Partners and Platforms - Working Together - Part 1 of 3

How can you best serve partners that want to work with you?

It doesn't matter what type of partner it is. The same base level elements need to be addressed. In the tech world where I have lived and worked for the past 20+ years the partners are typically ISV's, SI's, Learning Partners, Distributors, VAR's, and a few other types I likely missed.

It's a dance. And when done right is seamless. Where the customers get what they want, at the price point they want, and on the time schedule they want. And the partners get what they want ... customers.

It's not easy. It never is. But, when done right it just works.

It is and can be a complex and deep challenge. However, it can be broken down into base level elements.

Of course, those base level elements can be expanded upon once both parties agree on the initial scope.

I have broken it down into three simple buckets - TAM, ENG, and GTM.

For each bucket they each have a "Will you ..." element to them. I have purposely kept them simple here. Detailed discussions about each would follow ... once the base level elements are agreed to.

1. TAM - Will you help me scope it?
2. ENG -  Will you help me build it?
3. GTM - Will you help me sell it?

Where:

• TAM = Total Addressable Market
• ENG = Engineering support
• GTM = Go To Market

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

The Total Addressable Market is something that takes work that is a combination of industry expertise and doing research on the target market. There are numerous ways to define, derive, and describe the TAM. Ultimately the partner and the platform provider need to agree on the market and the market assessment. If one model isn't working, re-spin and try again. Hint: If nothing seems to work - there may not be a valuable partnership for this particular incarnation. 

This also leads to one of my favorite one liners. I don't say it to be flip or insulting. Rather I use it to make what should be an obvious point. If you only have one large customer to define your TAM ... you are missing the big picture. In the tech world you want to be able to sell the same solution (or slight variations of it) to many customers across multiple horizontal and vertical markets.

There is nothing wrong with having one large customer, but if that's the case ... treat them like the special creature they are and give ALL of your energy to them. 

My one line is ...

 One Customer Does Not Make A Market

Engineering Support (ENG)

This can be as simple as offering help if needed to getting engineers working together to build out some or all of the integration. There is no wrong answer or model here. Most partners just want to know they'll have the support they need to build out the solution. 

A few roles I recommend assigning for both sides of the partnership are listed below. They may not always be needed and they may not always need to be deeply engaged, but when they are needed they play an invaluable role in building trust while building the solution(s).

• Executive Sponsor - This can be a business leader or a technical leader and should be the person that is pulled in if things go sideways. They'll have the oomph to get things moving again.
• Technical Sponsor - This role is for the person that will be scoping and defining what needs to be done. Their counterpart will also be doing the same thing. They'll come to an agreement on what needs to be done and they'll assign people to take on those roles.
• Program Manager - This person is responsible for keeping things on track. They may not be the one scoping the work and assigning tasks. But, they are critical to keep the project moving and pointing out areas of risk along the way. Which leads me to another of my favorite one liners.

Good Program Managers are
Worth Their Weight in Gold

Go-to-Market (GTM)

Like with points 1 and 2 this can be simple to start and will expand as the solution gains traction. The next post in this series is about "Awareness" which is a critical element to get going right at the start. The initial GTM efforts need to start with letting the teams at each company know what's going on and the timing for it and the roles each will need to play in the process. 

The GTM efforts can be as simple as creating joint press releases (which for those who this on a daily basis know is NOT a simple process) to creating white papers and reference architectures (again, these are not simple processes). The upfront expectations for what will be expected should be spelled out. That way as momentum builds everyone will be working towards the same goals and timelines.

The end result can be a series of case studies - written or video; a series of webinars; and perhaps a  collection of customer references. 

One of the goals of a successful GTM effort is to create a predictable and repeatable solution that can be delivered to the target market spelled out in the TAM. If additional markets pop up or are otherwise identified that's a bonus and a sign that you probably did more than a few things right.

Conclusion

In the end there is no right or wrong way to engage with partners. However, in my 20+ years of working with partners I have found that if you don't have the TAM defined, the ENG support committed, and the GTM plans in place at the beginning you will be fighting an uphill battle.

This is part 1 of a 3 part series in working with partners. The next two parts cover AAR and SMTE.

Thanks for reading and please let me know your thoughts here in the comments or directly via my social media channels. 

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Tags: #Partner #GTM #GTD 
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 Jeff is business advisor, mentor and community engagement expert. 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 at Oracle where he works with partners, including Microsoft and Microsoft partners, to create Hybrid Cloud solutions on a global scale.

Connect with me on Twitter @jshuey

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He is a contributing author to Entrepreneur, Elite Daily, Yahoo, US News and to
the Personal Branding Blog with over 250 articles published.