Summit to learn how to execute the ICE framework.

OpenView’s 2023 SaaS benchmark report

OpenView recently put out their 2023 SaaS benchmark report. Use the findings in this report as a tool to get C-Suite level buy-in.

Take, for example, this slide about growth.

Every company is struggling to grow. Instead of employing the same old tactics, why not try nearbound? Partnerships are one of the best avenues toward efficient growth.

Download the full report here.

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• Nearbound Summit 2023 Recordings—The future of GTM is Nearbound. Watch the recordings to hear how B2B leaders across departments unite with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Listen here.
• Dec 13, 2 PM EST —Navigating Change: Dealing with Uncertainty, Restructurings, and Its Aftermath— Join Faisal Mirza (Director in Strategic Partnerships at Adobe) and Scott Pollack (CEO at Firneo) and they discuss how to manage through changes in the organization and deal with its aftermath. 
• March 19-20th — Affiverse’s Amplify Summit — Join them for a 2-day virtual event to help affiliate businesses amplify their performance. Learn about digital, partnership, and affiliate marketing.

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