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All partners have favorites
Sydney Sloan (Chief Market Officer at Drata) and Jason Lemkin (SaaS Founder, Enthusiast & VC) were chatting on the SaaStr podcast about what it takes to win in partnerships.
In the first five minutes of the conversation, Jason made this statement:
A lot of folks miss the whole partner channel. They bang their heads against the wall doing everything direct, and they miss how important partner is.
"YES," I thought as I was listening.
Then he continued,
It took me a while to figure this out, but all partners have favorites. They don’t have the bandwidth to support equally…People don’t get how important it is to be the top partner to your partners.
Every partner has favorites.
If you want to win in an ecosystem, you need to be the most valuable partner in that ecosystem. There are lots of ways to drive value, and if you’re small, that means you need to get creative.
If you want ideas, read how Jared did this with the PandaDoc and HubSpot relationship.
Or if you want to hear how Sydney and Jason think about partnerships, partner impact, and nearbound listen to the podcast.
Watch the podcast.
127 partner referrals in 14 days
Justin Zimmerman (Partner Webinar Coach) is mastering nearbound event marketing.
Most recently, he drove 127 partner referrals in 14 days to an event on Ecosystems versus Channels with Scott Brinker (VP Platform Ecosystems at HubSpot), Jay McBain (Chief Analyst at Canalys), and more heavy hitters.
He shared how he did this on LinkedIn and as I read, it sparked a few questions so I went back to Justin.
I knew Justin’s background was in traditional marketing, so I asked him,
What was the mindset shift that got you from marketer to nearbound marketer?
He responded,
The goal of marketing isn’t to create content, campaigns, or collateral. It’s to create conversations for the sales team. Start there, work backwards.
You’ll end up where I did. using content to create trust and authority, which is leveraged into referrals and recommendations.
Let me repeat that so you can share it with your marketers: The goal of marketing isn’t to create content, campaigns, or collateral. It’s to create conversations for the sales team.
He started with his mindset, and then that translated into his motions.
Getting tactical, here were his 6 steps:
- Started with CRM data / account contacts list / social network
- Evaulated partner’s CRM data / account contacts list / social networks
- Defined common lead 4-5 criteria - what’s a "lead" or interested "account" look like
- Enrolled and empowered account owners / trusted agents / influencers
- Created / co-market GTM event where prospects can "reveal" interest and intent
- Captured this intent / interest and pushed it back into his CRM (and enriched with Clay)
AND THEN "CLICK".
When the lead / account criteria were met, a prospect was introduced (referred) to partner and a meeting / demo was set.
To keep up with Justin and his events, follow him on LinkedIn.
If you’d like to see the campaign “in the wild” sign up for the event!
Scott Brinker’s draft illustration
Scott Brinker (VP of Platform Ecosystems at HubSpot) shared a draft illustration of the 5 rings of a tech stack.
The tech solutions you use company-wide are at the center of your stack. As departments, teams, and individuals add tech, the quantity of apps gets larger and larger.
But it’s important to remember that the closer your tech is to the center, the more important it is to an organization.
What do you think? Join in on the conversation here.
5 Rings of a Tech Stack illustration.
The book GTM needs
When Jill Rowley (SaaS Legend) was leveraging nearbound tactics, there were no systems, processes, or guidelines. She made it up as she went, feeling her way through the buyer’s journey right alongside the buyer.
That’s why she believes in the era of ecosystems. She’s seen and participated in a shift like this before.
She explains in a recent article,
When buyer behavior shifts, it takes companies time to adjust their teams, tech, and strategies. But none of those adjustments happen until companies first know what they are changing and why.
Read where Jill sees the industry going, and why she believes NEARBOUND and the Rise of the Who Economy is a must-read.
Jill shares her background and obsession with the buyer’s journey.
Your customer is your map
Share this with a partner pro complicating partnerships.
