Unlocking Revenue Growth: 3 Powerful Strategies for Building an Effective Ecosystem

If you live in the partnership echo-chamber like I do - you would think that partnership programs around the globe are smashing goals and breaking revenue barriers.

In reality - most partner leaders may be ahead of the curve of where the revenue world is header - but the bark today is worse than the bite.

How do we move from words & belief to actions & outcomes?

If ecosystems are the future - when exactly is that future going to materialize?

Here are 3 trends impacting revenue orgs - and how you can bring the future forward with your ecosystem.

Think in systems, not just incentives

A common complaint from partner & revenue leaders is, "why is our ecosystem not immedidly sending revenue up and to the right?"

The most common answer is "we just don't have the right sales incentives".

It's a logical argument - we're lacking sales engagement, and sales is motivated by incentives, therefore we must improve our incentives to win the hearts and minds of sales.

However, it's a flawed argument. Here's a better one:

We all know, the goal of sales is to improve sales velocity:

• More Opportunities
• Higher Deal Value
• Higher Win Rate
• Lower Close Time

If you're working with a partner that fits into a customers ecosystem, your revenue channel will benefit from at least one if not multiple bumps in sales velocity (sources at bottom).

1. Via Deloitte, companies with strong partner ecosystems grow 1.5x faster than those without.
2. Forrester Research found that companies with effective partner programs generate 28% of their total revenue through their partner channels.
3. A survey by the Aberdeen Group found that companies with strong partner programs have a 13% higher customer retention rate.
4. Accenture found that 31% of B2B companies’ revenue comes from partnerships.
5. Gartner found that companies that engage in partner marketing programs see a 24% increase in deal size.
6. SiriusDecisions found that companies with strong partner programs have a 10% higher win rate than those without.

The incentives to work with a partner are not the main problem for a lack of sales engagement.

The main problem is the complex & high-effort system we've created for our sales teams to work with partners.

If you want sales engagement: simplify the system so that working with a partner is less effort than working on our own.

Simple Systems > Motivation

One of my favorite examples comes from the Standford Researcher BJ Fogg, PhD . His behavior model is genius - it's an elegant yet simple explanation for how to build systems that succeed.

Behavior = Motivation x Ability x Prompt

In a nutshell - asking anyone to regularly act in a way that requires high motivation is unlikely to succeed over the long run for most people.

Think of our own lives - running 5k three times a week requires a lot of motivation to somebody who hasn't run in the last year. Perhaps lowering our daily calories by adding more vegetables and replacing fries with brown rice at meals can achieve the same intended goal of weight loss.

When we look at what we're asking our revenue teams to do in order to engage with a partner, it's no wonder they aren't engaged.

So how can we make it easier to work with us than without us?

1. Keep the JVP Simple: Make the joint value simple, clear, and easy to access
2. Define Product Roles: Ask your partner to define what they do for your sales team. Do they same for your partners sales teams.
3. Centralize Resources: Centralize resources that support your partnership, such as integration docs, case studies, and other supporting information
4. Prepare for Success: Don't ask for them to work on an opportunity with a partner unless you have all three above completed and in the sales reps hands
5. Hand over Control: Give the reps at both organizations veto power over the lead
6. Consistent Comms Channels: Make it easy for them to communicate, via email, slack, or Relevance

While all the above can be done and is easy to do in Partnorize, the honest answer is you don't need our software to do any of the above.

It's worth repeating...

If you want sales engagement: simplify the system so that working with a partner is less effort than working on our own.

Adverting -> Marketing | Sales -> Ecosystems

It's easy to forget, particialry for those of us under 40, that marketing used to be called advertising.

There wasn't a thing called a marketer, there was the Don Draper "Ad Man".

It's easy to glance over as there is no CAO or Head of Advertising at the executive table any more.

Why did we change, and why is this relevant for revenue leaders?

The terms "advertising" and "marketing" can be used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings.

Advertising is a subset of marketing that involves promoting a product or service through paid messages delivered to a targeted audience, such as print ads, TV commercials, or online banners.

Marketing, on the other hand, is a broader term that encompasses all activities related to creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Marketing includes not only advertising, but also research, product development, pricing, distribution, sales, customer service, branding, and other functions that help a business or organization meet its objectives.

Marketing is about the ecosystem of perception, advertising is about the mechanism of delivery.

The same shift is happening today in our revenue teams.

From Direct Sales to Connect Sales

The era of CRO & VP of Sales is going the way of VP of Advertising and making way for the CEO (chief ecosystem officer) and VP of Revenue Ecosystem.

Traditionally, sales has been focused on individual transactions between a buyer and a seller. The sales process typically involves identifying a customer's needs, presenting a product or service that meets those needs, negotiating terms and price, and closing the sale.

However, similar with the shift to marketing, the rise of digital technologies and the increasing complexity of businesses, there is a shift towards a need for an ecosystem approach.

Ecosystem sales is focused on creating long-term, collaborative relationships between buyers and sellers, and on delivering value not just through individual transactions, but through ongoing integrated engagement and support.

In ecosystem sales, our revenue teams work to build a deep understanding of the customer's business and needs, and then works collaboratively across other members of the seller's organization, as well as with third-party partners, to develop and deliver solutions that meet those complex interdependent needs.

As in any seismic shift, what is slowly happening is a shift in mindset.

We're moving form seeing the customer as a buyer to seeing them as a partner in a broader ecosystem.

This requires a focus on building trust, understanding the customer's business goals, and working together to achieve those goals over the long term.

Overall, the shift from transactional sales to ecosystem sales reflects a broader trend towards a more customer-centric approach.

Connect sales is about the ecosystem of value, direct sales is about the mechanism of delivery.

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See how you source revenue with partners with Relevance

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Sources:

1. Deloitte’s report “The Future of Ecosystems: Aligning to Create Value,”?https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Technology-Media-Telecommunications/gx-tmt-deloitte-digital-the-future-of-ecosystems.pdf
2. Forrester Research’s report “The Forrester Wave: Partner Relationship Management, Q4 2018,”?https://www.forrester.com/report/The+Forrester+Wave+Partner+Relationship+Management+Q4+2018/-/E-RES142564
3. The Aberdeen Group’s report “The Business Impact of Partnering,”?https://www.aberdeen.com/research/16355/16355-rr-business-impact-partnering/
4. Accenture’s report “Partnering in the Digital Age: Accenture Technology Vision 2016,”?https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-technology-trends-2016-partnering-digital-age
5. Gartner’s report “How to Build a Partner Marketing Program that Delivers Results,”?https://www.gartner.com/doc/3894218/how-build-partner-marketing-program
6. SiriusDecisions’ report “The Power of Partner Ecosystems,”?https://www.siriusdecisions.com/Blog/2018/11/The-Power-of-Partner-Ecosystems