Part 14: Landing with impact

Hello everyone,

We are back at it again on this beautiful Monday morning.

I hope wherever you are in the world today, things are good!

I have had an awesome week this week.

I was able to attend ImpartnerCon this week in Salt Lake City, and it was a blast!

Got to hear from some of the best minds in partnerships in Jared Fuller, Christine Stewart, Janet Schinjs and Cassandra Gholston.

Also got to meet my "LinkedIn friend" Justin Zimmerman in person, which was also a treat.

Such a great community to be a part of.

This partnership is a massive one!

If you are like me and spend an obscene amount of money on overpriced coffee at Starbucks, it's even more exciting.

For those that missed it, Starbucks recently announced a partnership with Delta Airlines.

Customers who are enrolled in Delta Skymiles and Starbucks Rewards programs can easily link their accounts and earn one mile for every $1 spent.

What that means is that every time I spend $7 on a Pumpkin Cold Brew at Starbucks, I get 7 miles into my Delta account!

Now 7 miles isn't going to get me far, but my coffee addiction just might add up!

Great job partner team.

Lets dive into this week's issue, which I create based on a request from someone who reads this newsletter.

She is new in role, and asked what are the key things that I would be doing in order to really drive impact in my first thirty days?

Well here it is, a guide on what to do during your first 30 days in a partnership role!

So... you have just landed a role in partnerships with your dream company.

How are you feeling?

Excited 😃? Nervous 😬?

It is a GREAT feeling landing a new job.

Once the initial feelings of happiness and excitement start to dwindle, your mind quickly shifts to the start date.

Do you have a clear idea of what you are going to do in your first week and month to set yourself up for success?

The fact of the matter is that your first 30 / 60 / 90 days in a role can make or break your overall success at a new company.

So, what are the things that you absolutely HAVE to do to crush your first 30 days in a partnership role?

Well today's your lucky day - I have pulled together a list of things that are most critical in your first 30 days in role.

1. Get to know the product

Seems fairly obvious, but not enough people spend the time getting to grips with the product that they are going to be talking about with partners.

Knowing not only the high level value proposition, which is critical when trying to explain to a partner why a partnership makes sense, but getting real deep and knowing how to demo the product and answer product questions is also equally important.

Speed is sometimes of the essence in partner relationships.

Your partners may be on a sales call, and ping you on slack needing the answer to a question, which could result in a lead sent your way.

Being able to answer these questions with speed and clarity will make your partners feel confident in both the partnership and you as a partnership professional.

2. Understand overall partnership strategy

Chances are that you have been hired to manage a certain type of partner.

You could be managing the channel.

You could be managing technology partners.

Or affiliates.

Although learning your specific segment is important, you should also make it a goal to understand how partnerships fit into the broad revenue strategy, and what specifically the business wants to get from the partnerships team.

💭 Is it a pure revenue play?

💭 Is it brand awareness?

💭 Are you trying to capture a new territory?

Understanding the bigger picture will help you narrow down your priorities when you step into a role and help you make a mark quickly.

3. Meet with sales

It's no secret that customer facing teams are critical to partnership program success, so getting friendly with your sales team is going to be critical.

Here are some things that can help build your relationship with you

☎️ Ask to listen in on their sales calls.

One thing that really impresses sales reps is if you take the time to sit with them and jump on a few demo calls.

It shows you care.

It will also help shape your opinion on where partners could fit more easily into the sales process, and what you could do to make their lives a little easier.

☕ Conduct interviews or coffee “dates” where you collect data.

Just like joining sales calls will show them that you care, so can these informal chats where you collect data for your own benefit.

Set up some chats and come prepared with a list of questions. Ask them:

✔️How they feel about partnerships and the partnerships team?
✔️What are your frustrations?
✔️What they wish could be improved?

If you are able to transform this information into action and change a process slightly that improves their lives, they will become your best friends.


4. Meet with customer success

Your second most important relationship to establish after sales is the customer success team.

In a similar motion to the one you have used with the sales team, meet with team members on the customers success team.

They know your customer base the best, so an additional set of questions I would add when meeting with this team is

✔️What are your pain points?
✔️Which integrations do you use the most?
✔️Which integrations do you want?
✔️How does the customer success team promote partnerships?

Remember the customer success organization holds the key to customer relationships. So, if you need a hand promoting an integration partner or getting a case study, they will be your biggest allies.

5. Get to know the tech stack

One of the things that can really help speed up your first few weeks in partnerships is familiarizing yourself with the tech stack that exists for you in partnerships.

📝 Get to know your CRM.

📝 Get to know your outreach tool (which will come in handy when prospecting).

📝 Get to know any specific partner tech tools that you have available.

📝 Also, suggest tools that you think you will need.

For example, if I was taking over technology partnerships and I didn't have access to a tool like Crossbeam, I would be getting in front of my partnership leader and making the case as to why its crucial for success in my job role.

Additionally if your organization is not using an internal partner enablement and training solution such as PartnerSpark you are going to find your job far harder, and it will slow you down in trying to hit your goals.

So there we go partner managers: a guide on what to do when you are new in a role and looking to make a great first impression.

Following this guide will help you stand out, impress your manager and build a tribe of supporters that will be important when you start needing favors.

Partnerships take a village to be successful, and the steps above will help you gather the village and get them moving in the right direction.

Go crush those first few months, you'll thank me later!

Thanks for tuning in this week!

Cheers,

Ben