When it's working it can be like listening to a finely tuned and honed orchestra.
When it's not ... it can be like listening to a middle school recital.
There are a lot of ways to orchestrate a partnership. Over the 20+ years I've been doing this I've boiled it down to a few (seemingly) simple things.
While they sound simple on the surface there are nuances as well as twists and turns to insure a partnership is a success.
As noted in the previous 2 parts of this post there are stages to evaluate and execute a successful partner engagement. There are no wrong answers, but there are things that can be done up front to increase the probability of success. The corollary to this is ... you may realize this is NOT a partnership your want to build. After evaluating the partnership with these tools and techniques they may show that the partnership isn't worth pursuing. It's better to make this determination up front before spending all the time and energy required to build out the full partnership.
Partner Maturity Matrix - A model developed by my friend Per Werngren
This table can be used a guidepost to help all parties understand where they are and perhaps where they want to be. There are cases where being a "Basic" partner is plenty. Perhaps the benefits of the platform providers partner program are all the partner needs to build their business. If so, great. Let them. If they need more and/or if the platform provider or other partners want more ... propose something further up the stack.As noted above ... there are no wrong answers. Choose the model that suits the business needs today. Review a few times a year and adjust accordingly.
For example, a partner might think they are in the "Dynamic" stage. Well, like a lot of things ... both sides need to agree that this is the stage of the relationship. If it's not where one of the parties wants ... open a dialogue and have a conversation about it. Again, there are no wrong answers.
The ultimate goal is to develop realistic partnerships that work for the timeframe being considered. There is nothing wrong with moving up or down the Partner Maturity Matrix. Just as long as all parties are in agreement that the stages match the expectations from both sides.
A more tactical level of detail is provided in the table below with a model I call SMTE.
Which is a simple mnemonic acronym for Sales, Marketing, Technical, and Executive. Where each step can be filled out in as much detail as needed to build the GTM model and set the planning motions in-line with a calendar to insure each step has an owner, actions, a timeline, and expected outcomes.
- Sales - How are we going to sell it? A sandwich board saying "Will Code For Food?" or perhaps a more modern marketing campaign that combines social, mobile, and events. This is and area where the TAM and the GTM come into play. What is being sold, to who, and how.
- Marketing - How will this product be marketed? See TAM in Part 1 of 3.
- Technical - Who's going to build it? Who's going to help? Who's going to support it? Don't forget that someone needs to own this from a technical level and make sure sales efforts before, during, and after the sale are included in the plans. See GTM in Part 1 of 3 and AAR in Part 2 of 3.
- Executive - Who is the Executive Sponsor? If there isn't one ... find one or drop the project. While it may not always require an executive level of commitment there should always be someone at an elevated level in the organization that cares about this effort.
Example for multiple products or services. Of course, each block may become it's own document with a lot of additional detail and co-commitments from other teams, partners, and perhaps end customers. Once again, there are no wrong answers or models here. Explore ideas - keep some, toss some, expand some.
Example Table 2 - SMTE Pillars
This is part 3 of a 3 part series in working with partners. Each post covered the additive efforts of partnering - Working Together, Moving Together, and Building Together (this post).
Conclusion
As noted in the Working Together post ... 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.
I hope you enjoyed these posts and thank you for reading. Please let me know your thoughts here in the comments or directly via my social media channels.
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TAGS: #CSAT #PSAT #Partners #SMTE #GTM
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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.the Personal Branding Blog with over 250 articles published.
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