How to Build Successful Partner Integration Strategies

This is the most underrated problem I've seen when trying to build or expand partnership GTM: Leadership is initially fully behind a new partnership, excited about its potential, but that enthusiasm never makes its way down to the sales teams who are expected to execute. Without alignment, even the best partnership can stall before it has a chance to succeed. Why does this happen? Sales teams are often focused on their core products, and if a partnership doesn’t clearly benefit them or fit into their day-to-day operations, it becomes an afterthought. To turn things around, you need to make sure your partnership incentives, compensation, and training are in lockstep with the teams that will be selling your product. Here’s how to align incentives and drive results: 1. Ensure your incentives are compelling enough for frontline teams. It’s not enough to excite leadership—sales teams need a clear, tangible reason to sell your product. - Introduce a financial incentive or bonus structure that’s competitive with what reps earn on their core products. This could be a one-time bonus for the first sale, or an ongoing commission that rewards consistent effort. -Tie the incentive to their existing sales goals. If your product helps them hit their targets more easily, they’ll naturally prioritize it. 2. Structure partner compensation to motivate co-selling. If your partner compensation doesn’t align with their core goals, they won’t push your product. - Design a compensation plan that aligns with both the partner’s and your business objectives. For instance, if your partner’s core offering is hardware, incentivize bundling your software as part of the sale to create a win-win situation. - Offer performance-based incentives that reward partners for hitting key milestones—whether that’s a certain number of units sold, a specific revenue target, or even customer engagement metrics. Keep it simple and measurable. 3. Provide consistent training and engagement so your product isn’t just another checkbox. Sales teams won’t advocate for your product if they don’t fully understand its value or how to sell it. - Develop ongoing, bite-sized training sessions that fit into their schedules. Instead of overwhelming them with lengthy sessions, focus on 15-minute, high-impact trainings that teach them how to identify the right opportunities. -Pair training with real-time support. Join sales calls, offer one-pagers, and provide direct assistance during key customer engagements. When they feel supported, they’re more likely to feel confident pushing your product. This kind of alignment can make the difference between a stalled partnership and a thriving one. When sales teams are motivated, equipped, and incentivized to sell your product, the partnership stops being just another checkbox—it becomes a key driver of growth.

Before Klaviyo was a unicorn, before their $9.2B IPO, and before partnerships were driving over 30% of their revenue… their partner program was in terrible shape. Here’s how they turned it from struggling function to secret weapon: BACKSTORY: In 2017, I was the Head of Partnerships at Hawke Media. Hawke was Klaviyo’s #1 partner by revenue. But, Klaviyo was far from Hawke’s top partner. For over a year I challenged them to do better. Every check-in call was a reminder of how lopsided our partnership was. Then, in 2018, Mike Eng took over their partnership program. I shared my feedback with him about their gaps and areas for improvement. Instead of brushing it off, Mike relished the feedback and asked for more. He knew that at my previous company (Bronto) we had built partnerships into 65% of revenue and he wanted to do the same at Klaviyo. Over a series of calls, and trips out to LA, he grilled me. Here are the best pieces of advice I gave him (according to Mike): 1. Customer First Build a program that delivers value throughout the customer journey and everyone wins. 2. Drive Growth for Partners The success you drive FOR your partners is as important as the leads/referrals you get FROM them. Make supporting the growth of your partners a core KPI. 3. Treat Partner like Customers of your Partner Program Map out your partner journey and what a healthy partnership looks like. Break this lifecycle into stages and track funnel metrics throughout. Then create a strong feedback loop with partners to optimize it. 4. Simplify, Simplify, Simplify A program with a bunch of “benefit” checkboxes that can’t be fulfilled are broken promises that you’ll need to repair down the road. Build a clear program that makes it easy for partners to understand, onboard, engage, and realize value. 5. Alignment is Critical Make sure you have alignment with key stakeholders internally. From the Board, to C-suite, and Cross-functional leaders across Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and Product. You’ll need all of them to build a truly powerful program. 6. Use Data to Scale Having the right metrics, and the infrastructure to track them, will allow you to create predictability and scale. You (and your partners) will always know where you stand, what’s working, and what’s not so you can make informed decisions. 7. Tier Your Program (when at critical mass) Identify all of the benefits you can reliably offer to partners, organize them by value, and align with a tiering system that incentivizes partners to increase engagement with you. TAKEAWAY: These are the basics that so many partner programs are missing. Klaviyo came into a crowded category, with entrenched incumbents, and out-paced them all through partnerships. If you're struggling with partnerships, take a page out of their playbook. Keep the focus on scalability and mutual value. That's the foundation of a $1B partnership program.

