More reasons to have a partner ecosystem
Published on July 18th, 2024, written by The Partner Guru Team
Last time, we wrote about the main reasons why an organization should have a partner ecosystem in their GTM strategy. But we left too many reasons on the cutting room floor. So many more, that we decided to give it an additional go, in case you weren’t yet convinced:
Master service agreements (that include goodies such as financial incentives and payment terms)
Why spend valuable time in lengthy legal and procurement onboarding procedures when you can leverage the existing agreements that partner organizations have with your customers? Time kills deals; don't let organizational procedures be the culprit of lost opportunities. With a partner ecosystem, many hurdles that exist in doing business with a new customer become nonexistent. With a good partner ecosystem, your partner is both your customer and your extension to all third parties involved. And it’s great for your customers too: Partners can bundle other technologies and professional services, while offering customers discounts and extended payment terms that otherwise you couldn't offer. What do you prefer: Dealing with 20 customers who have their contracts, conditions and terms, or deal with a partner with whom you define all of that and leave to them the dealings with each particular company? We believe it’s a no brainer #partnersforthewin
Use existing relationships to your advantage
Ask any company, and they’ll probably tell you that it’s really tough to get new customers. It's a saturated market, that’s a fact. With partners, tap into your prospects' trusted advisors, rather than trying to build trust with a company that has never heard of you. Not only are partners great for reaching new markets, but they also represent an additional set of ears in your accounts. Partners will usually hear all the things that are happening across multiple organizations within your customer. This 3rd party perspective can help you land a new deal, navigate upsell/expansion opportunities and reduce risk of churn. There is no downside!
Meet your customers where they are
You have to be available in the manners that your prospects (and future customers) buy. There are many paths nowadays for a customer to obtain your software: Cloud marketplaces, resellers or just direct acquisition. The important thing is to make it easy on them to purchase your product. If you are reactive to this topic, not only you'll risk your deal, but you will encounter partner margins to be paid to organizations that you have no relationships with and who are giving you no value. If you’re going to have to give a third party margin, why not make it a worthwhile endeavor so that a one off becomes something that can occur on a regular basis?
Ultimately, the key to remember is that a successful partnership stems from both parties benefiting. In a good partner GTM, the channel will expand your customer base and offer your customers established conditions. Meanwhile, you give the partner an expanded portfolio, additional revenue and a bigger footprint. But the most important factor is that to the both of you, the customer is benefiting from the capacity that both companies bring to the table. It really is synergy, where your partner and software are so much more together than each of them on their own.
Here at PartnerGuru, we’re experts in creating these worthwhile partnerships that only bring benefits to both parties. Hit us up if you want your own!