Actionable strategies reserved for serious partner teams.

How a zero-sum mentality is hindering your success with partnerships, and how to fix it.

I believe this zero-sum mentality and culture some tech companies posses is what creates (a) program failure, and/or (b) those odd hybrid roles where the company gives the person a "Partnerships" title, but everyone knows they are just a salesperson.

Good and bad experiences Agencies had with a tech partner!

We can learn more from the mistakes than from the successes when studying any business or operation. Partnerships are no different. Here are some of the over 200 comments we have received this year when we ask agencies about their experiences with tech partnerships so your team can avoid making them.

Live Events Partnerships Teams should attend in 2022

After a year of disruption, we are so happy to say, that live events are back!To help you plan your event attendance in 2022, we have gathered the top 10 tech and partnership events in the US and Canada:

How important are commissions to the success of partner acquisition and enablement?

When asked, for the most part, tech partner teams know commission payouts are of little consequence to the success of their partnerships with digital agencies.

Agency persona review and setting expectations SOPs with Clodagh / Alex

How to frame expectations from the start. What cultural changes must be done in order for this program to thrive. Sales approach methodology with agency IPPs at the center.

Building and Launching Sustainable Co-Sell Programs Through Agency Channels

You’ll learn how to: Leverage large agency teams at your disposal, Multiply your market footprint and customer base, Convert targets from competitive solutions to yoursSecure buy-in from your agency partners .

The questions I get asked most about partnering with digital agencies, answered:

How to convert a new top-tier agency who brings you a user-referral to a formal Partner

Don't let your team get too caught up in closing one referral when there is a bigger fish to fry in the formalization of a reciprocal lasting partnership.

The Upwork strategy for Agency Partner Acquisition

Here's a strategy I suggested another partner team run to:a) Get more agencies and Freelancers into their funnel.b) Get feedback on their program and/or product from their ideal partner persona's.

How to setup your program for teams who do not have a dedicated partner manager

This came about from a discussion I had with a team who has 230 agency-partner applications, 5 core agencies as partners, a CMO leading the strategy, and wanting to formalize a trategy, test it, then onboard a partner manager and enable them to scale it.

When / why / how of Partner Community Creation w/ Luke from Keyy.org

This session is all about when/why/how of partner community creation. Joining me is community pro Luke Summerfield.

Watch a blind live agency partnerships pitch!

We recorded this today with one of our newest agencies and three of our relevant tech partners for that agency.

When, why and how to use an LMS and Partner Certifications

Top SaaS partner programs like ActiveCampaign, Infusionsoft (Keap), Hootesuite and hundreds of others rely on LMS’s to activate their new partners quickly. Thinkific is usually that platform so we wanted to know the why and how. In this discussion, one of Thinkific’s brightest will share the details so you do not have to ask yourselves whether or not an LMS is necessary for your partner program.

Account mapping - Moving co-marketing agency partners into co-selling routines

Sharework is a free app that reveals revenue building opportunities by finding unseen overlap between you and your partners. Using the data provided by Sharework, you will be able to co-sell and co-market to your customer bases effectively.

How to Activate Agency Partners

Concepts and strategies to get buy-in from partners and keep them engaged in the program.

How to Set Up Partner Program Tiers [video guide]

Not all partners are alike. This is why a one-size-fits-all approach to a partner program might not be the best way to go. Partners that could be constructive to your company probably have varying activities, skill sets, and motivations. So if your partners are different, your partner program should be too.

What unique incentives Recart and Tapcart are leaning towards in place of low commission payouts...

This is a strategy for program growth by (a) changing ongoing commissions to one time up front larger payouts, and (b) enabling agency partners to host your product + services training instead of having that in house.

Use Quora to Find Partner Prospects who have shown HUGE Intent!

Here is a strategy for finding highly-actionable partner prospects who have shown intent based on answers they provide to Quora discussions related to your keywords.

Why agencies hate working with software companies & what you can do about it.

This is a presentation I gave to the CSA members who were struggling to get agencies to buy into their partner program.

How to convert new co-marketing partners to co-selling partners.

This is a strategy purposed to: Gain and convert ideal partners using co-marketing and co-selling in specific progressive stages.

Defining and finding ideal alliances using Google Search Console data.

This strategy is using Google Search Console data in your next marketing meeting to prioritize strategic relationships with potential and current integration partners.

A great strategy to kick off a successful Agency Partner Program when you have only ever sold to agencies.

Here was my suggestion to get these agencies selling new clients using a URL on your site and services they know on top of your solution -

Writing copy and partner page setup to persuade partners

This training session focuses on what and how of solid partner programs landing page copywriting.

Bob Snyder Explains Channel Terms and Nomenclature

On our call, Bob and I discussed the state of ‘channel,’ the nomenclature, and where he believes it’s headed. After our call, Bob further-elaborated on our talk with this email.

The State of Agency-Tech Partnerships [Report]

We interviewed over 100 agencies to come up with a report we believe best-illustrates the state of agency-SaaS partnerships. I hope you take it as seriously as we did.

Circles vs Rows: Taking this approach in your partner program strategy.

Circles are our way of describing the relationships found in partnership ecosystems where a consultant and/or agency is partnered with both your tech and a product you sell well with (possibly also natively integrated to). This video will explain the strategy on finding those circles within your ecosystem.

The partner sales ops stack and workflow

Partner teams are often left dependent on sales/marketing for data and a lead process. This system is meant to be powered by the partner team to ensure they can scale without needing to rely on sales for data and leads.

