So, what is your partnering strategy?
So, what is your Partnering Strategy?
Feature artice from our September newsletter
There are many things to think about when you’re considering how your business can build effective strategic partnerships, sales channels or sales-side partnerships of any kind.
So if partners can play or are playing a part in your business growth, there a quite a number of fundamentals that will makes the whole process work more seamlessly and effectively generating sales for your business.
So we ask the two core questions in life, business and building partnerships; what do you want and how are you going to get it?
What are your main drivers for seeking partners?
You might instantly jump to “it is always about Growing Revenues”. And yes of course it is, but do consider your business goals.
Which of the following is your priority?
a) meeting strategic long term targets thus increasing the potential of the company, as you are fund raising, selling the company OR planning for larger growth next year
b) meeting this year’s sales targets while entering a new market, region or sector, and expanding your market
The trade-off is timing and the size of the ultimate revenue to be gained.
For example, do you want a Strategic Partnership with Oracle or do you want to partner with Oracle’s regional System Integrator partners? If successful, which would likely bring your company faster revenue and which would bring you longer term larger revenue?
What do you expect from a partner, what capabilities should they have?
It all depends on what you are selling in products and/or services, what you need to sell into your target market and how a mutual beneficial relationship can be formed.
How much do you expect the partner to do? In the defined business process to sell, deliver and support your product what will your partner take responsibility for?
How are the responsibilities split across Lead Generation, Lead Qualification, Sales, Pre-sales, Upfront Consulting, Product Implementation, Configuration and Integration, Customisations, Support and Account Management?
How do you assess the partners’ capabilities across the process and step in to support them, help them improve or do they not measure up?
At what step in the business process are your partners having problems? Where are the bottlenecks and the barriers?
How will you find out? What are the lines of communication between the companies? Is there a point of contact at CEO or Division Head for Strategic issues, at Marketing and Sales, Pre-sales, Consulting, Product Delivery, Support etc?
Need I state, that solving your partners’ challenges in selling your products makes you money. The cost of solving these challenges is another issue.
Are you seeking to grow your sales in your current active geographies and sectors to compliment your direct sales OR new sectors or geographies?
In growing your sales in your current markets then you need to be clear about how your partner will co-exist with your sales team. Are your sales people going to be competing with the partners or how are clear lines of responsibilities drawn? Basically, if an sales opportunity arises who is the Lead handed to the sales guy or the partner? Are certain types of Leads given to the partner and others given the direct sales team?
In growing into new sectors or geographies firstly, I won’t suggest doing both at the same time. As a client and friend put it, “go the path of least unknowns”. Is it easier to expand into a new industry sector in an existing region OR into an existing industry sector in a new region?
Either way you need to understand how the target sector or region is different from your current sector or region:
Will the Value Proposition be different? ie: Will customers value the same things as your existing customers or why might it be different
Will your Competitive Advantage be different? You will likely have different competitors in the new market, if so, will your ability to beat off these competitors change. This is a big challenge for Service Companies. If you are used to winning business in your current market because you are local and in the market, then how will this travel internationally and sell through partners. The answer is in how specialised your service is and not how local it is.
What type of partner best fits your business?
Do you want more sales leads and how qualified do these leads need to be?
Do you want more of a certain type of customer, then what types of companies have good business relationships with this type of customer?
In determining the type of partner that best fits, much depends on your current business objectives.
To tease out all the partner type options, at Maidsfield, we build the Market Ecosystem to review the structure of your target market and the relationships with your target customer from the point of view of the need you solve. From this it becomes very clear on what type of partners can help you meet your business objectives. A review of the capabilities of the partner types then narrows down what type will deliver best to meet your needs.
There are many more questions and much depends on the answers to the above and whether you have a product or service business.
There is plenty to discuss here, at a later date. If this interests you then do feel free to contact us to discuss further.
Why not subscribe to our monthly newsletter, “The Partnering Line” via our website homepage here.
Donagh
