5 Practical Steps to Building Partnership Playbooks

By Chris Lavoie, PhD , Founder of Ecosystem University

In the fast-paced world of SaaS partnerships, where partner managers juggle multiple relationships, goals, and targets, having a solid process in place is crucial. However, many partner managers find themselves operating with ill-defined processes that rely on instinct, experience, or ad-hoc solutions. While these may work in the short term, they don’t scale, they don’t produce predictable results, and they certainly don’t help in meeting ambitious targets consistently. This is where partnership playbooks come into play.

A partnership playbook is more than just a document—it's a strategic asset. It's a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) designed to convert your most critical and recurring activities into processes that yield consistent and repeatable outcomes. By building and refining playbooks, you can not only scale your impact but also create a legacy of excellence within your organization.

Here’s how you can start building your own partnership playbooks today.

Step 1: Identify Core Processes That Need a Playbook

The first step in creating a playbook is identifying which of your processes are ripe for documentation. Start by asking yourself these questions:

• Which activities do I perform regularly that have a significant impact on my outcomes?
• Where do I find myself or my team encountering roadblocks or inefficiencies?
• Which processes would benefit from standardization to ensure consistency across the board?

Common areas that often require playbooks in a partnership role include partner onboarding, lead generation, co-selling and co-marketing activities, account mapping, and managing technology partnerships. These are high-impact areas where a well-documented process can make a significant difference.

Practical Action: Begin by listing out all the recurring tasks and processes in your role. Group them into categories based on their impact on your key performance indicators (KPIs). Prioritize the top two or three processes that, if optimized, would have the greatest positive effect on your work.

Step 2: Start Documenting—Even If It’s Messy

A playbook doesn’t have to be perfect from the outset. The key is to start documenting your process as it currently stands, even if it’s not fully polished. Capture the steps, decisions, tools used, and the people involved. Over time, you can refine and structure this documentation into a more formalized playbook.

Remember, the goal here is to create a living document. It should be easy to update as you learn and as the process evolves. The best playbooks are those that are regularly revisited and refined.

Practical Action: Open a document or use a project management tool and start jotting down the steps involved in your chosen process. Don’t worry about formatting—focus on capturing the essence of what needs to happen at each stage.

Step 3: Structure Your Playbook for Clarity and Usability

Once you have the raw content, it’s time to structure it into a clear and usable format. A well-structured playbook should be easy to navigate, with sections that allow anyone to pick it up and understand the process without much additional context. Consider including the following sections:

• Objective: What is the purpose of this playbook? What outcomes is it designed to achieve?
• Step-by-Step Process: A detailed walkthrough of each stage of the process, including any tools or templates that should be used.
• Roles and Responsibilities: Who is responsible for each part of the process? This ensures accountability.
• Key Metrics and KPIs: How will you measure the success of this process?
• Best Practices and Tips: Include any insights or lessons learned that can help others avoid common pitfalls.
• Review and Update Schedule: Indicate how often this playbook should be reviewed and updated to keep it relevant.

Practical Action: Use a template or create your own structure that makes sense for your process. Ensure that each section is clearly labeled and easy to follow. Aim for simplicity and clarity—your playbook should be intuitive for anyone who needs to use it.

Step 4: Test and Refine Through Usage

A playbook is only as good as its results. Once your playbook is in place, start using it in real situations. Encourage your team or colleagues to use it as well and gather feedback on its effectiveness. Did it help streamline the process? Were there any steps that were unclear or missing? Use this feedback to refine and improve the playbook.

This iterative process is crucial. Over time, your playbook should evolve based on real-world usage, becoming more efficient and effective with each revision.

Practical Action: Implement your playbook in a low-risk scenario first to test its effectiveness. After the initial trial, schedule a review session with your team to gather insights and make necessary adjustments. Treat this as an ongoing process, not a one-time task.

Step 5: Scale Your Playbook Across the Organization

Once you have a refined playbook that works well, it’s time to scale its impact by sharing it across the organization. This not only helps standardize best practices but also amplifies your contribution by enabling others to achieve the same level of success.

To do this effectively, you need to evangelize your playbook. Host training sessions, create video tutorials, and be available to support your colleagues as they begin to use the playbook. The more you can demonstrate its value, the more likely it will be adopted widely.

Practical Action: Present your playbook in a team meeting, highlighting its benefits and the results it has produced. Offer to walk your colleagues through the playbook and provide ongoing support as they start to implement it in their own work.

Bonus: Leveraging Emerging Tools to Enhance Your Playbooks

With the rapid evolution of partnership technology, there are new tools that can enhance the effectiveness of your playbooks. Platforms like Superglue.io, EULER, and Impartner are changing the game by offering advanced capabilities in areas such as account mapping, partner relationship management, and co-selling strategies.

For example, Crossbeam’s acquisition of Reveal has created a powerhouse in account mapping, enabling even more precise targeting and collaboration. As a partner manager, staying updated on these tools and integrating them into your playbooks can significantly boost your effectiveness.

Practical Action: Explore these new tools and consider how they can be incorporated into your existing playbooks. For instance, use Superglue.io for automating partner communications or leverage Impartner for more effective partner onboarding.

Conclusion: From Chaos to Consistency

Building playbooks is about taking the chaos of day-to-day partnership management and turning it into a consistent, repeatable, and scalable process. By identifying key processes, documenting them, structuring your playbooks for clarity, testing and refining them, and scaling them across your organization, you can significantly increase your impact.

As you embark on creating your own playbooks, remember that the goal is to create a tool that not only helps you succeed but also empowers others to do the same. In doing so, you’ll establish yourself as a strategic leader in your organization, capable of driving meaningful and sustainable results.

Now, take these practical steps and start converting your ill-defined processes into powerful playbooks that will help you crush your goals and scale your impact.