How to Prepare for The Sales Call When Evaluating a Potential Performance Marketing Partner

There are countless pieces of content you can consume about how to be or hire a great seller, but the same cannot be said for seeking advice when YOU are being sold something.

Information is scarce when it comes to sales leaders helping buyers make good buying decisions.

There’s even less material available that focuses on how to buy and sell performance marketing.?

This series of articles will address both points simultaneously by providing a guide FOR BUYERS on how to buy performance marketing in general and, specifically, how the user acquisition function should engage with app distribution partners.

There are some key points to always remember when navigating the establishment of a performance marketing partnership:

1. Performance marketing is always about the partnership - the vendor succeeds only when the client succeeds.
2. The vendor has selected the seller to be its mouthpiece - you can tell a great deal about the company culture by who you’re talking to at this stage.

These two points form the backbone of this entire series and the second point will always inform the first as the best sellers and account managers gear everything towards achieving the best outcome possible for their clients within the limits of their product.

This first article covers the traits buyers should look for in sellers and how to detect them.

Traits to Look for in a Seller

Performance marketing is 100% about partnerships. The best vendors understand that partnerships start before any paperwork has been signed. The most successful businesses understand this and actively recruit new business sellers with character traits that contribute to driving scaled partnerships. These traits include:

1. Conscientiousness
2. Curiosity and Analytical Skills
3. Empathy and Good listening skills
4. Adaptability and Commitment
5. Confidence and Team Player attitude
6. Goal Oriented
7. Self Motivation
8. Humility
9. Grit
10. Attentiveness

You’d think Some of these traits are useful from the distribution partner’s perspective. However, they all feed into the possibility of forming a productive and scalable partnership. In my next article, I will dive into the specifics of each of these traits.

Suppose you’re talking to someone who does not exhibit the majority of these traits. In that case, the assumption that the customer experience and performance results will be poor during an active partnership becomes perfectly valid.