When It’s Not “Too Early” To Start A Partner Program…

From my interviews and experiences, I’ve learned the main criteria that needs to surround the partner ecosystem for it to be successful, even necessary, earlier on. Those criteria are described in this article on partnerships success/

How to approach your new partner communication process.

I was just on a session with one of our Accelerator partner manager participants going through his dilemma: How does a partner manager draw out some level of consistent referrals from the partners without burning the relationship. This is the strategy.

Partnerships Growth Management Stack for Under $200/mo.

The "Partnerships" stack is typically an expensive and cumbersome one - filled with bloated tools that costed thousands and take months to implement, which partners barely use... Here is an alternative system and UI for your team.

[Podcast] How and why of integrations strategy for the Partnerships team

We deeply care about UX and we’ve created the concept of IX. A good IX on integrations gets you 30x more customers implementing integrations. Which is really important as integrated users:

Who should your Channel or Partnerships team report to?

Who should your Channel or Partnerships team report to? A very difficult question that should only be answered by a process articulated in this article.

Top 10 SaaS Partner Programs

We’ve searched low and high to find the partner programs we believe are the best fit agencies. This requires a few key aspects: alignment, support, referrals.

Which incentives actually increase the attractiveness of a partner program and how much they can impact program KPIs.

Outside of your product’s feature / benefits / support / integrations which are attractive to users, your partner programs incentives are what make ‘partnering’ attractive, and therefore is your partner teams ammunition for growing the program. The more ammunition you give them (incentives), the faster the program will gain new partners and convert referred accounts from current partners.

"Product-Led Partnerships"​ - what it is, why it works, and how to implement it.

What is "Product-Led Partnerships"?It can come in many forms - all related to making frontend and backend product decisions to ensure your partners' profiles/content/use cases are built into the user journey.

How to Enable an Agency Partner to Sell Services on Top of Your Solution

Finding partners is easy. Bulk emailing is easy. Hosting webinars is easy... But actually enabling your partners to introduce you to their clients is hard. What's even harder - getting those agencies to setup and sell services on top of your platform. Let us show you how.

A strategy for winning top-tier agency partnerships.

We have not closed them so please let us introduce you and hopefully after you win the deal they will look closer into the relationship. If you are open to it, please find a time in my calendar so we can form a proper intro and reason/offer (other than your agency being one we admire) for the intro right now.” (paste the list of company names/urls below along with your calendar link) Sincerely,

Partner Landing Page Review w/ Josh Garellek

Not all partner programs are built alike. This is true for their landing pages, and there is a strong correlation between top partner programs and great landing pages. In this short video, Josh Garellek and I go through our favorite partner program landing pages and why we think you should do your best to imitate them. About Josh: Tech adVenturer/Driver, Co-founder | Bringing Together & Leading Talented People to Build Up Businesses | Award-Winning Serial Entrepreneur includes OBJ’s 2019 Forty under 40 recipient.

How Partner Teams can Attribute Referrals in TCMA and Channel Programs

Conflict resolution among direct and indirect sales teams within an organization or among multiple channel partners is no longer an issue.

Budget and KPIs for your Agency Partner Program w/ Greg Greenberger

Partner Program Specialist at Signavio Greg is building and managing Signavio’s partner program – creating the incentives and enablement to help scale and ramp-up their team as well as enabling strategic partners.

The Best Software Partner Program Directories and Landing Pages

Key Players in The Partnerships Software Ecosystem

We comprised this breakdown of the partnerships ecosystem to give you an idea of how expansive it truly is – with everything from affiliate tracking to Through-Channel Marketing Automation. The ecosystem has many components all working together making it the most exciting thing in business development and marketing today (…in our opinion, of course).

Full Partner Program Stack – Partner Acquisition, Attribution and Enablement.

Guide to Building Reseller and Referral Partner Programs

As a SaaS company, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for creating the perfect partner program. It requires a lot of trial and error, iteration, and patience. Before you start building a reseller partner program, you should factor in the overall company vision, short and long term goals for the business, and also the internal resources you have available. If your reseller partner program doesn’t align with these factors, go over the program details with company leadership or use resources like partnerprograms.io and make adjustments until it aligns.

Choosing a PRM or Tracking Setup for your Partner Program

The Best eCommerce Partner Programs

Investing in strategic partnerships with SaaS companies will play a more pivotal role than ever in your eCommerce Agency’s ability to keep up with ever-evolving trends and client demands. The world of eCommerce SaaS is vast and it can be a daunting task to find the perfect partner for your business — so to help we created this list with 6 of the best eCommerce partner programs out there.

The Story Behind Unbounce’s Partner Program, with Ty Lingley

Prior to Unbounce, Ty had experience in e-commerce and B2C partnerships while he was responsible for the strategic development and leadership of retail activities, key partnerships, and community programming for Canada’s top-performing e-commerce company SHOES.com.

Who To Know In SaaS Partnerships

Today’s agencies and consultants are recognizing the power of partnerships more than ever. Partnerships in this sense refer to not only affiliates but reseller and implementation relationships with software companies on behalf of their clientele.

Top SaaS Partner Programs

Here are the saas-only partner programs we found to be most successful in terms of not only their adoption, but also in terms of the strategy when they were put into action, and what they mean to their partners

[podcast] Through-channel marketing automation (TCMA) with Jay McBain

This is one of the biggest changes in channel sales in the last 30 years. Partnerships are expanding to have non-transacting partners take more of the load. Microsoft has over 400,000 resellers and they are getting 7,500 new partners every month. But 80% of them are now non-transactional, they are the influencers, installers, implementers etc.