Questions & Answers

Over the past few months, I have started getting more questions about partnerships and interest building in this newsletter.? It is very exciting but I started thinking that answering the question for one might not help nearly as much as to answering the question for the masses.? Here are a few questions I have received that I feel might want to be known by others:

1.????? What are a couple of your best co-selling tips when working with new partners? What have you found the most success from?

The first thing we start with in any new partnership is goals and a roadmap. It is not enough to say that you want to meet each side and their sellers, what do you want to achieve. The goal (of the goals) is to leverage the strength of both parties to create a value/play that is intriguing to clients. Once you have established the goal and the strength, developing joint account plans helps outline specific strategies for engaging key clients.

Listen up, this is an important part, Communication. Collaboration can quickly falter without seamless communication between partner teams. Establish regular check-ins, use shared tools, and ensure information flows freely across all touchpoints—whether it's customer feedback, pipeline updates, or competitive insights.

As you move through these steps of setting up your team for success, building trust is so important.? Aligning the right resources, delivering with success, and expanding in the account to find new opportunities are all ways that building success can lead to more business together.

To answer the part where I see a lot of success is in account mapping and execution. The mapping part has been made simple by PartnerTap and other tools to help quickly identify white space but it is the next step that is most imperative.? You must have your sellers connect with the partner and work on the client together to leverage the relationship on either side.? Building a case together and joint selling is a great way to find a new client and grow with your partner.

2.????? How do your metric your Alliance leader’s success? What are some examples of KPIs??

If I had a dollar for every person that has asked me this, I could maybe get a nice dinner but not rich like the old saying goes.? There are so many ways to create metrics around alliance activity but at the end of the day, it is revenue contribution.? Are we growing our business because of Alliance contributions?

This is a top of the funnel motion with a lot of support cast members to help get the deal across the line. An important aspect of this is - are the right leads being brought in? If your Alliance leader is bringing in some amazing Enterprise deals in the MFG industry but your skill set lies in SMB High Tech, you might need to check the messaging, and the team reach out.? Since you want to make sure that the lead funnel is flowing, you want to ensure that your alliance leader is get the right win rate relative to your closed won business.

The key part to all of this is making sure that you have the tools set up and in place to monitor the success.? Everyone that touches the lead or opportunity needs to know how to properly put the details in the system and track the data.

3.????? How do you find the Total Addressable Market (TAM) for my partnership?

Finding the TAM for a partnership is an essential step in determining the potential revenue and growth opportunities that a strategic alliance can unlock. Here is an approach that can help you get the TAM.? Note: this takes a little work and is not always a quick task but necessary when you are identifying a new partner, product, or industry to move into.

• Identify the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): Start by clearly defining the customer segments that both your company and the partner will target. This could include factors such as industry, company size, geographic region, and specific needs that the partnership addresses.
• Segment the Market: Break down the larger market into segments that are most relevant to your partnership. For example, focus on a specific vertical, region, or use case that aligns with the combined value of the partnership.
• Market Research: Use market research reports, industry databases, and government publications to find data on the size of the relevant market segments. Sources like IDC, Gartner, or Statista can provide valuable industry insights.
• Customer Database Analysis: Analyze your own and your partner’s customer bases to identify commonalities and potential overlap in target customers. This will help refine the size of the potential audience.
• Industry Data & Benchmarks: Industry reports often provide information on the number of companies in specific sectors and their spending habits.
• Understand Average Deal Size (ADS): Estimate how much each potential customer in the target market is likely to spend on the solution offered through the partnership. You can base this on historical data from your own sales, your partner’s sales, or industry benchmarks.
• Pricing Analysis: If you are launching a new product or solution through the partnership, conduct competitive pricing analysis to estimate what the average customer would be willing to pay.
• Spending Benchmarks: Use industry benchmarks or customer surveys to understand what the typical spending patterns are in the target market.

Calculate TAM

The simplest formula for TAM is: TAM=Number?of?Potential?Customers×Average?Revenue?per?Customer?(ADS)\text{TAM} = \text{Number of Potential Customers} \times \text{Average Revenue per Customer (ADS)}TAM=Number?of?Potential?Customers×Average?Revenue?per?Customer?(ADS)

Factor in Partner Capabilities

• Partner’s Reach: Assess the partner’s ability to penetrate the market. For instance, if your partner has a strong presence in a specific region or vertical, they may have access to customers you couldn’t reach alone.
• Complementary Solutions: Consider the added value the partner’s solutions or expertise brings. This could expand the TAM by creating new use cases or by unlocking markets that were previously inaccessible.
• Market Growth Rate: Incorporate projected market growth into your TAM calculation. If the market is expected to grow by 10% annually, factor this into your long-term TAM projections.
• New Opportunities: As the partnership matures, it may unlock additional market opportunities, such as new geographies, industries, or customer segments.
• Assess Competition: Identify how saturated the market is with competitors. If there is a high level of competition, your actual addressable market might be smaller than the total market size.
• Market Share Potential: Realistically estimate the share of the TAM you and your partner can capture based on competitive dynamics, brand recognition, and go-to-market strength.

This was fun talking about some of the things that you all have reached out to me about.? If you have any questions at any time, feel free to DM me and I am happy to help!?

As we are into this event heavy season, I hope I run into you around the industry.? This month there are some exciting Microsoft events including the Ultimate Partner Event in Dallas hosted by Vince Menzione .? Learn more about it here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/events/ultimatepartnerlive-247243984440262041600/comments/

Until next time ?