Three Things that Make Partners the Trusted Experts

Why are partners the trusted experts?

It's simple.

This post is about Platform Providers, but it can also be applied to end customers and all the other vendors that support the whole partner ecosystem.

Again, it’s simple.

It’s Three Things

Partners have three things that platform providers need.

This is not rocket science!

and it’s something I've been saying for years. This is the partners Secret Sauce.

Partners have Three Things that Platform Providers Need:

1. Feet on the Street
2. Subject Matter Expertise
3. Access to the C-Suite / Influencers

That's it!

Full Disclosure: I am paraphrasing something Steve Ballmer said many years ago when I worked on the nascent Microsoft Developer Platform Evangelism (DPE) team. Now this team is called Developer Experience (aka DX) under my former mentor and all around good guy Steve Guggenheimer.

So, What Does This Mean To Your Business?

Again, it’s simple.

If you are in a business that utilizes partners in your Go-to-Market strategies make sure you follow The 3R’s of Good Partnerships.

Make sure you Realize, Recognize and Reward these three points.

Let me say that again. This is an important point.

If you work with, reply upon, and have expectations for partners:

• Include them in your planning efforts.
• Include them in your execution efforts.
• Include them in your compensation efforts.

In a word … Treat them like Partners!

Because if you do … always remember:

Partners have three things you need.

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If you want a bit more on partnering read these:

• Partners ARE your Scaling Factor
• Thinking about the Partner of the Future
• Good Partnerships are like Good Gardens
• Microsoft Partner Ecosystem and the 1:3:5 Ratio (this one is being refreshed for "Cloud Computing" revenue and partner models)

What are your ideas about The Partner of the Future?
I am in the process of developing an on-going series being developed around this theme. It is going to change the way we work with partners. If you have ideas and want to collaborate on this effort ping me.

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This is part of my on-going series of posts where I try to have a little fun and share a little of my insights on People, Process and Technology. 

A subset of this is cross posted to my LinkedIn page here.

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Jeff is an expert in the Enterprise Content Management industry. He brings over 20 years of Channel Sales, Partner Marketing and Alliance expertise to audiences around the world in speaking engagements and via his writing. He has worked for Microsoft, Kodak, and K2. He is currently the consulting with Microsoft and partners to drive Community Engagement and Alliances.

Tweet him @jshuey or connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+ He is active in the Microsoft Partner Community and is the co-founder and President of the IAMCP Seattle chapter.

He is a contributing author to Entrepreneur, Elite Daily, Yahoo, US News and to the Personal Branding Blog