At the expand/evangelization stage, the focus shifts from initial adoption to maximizing customer value and highlighting customer successes. This phase marks a critical transition from initial conversions and surface-level relationships to long-term success and committed relationships.
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TACTICS
Overlay partners to the GTM bowtie part 2
A true nearbound partnerships strategy is an overlay on the business that connects every department and every department’s GTM motions.
Using the bowtie model as our anchor, we’re going to break down the Expand / Evangelize stage of the buyer journey into three categories:
- Why partners are critical to this stage of marketing
- How to best use Reveal
- Plays to execute at this stage
Purpose: To turn customers into partners and evangelists
How partners help:
- Identify the best customers who are ready to be leveraged as partners
- Work with customer evangelists to drive further awareness
Which department(s) are most involved:
- Marketing
- Customer Success
- Sales
Partner types:
- Media partners
- Communities
- Influencers
- Key Opinion Leaders
- Content-level co-marketing tech partners
Why partners are critical to this phase
At the expand/evangelization stage, the focus shifts from initial adoption to maximizing customer value and highlighting customer successes.
This phase marks a critical transition from initial conversions and surface-level relationships to long-term success and committed relationships.
Every activity in this stage makes it easier for customers to become evangelists, because as Jill Rowley says, “your customers are your best partners.”
If successful, customers will:
- Help evangelize your product
- Paint a realistic vision of what’s possible
- Provide the “how to’s” that show your prospects that what your marketing says can be done ACTUALLY can be done
Customers are the voices your buyers trust most. They are real life practitioners with real successes. They are ambassadors in the field, pushing the boundaries of what is possible with your platform and reaching the promised land your prospects hope to reach.
Partners at this stage:
- Amplify customer success stories.
- Facilitate upsell and expansion opportunities.
- Facilitate peer-to-peer engagement.
- Provide continuous education and training.
- Offer strategic insights and consultation.
You can unlock new dimensions of customer engagement and loyalty by strategically engaging various partner types and utilizing tools like Reveal.
How to best use Reveal
Reveal helps create clarity in the expand/evangelize stage of the bowtie. In a world where there are hundreds of accounts to convert to revenue, Reveal helps you create a priority list of partners to expand based on where you already have leverage in the form of partner presence.
- Upsell your solution with the help of a partner. Create a list of accounts that are current customers and prospects of your partner. Give that list to your CSM or account management team (whoever is handling upsells) and let them know that this is the list your partner can help upsell.
- Pull a forecast report. Pull a list of your customers and who owns those accounts at your company. Then look at where partners are already present, but where your company isn’t engaged with that partner. Look for opportunities to co-market, co-sell, and co-service. Then take action on the opportunity.
- Use Reveal’s CRM Widget to:
- Get real-time signals to proactively take action on at-risk and strategic accounts
- Identify synergies with your partners and create business cases for new integrations
- Uncover your customers’ tech stacks so you can create winning success strategies
- Use Reveal’s Get Intro and Deal Influencer’s feature to:
- Increase adoption by identifying mutually beneficial joint contacts
- Align with your partners to create a winning product offerings
- Send targeted content to customers based on their tech stack
- Use Reveal’s CRM Workflows, Digest, and Alerts to:
- Automatically flag at-risk accounts or possible upsell opportunities
- Get the intel, influence, and intros needed to take action on key solutions
- Leverage partner insights and ecosystem data directly in your CSM tools
Read the full breakdown here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stuff you don't want to miss!
- June 26th—WTF is a Hyperscaler—Join Brian Kobleur (CEO, VelociPartner) and Scott Pollack (CEO at Firneo) as they dive deep into the cloud technology that's revolutionizing tech landscapes. 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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