Partner pros are born to be resilient

Last week, I spoke with Antonio Caridad about his 13+ years of experience in B2B partnerships.

As we were talking, the topic of buy-in came up, and I asked,

What do you do when you feel like you’re put into a corner as a partner pro?

He responded to me,

“You have to reframe everything around being a problem solver."

In partnerships, there’s no shortage of challenges.

Let this be a reminder—every challenge is an opportunity to show what you (as a partner manager) and partnerships (as a function) are capable of!

So, when your GTM teams aren’t bought into partnerships, see it as an opportunity to learn more about them and nail your messaging.

Ask yourself: How can I learn what they care about and use that to get them to care about the value partners provide?

And when your stakeholders are struggling to understand the tangible value of partnerships, take that as an opportunity to revisit your metrics.

Ask yourself: How can I find and understand the metrics that partner pros don’t normally look at to tell a more complete story about the value of partners?

Antonio explained that the challenges he’s faced and overcome as a partner pro have made him one of the most resilient people in his organization.

Every partner pro has that same opportunity—to turn challenges into resilience.

Two ways Dan O’Leary uses Reveal daily

Dan O’Leary, Director of Partnerships at
Box, uses partner data on Reveal every day to run their nearbound GTM motions and
achieve...

• 92% larger average contract values (ACV), with a higher attach rate of their top product

• 55% higher potential ARR closed, meaning they win more of the seats. When they work with partners, the pie gets bigger, and everyone gets a bigger slice.

• 27% shorter average deal cycles

The difference between Dan’s approach to nearbound and most other partner pros is the motions he’s running simultaneously.

Regularly, Dan is using Reveal to:

• Engage AEs for account mapping and planning

• Engage Sales Leaders and decide on focus accounts

• Create automation and workflows with the Sales team

• Communicate wins with Sales Leaders and teams

• Accommodate new sales initiatives

By running all of these motions simultaneously, Dan is optimizing the effects partnerships can have in his organization.

Play #1: Engages AEs for account mapping and planning

1. Shares insights on shared accounts.
   Dan shares insights on shared accounts from the ’Account Overlap’ data with a focus on “A” (aka top tier accounts) and strategic accounts where a Box AE likely has a joint success plan and account strategy created.
   
   

2. Discusses account strategies.
   Dan discusses account strategies using specific tactics around ’engagement levels,’ influencer and buyer mapping, industry and account location, and ’opportunity scoring.’
   
   

3. Schedules regular reviews and syncs.
   Dan schedules regular sync-up meetings or QBRs to review insights and adjust strategies as needed with both our partners and our sales teams.

Common Opportunities tab in Reveal’s account mapping

Engages Sales Leaders and decides on focus accounts

1. Presents data-driven insights
   Dan presents data-driven insights, particularly focusing on ’high potential’ accounts identified through Reveal’s analytics, framing the conversation in a way that aligns with mutual business goals.
   
   

2. Makes decisions regarding focus accounts and prioritization
   Dan evaluates factors such as the ’Partner Signals’ and historical performance metrics, as well as things like who the account team members are and the eagerness and willingness of a customer to work with a partner to make decisions regarding focus accounts and prioritization.

Reveal’s analytics dashboard.

Are you tapping into the power of your partner ecosystem every day to power Marketing, Sales, and Success initiatives?

Here’s a good indicator that you might be leaving revenue on the table: read through the motions Dan is running, and compare them to your own.

Nearbound, Allbound, Glorybound.

And click here to read about Box’s full partnership journey.

The path to resilience

Resilience comes when you give what you have, consistently.

Show up.

Fight the battles.

Do it again tomorrow.

One day you’ll look back and recognize how far you and your partner program have come.

Shoutout to Andy Mewborn for the awesome graphic!

Thanks for the graphic, Andy Mewborn!

Help a partner pro execute nearbound

Share this NbD with a partner pro who could use Dan’s plays to win!