Before the iPhone came out, Marc Andreesen asked Steve Jobs if people would accept a digital screen over a keypad. Steve replied, “They’ll learn.” We see this similarly happening in technology.
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PRINCIPLES
People change, then they forget they changed
Marc Andreesen wrote this in the foreword of the landmark book by Venkatesh Rao, Breaking Smart:
People change, then forget that they changed, and act as though they always behaved a certain way and could never change again.
Because of this, unexpected changes in human behavior are often dismissed as regressive rather than as potentially intelligent adaptations.
But change happens anyway.
Before the iPhone came out, Marc asked Steve Jobs if people would accept a digital screen over a keypad.
Steve replied, “They’ll learn.”
We see this similarly happening in technology.
People forget that sales tech used to not be a thing. They forget that marketing technologies were only adopted in the past 10 years.
Nearbound is the future. If you look at buying behaviors, it’s obvious.
And even for nearbound GTM, people will look back and act as though they always behaved with a nearbound mindset.
TACTICS
If convincing your teams to try nearbound hasn’t been working…
When one approach doesn’t work, try a different approach.
There are two approaches to getting the nearbound mindset successfully adopted inside your company:
Approach #1: Nearbound philosophy → data → prove
Approach #2: Data → prove → nearbound philosophy
Most partner pros get excited and use approach #1. It might work, but it also might leave your GTM teams annoyed.
So, if you feel like you might need a new approach, try approach #2.
- Set up discovery meetings with your GTM teams and do your homework beforehand.
Learn about key deals your Sales team is trying to close and blockers. Ask marketing about their calendar. Ask CS about repeat customer frustrations.
- Solve their problems using partners.
Get deals unstuck with partner influence. Push deals to close faster with key intel.
Co-market with partners to get more customers to your events, get more reach on content, and to create more interesting content.
Work to fill gaps in your product offering with partners.
- Once you’ve achieved a few wins, start explaining the nearbound mindset and why these tactics worked.
You, as a partner pro, need to remember that there are different ways to approach your GTM teams.
Why? Because getting buy-in on nearbound is imperative for the future success of your company, and if you keep doing something that doesn’t work, you’ll just frustrate people.
Rob Rebholz put it like this on a podcast with Ben Wright, Will Taylor, and Robert Kielty,
Sometimes partner pros go into new companies saying everything needs to change. They put together some data and say,
’This is the future. It’s better.’
Instead, approach the conversation from a service-first perspective. How can you serve your GTM teams so they’ll want to talk about nearbound?
Sometimes you have to give to get.
Listen to the full episode to hear why Ben Wright and Will Taylor believe partnerships is having its moment right now.
QUESTION OF THE DAY
What do we think about UTMs?
Apparently Steve Jobs would’ve hated UTMs…
I was scrolling through LinkedIn and I saw this post from Dave Gerhardt.
Do you agree?
The nearbound mindset is about approaching customers the way they want to be approached. Should we revisit conversations about UTMs?
UPCOMING EVENTS
- TODAY—May 2nd—The Era of Ecosystem Orchestration is (Nearly) Here—Join 360 Insights and their close partners to unveil their new ecosystem project that stands to redefine their marketplace forever. Register here.
- May 7th—MartechDay 2024—Join Scott Brinker (VP Platform Ecosystems at HubSpot) and Frans Riemersma (Founder, MartechTribe) to release the latest Marketing Technology Landscape graphic. It’s a celebration of the thousands of talented people working in martech, at brands, vendors, and across the community. Scott and Frans will also be interviewing key leaders for their deep domain-specific knowledge. Register here.
- 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.
You’re all caught up.
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- Howdy Partners #71: Natasha Walstra on Increasing Luck Surface Area in Business
- Nearbound Podcast #161: 3 Things You Need to Know: Attribution Crisis, Early Majority, and the Consolidation of Tech with AI
- Mastering the Nearbound Rhythm of the Business: Key Takeaways from the Nearbound Book by Andrea Vallejo
- A Deep Dive Into the Nearbound Book, with Mike Midgley Part 2
See you tomorrow
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