Nearbound Daily #604: The #1 Lesson Every Partner Leader Should Learn From Walmart's Sam Walton
This is the most important principle any partner person can adopt. It's how Sam Walton became a legendary innovator in the retail space, and how partner leaders will win in the decade of the ecosystem.
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PRINCIPLES
You have one boss
"There is only one boss: the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." —Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart
Whether or not agree with Walton's business model, the fact remains that Sam Walton transformed the retail industry with his innovative business practices.
How? He was committed to providing value to customers.
This is the most important business principle any person can adopt.
That's why it's the crux of the nearbound mindset.
Once you live and work by that principle, everything else becomes simpler—strategic decisions, prioritization, and innovation.
TACTICS
Report on buyer preferences: 100 top SaaS companies reviewed
Chili Piper and Navattic were curious: what do buyers really want? So they sent Arthur Castillo and Natalie Marcotullio to figure it out.
After interviewing B2B professionals, three common themes emerged.
Buyers want it to be easy to:
- Schedule a demo
- Get access to the product from the website
- See prices for the product on the website
Next, Arthur and his team reviewed the top 100 SaaS companies (defined by company size) to evaluate whether or not they actually made it easy for buyers to buy.
The team was looking for:
- Direct calendar links
- Interactive demos
- Public pricing pages
- Time it took for companies to respond to a demo request
In a world where everyone throws around the term "customer-obsessed," the results were shocking.
For example, this stat show that only 17% of the top 100 companies use a click-through or interactive demo on their website...which means 82.8% of companies don't.
This is why nearbound is imperative in the Decade of the Ecosystem.
While this report focuses on the early stages of the buying experience, customers want ease across their entire journey, from buying to onboarding to achieving success.
And every leader in every department is struggling to figure out how exactly to adapt.
Partner pros, this is your opportunity to lead your company to its promised land.
At every stage of the buyer's journey there are opportunities to decrease friction, and surround customers with trust and influence.
Simple things like integrations, multi-partner events, partner-led onboarding sessions, or emails with trusted partners to earn a warm intro to a deal.
Customers want to see that the people they trust also trust you.
Learn how to help your Marketers run nearbound plays with The Nearbound Marketing Blueprint, and learn how to help your Sellers with The Nearbound Sales Blueprint.
ARTICLE OF THE DAY
Sam Yarborough on breaking down silos
A few weeks ago, Sam Yarborough discussed with Salesforce how partner teams garner executive alignment and buy-in. Without it, partner motions will remain siloed and never execute their full value to the company.
One of her favorite takeaways from this conversation was asking partner leaders:
“Are you adding value to your company?”
Most would answer yes, hopefully.
But the follow-up question is a bit trickier:
“Does your Executive Leadership Team (ELT) think you're adding value?”
Partner pros often assume ELT is aligned on why and how partners can impact the business.
But this assumption can cost incredible partner pros meaningful results, impair their ability to drive impact, and in some cases, cost them their jobs.
Keep reading Sam’s thoughts, and check out the event she and Jason Yarborough are throwing for partner leaders.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stuff you don't want to miss!
- June 18th—Too Early To Hire Partner Ops—Join Sonya Jamula (VP of Partnerships at Gusto) and Franz-Josef Schrepf (Strategic Partnerships at StreamYard) to discuss the perfect time to hire partner ops. Register here.
- July 22nd-25th—Arcadia Leadership Conference—Discover the best of your partner program and the best of yourself through an intentional gathering in Bozeman, Montana. This is not a conference, this is a fully immersive experience - with luxury glamping, actual fireside chats, fresh mountain air, and an elite community to help you tactically scale your program. 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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See you tomorrow
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