Part 8: Preparation is key

Back to you again another issue of the Partnership Pocketbook -  your weekly dose of partnership content with the goal to improve your day-to-day as a partnership practitioner.

I like to start these off with something I have learnt or a recap on a great conversation I have had this week.

This one comes from a chat I had with the great Bryan Williams out of Australia.

Bryan is a partnerships expert and has recently started his own consultancy, check it out!

The central theme to this conversation was excitement from both of us.

Excitement around the space we are in!

Excitement about the growth in the partnership space!

Excitement about the fact there is much to teach in an area that is still relatively misunderstood!

All of that to say, now is the best time to be in partnerships.

Everyone reading this right now is in a prime position to revolutionize an industry.

This partnership in the wild comes from the fashion industry. And though I am not sure it's one I necessarily like, it is worth highlighting as partnerships come in all shapes and sizes.

The fashion brand Supreme has had many weird and wonderful collaborations over the years, but this one might be the winner in terms of the feelings it invokes.

In 2017, they came out with the Supreme X SOG shovel collaboration.

It's exactly what it sounds like, a collapsible shovel with the Supreme logo printed all over it.

Not sure why I want to shout out the partnership teams on this one because honestly I don’t know how it actually became a thing, but that’s the beauty of some partnerships. Don’t disregard every unlikely one - they may be the branded shovel the world needs 😂

Topic: What to do now you've booked a meeting

Last week we talked about outreach to prospective partners: how do you get some quick, easy wins and start to build out your stable of partners.

So now you have meetings booked with a list of these partners, and it’s time for the first meeting where you will pitch them on the value of becoming a partner.

What should you prepare before the meeting in order to start the relationship off on the right foot?

Let's dive in…

1. Research the s*** out of their business

This is coming in at No.1 spot for a reason.

To be a good partner, you need to understand their business as well as yours.

The core purpose of a partnership is mutual value.

Mutual value stems from actually knowing what the partner finds valuable in the first place.

So where should you go to start?

Google.

Type in the company name, go to their website, and dig in.

Get to know the services they provide.

Are they a consultancy company?

If so, what types of services do they provide? In my world, if they offer any type of service tied to support or success, I want to dive into that and understand where Help Scout could be a part of the puzzle.

If I can come prepared with how I think we can fit into their already existing business, it paints a picture of what a partnership with Help Scout could look like.

It also works the other way. One easy way for me to know that someone will crush it as a partner for Help Scout is if they have taken the time to understand what we do, and already have ideas around the potential partnership options.

One of the most impressive partnership calls I have had in the past few months was with a prospective partner in the CX space . He is a consultant that is brought in to redesign and improve existing customer support / success organizations.

He started off the call by walking me through what he understood about our software, and then came up with several ideas around where he could see us working together.

2. Have your program figured out

Sounds funny right?

You are actively looking for partners but don’t have the specifics of your program figured out.

How much revenue share are you offering up?

Where do they register leads?

What is the sales support like?

What training and enablement do you offer?

These are all questions that I have been asked and will likely be asked on an initial call with a partner.

Have this stuff figured out before pitching them the benefits of joining your partnership program. Otherwise you will erode trust early on and leave your partner wondering if you know what you are doing.

Be prepared!

3. Get those next steps sorted

Once you have walked them through the program and there is general agreement that a partnership could make sense, make sure you have a plan on what the next steps are.

Are you going to send them a login to a PRM?

Do you have an Excel spreadsheet with a checklist that you want them to work through?

Keeping the momentum going is critical, and as such having a definitive list of tasks that can be worked through and ticked off would maintain momentum.

Get a regular sync set up and use that document as a way of ticking things off.

So that's that -  a list of things to do next time you jump on a call with your partner.

Don't be that partner that people dread jumping on calls with because you don't have your s*** together.

Until next time…

Cheers,

Ben