Lessons Learned: How I’d Build a Modern Partner Org From Scratch (7 Key Hires) I’ve made mistakes in partnerships. Chased too many partners. Hired relationship managers instead of operators. Built programs before building a flywheel that actually works. Here’s what I’ve learned: You don’t scale partnerships through volume. You scale them through focus, GTM alignment, and fast iteration. Get to the partners who influence the ICP and persona of your customer. If I were building a startup partner org today, here’s who I’d hire—and why none of them are traditional relationship managers. 1. Partner Strategy & GTM Lead My right hand. Owns the playbook, partner segmentation, and full revenue alignment. Think GTM architect, not program manager. 2. Co-Sell Partner Manager (Product/Sales Focus) Drives pipeline with tech partners and alliances. Runs tight co-sell motions and works side-by-side with AEs. 3. Co-Sell Partner Manager (SI, agency & Private Equity Focus) Builds out service and PE partnerships that influence deals and expand customer value. Creates a flywheel for net-new and expansion growth. 4. RevOps & Marketing Enablement Lead Owns data, attribution, and campaigns. Makes sure partner activity shows up in the forecast and drives measurable GTM impact. 5. Technical Partner Enablement / Solutions Engineer Connects partners to product. Crafts joint value props and supports technical sales efforts with integration partners. 6. Ecosystem Marketing Manager Launches co-branded campaigns, fuels integration awareness, and creates pipeline-generating plays with top partners. 7. Services / Delivery Partner Lead Focuses on retention + expansion. Builds service-led motions that increase customer lifetime value and post-sale impact. Why This Team? Because partnerships only scale when they become part of the GTM engine, not a side project. This team builds flywheels that work and iterates fast to make them better. Partnerships grow through execution, not potential. What’s one mistake you’ve learned from building partner teams? Or one hire you’d make first?

Keep failing!    Albert Einstein once said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”    We’ve all been there (I know I have): your partnerships team is struggling, not achieving results, and you are looking for help and answers.    We all fail, but failure doesn’t have to be a bad thing; however, you can only turn it into a good thing if you are willing to learn from it.    Back then, I wish I had had the network and support system I’m lucky to have these days. Thanks, Partnership Leaders!   So, let’s try something new. Let’s see if we can make this a collaborative post, a cheat sheet of sorts, that can help leaders identify issues and start turning things around.    So, if your partnerships team is struggling, here are some foundational elements that, if not done right, could be creating some of your issues:    💥 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐬. 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 – Internal alignment is non-negotiable. Work with every department to understand what matters to them. Then tailor your strategy and collaborate with them to embed it into their everyday jobs. Your team can’t do this alone!    💥 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭 – You don’t want to compete against your own internal team(s). Compensation across your sales org should be neutral and conflict-less. Additionally, make sure that your own team’s comp and KPIs aren't opportunistic, transactional, and short-sighted.    💥 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐩𝐬 – Who is running ops, managing tools, gathering data, measuring impact, removing speedbumps, and enhancing PX? If you don’t have a #partnerops person, what are you waiting for?    💥 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 – Unless you are just starting, your program isn’t mature enough, and you don’t have a defined IPP, make sure you are working with the right partners. Make sure that you have real and reciprocal partnerships. You can’t afford to waste time and resources.    💥 𝐄𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 – Don’t expect your partners to be successful if you just give them cookie-cutter one-pagers, battle cards, or on-demand modules. As Jessie says: "enablement starts before you sign." Spend time with them and build real relationships. If you don’t care, they won’t care.    💥 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 – CS, in yours and your partner’s orgs, are the guardians of your current and potential customer relationships. Show them how partnerships can help with customer management, improve engagement, and reduce churn. Tap into those relationships and trust.    💥 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 – Is it easy for your partners to work with you? Remember, PX directly affects CX, and bad PX can hurt you deeply.    💥 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 – Don’t treat partnerships as transactional or as a zero-sum game. Give first in order to receive. Look for the triple win. Build real partnerships!   What else would you add?    #Partnerships #PartnerPrograms #GTMStrategy #Sales 

What if your first 90 days in a partnership had *nothing* to do with results? Not about hitting KPIs. Not about closing deals. Not even about activation. What if those 90 days were *entirely* about education? Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Most partnerships fail because we treat them like vending machines. Insert effort. Expect results. But the partnerships that actually scale? The ones that redefine growth? They don’t start with results. They start with understanding. The first 90 days aren’t a race. They’re the building phase. Imagine this shift: Instead of rushing the outcome, you help your partner learn: – Your product: not just what it *does*, but what it *means*. – Your go-to-market: not as strategy slides, but as a living system. – Your customer: not as data points, but as real humans. When *understanding* happens, something powerful follows: Alignment. And when alignment takes root? Adoption, advocacy, and momentum build naturally. By day 90, the results you wanted show up. Not because you forced them—but because you equipped the people responsible for them. So if your partnership feels stuck, ask yourself: Are you educating a team to align? Or just expecting them to perform? Skip the foundation…and you skip the outcome. Partnerships aren’t about pipelines. They’re people. And people need time, clarity...and trust. #GrowBetter #PartnershipsInSaaS #Outcomes

Hot take - account mapping is not the way. It’s step one but, the data is only as good as the execution behind it. Often times partner teams have rich road map of where to focus based on their account mapping activities but have a hard time activating beyond this point. Here’s why: Partnerships is a team sport. Build relationships with the teams important to your strategy. The typical players are - Sales, CS, and product. Hint - if these people don’t know you, havent seen you add value, or don’t understand why partnerships exist and you come in blaring “WE HAVE A JOINT PROSPECT!” … they won’t give a rat’s ass. Anyone relate? It’s our job as partner managers to have perspective on the daily role of our peers. EX - The sales rep already has worked really hard to get this deal in pipe. If you aren’t being super clear about the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) for the rep, of course they are going to be protective of their deal. I would be too. Be clear and articulate about your ask and desired outcome. Come with empathy - “How can I help you with this deal? Here is what I know - x,y,z. Partner X recently closed this deal. Would it be helpful to have a joint planning discussion with our partner counterpart to see if they know other champions or can help us get over this procurement hurdle? They’d be interested to hear about the use case we’re selling too as it makes their integration stronger. ”  Long of the short is, Account mapping is just a spreadsheet. Until you’ve done the work to build relationships, enable and articulate your value prop too every teammate (consistently), it will just stay a piece of data.

Most partnerships fail within two years. 🤯 😕 This stat surprised me. But the high failure rate is not because the partnerships didn't have a solid joint value proposition. They usually do. But what they don't often have is: a common operational framework. This hit home when Asher Mathew and I were interviewing Richard Ezekiel, author of Coelevate. Richard is at Amazon now, and he has spent decades at Fortune 500 companies and startups. In his book, he codifies what many of us have learned the hard way: sustainable partnerships need structure, not just a shared vision. We discussed: ➡️ The "Partnership T" framework ⬅️ The horizontal bar represents shared customer value, while the vertical bar represents operational structure. Most partnerships focus on the horizontal but neglect the vertical. ➡️ The Virtual Company Mindset ⬅️ Great partnerships function like a shared operating entity between two companies. You're building architecture for two companies to evolve together, which requires workforce alignment and unified metrics. ➡️ Platform Strategy Isn't Plug-and-Play ⬅️ Scaling partnerships means understanding the unique supply chains of each business, not copy-pasting one-to-one models. This resonates with what I often see in market: companies rush to announce partnerships in a splashy press release without building the infrastructure for sustained collaboration. Partnerships needs the operational rigor that sales, marketing, and product have developed. Richard's new book gives us a common language and methodology, while sharing the real life examples that illustrate the core principles. To get more insights on how to build lasting partnerships, listen to the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/eqycPfC4