How to Build Strategic Partnerships in Contracting

Partnerships are alluring, but they demand significant commitment. Here are 5 things I've discovered through multiple calls and onboarding sessions. As we lean into partnerships for 2025, I've been on a steep learning curve. 1. Team Certification: Your team members (sometimes 3-5!) need to get certified in your partner's offerings. This isn't just a checkbox; it's an ongoing process of learning and staying updated. Whose going to do it? Do they have the time? 2. Sales Training: Your sales team needs to be trained specifically on selling these new partnerships. It's not just about knowing the product; it's about understanding how it fits into your existing offerings and client needs. Everyone's hyped. Now what? 3. Process Adaptation: Your sales process may need tweaking to identify partnership opportunities effectively. This could mean adjusting your discovery calls, proposal structures, or even your target client profiles. Remember, you committed. Need to ask the right questions/audit the right things to make sure they have an at-bat. 4. Continuous Learning: The partnership landscape is dynamic. Your team needs to commit to ongoing education to stay relevant and valuable to your partners. It's a market, and being unable to implement the new things in their product is not going to keep you on the top of their list. 5. Upfront Investment: Most partnerships require you to show some good faith on your end – time, resources, and especially prospects – before you start seeing returns. It's about building credibility and proving your commitment. Here's a hint: your partner rep is probably bonused on net new, not on how much like they like you. Key Takeaway: Select partnerships that either align as closely possible with your core business or match the most frequent customer problems you solve. The more congruent they are with what you do or the problems you frequently solve, the easier the integration will be. Alternatively, identify common issues your clients face and reverse engineer solutions through partnerships. Remember, becoming a partner is just the beginning. The real work starts after. Be prepared for a long-term commitment and the resources it will require. But when done right, partnerships can be a game-changer for your business growth and client satisfaction. I'm thankful for great partners like Drift, a Salesloft company, HubSpot and Funnel, great partner reps over like the years like Bennett Boucher and Alex Lemieux, as well as a great conversation with Jason Yarborough 🐻 at B2Bmx last year who doesn't even know how helpful he was to my thinking here. (Hey, he's speaking on partnerships there this year!) Are you leaning into partnerships for your business in 2025? What challenges do you anticipate?

The right partnership can 10x your business growth. The wrong one can set you back years. My firm has had dozens of successful partners over the years. It's one of the reasons we've been in business for 20 years. We actually built our business early on through partnerships.  This got me thinking about how these partnerships are formed and why they succeed or fail. As a result, I've come up with five critical elements.  I'm sure more can be added, but if you can get these right, you're chances for a successful partnership go way up. 1. 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 Don't chase brand names or surface-level synergies. Look for partners whose long-term vision matches yours. The best partnerships amplify both companies' strengths while filling critical gaps. 2. 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 Excitement about the potential isn't enough. You need to define: • Specific goals and metrics • Resource commitments • Decision-making process • Exit scenarios 3. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 Begin with a pilot project. Test the working relationship before going all-in. The most successful partnerships I've seen started with a 90-day trial period that proved the concept. 4. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 Share both wins and challenges openly. Regular check-ins aren't just about progress reports, they're about building relationships that survive tough times. 5. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 The best partnerships aren't 50-50. Both parties should feel they're getting more value than they're giving. That's when magic happens. A partnership is like a marriage. The courtship is easy. The long-term success depends on how well you handle the daily challenges. What's been your experience with business partnerships? Anything I'm missing?

In our recent Partner Strategy Leaders peer group, Tom Popel shared his journey stepping into a new partnerships role at OneSource Virtual and the framework he’s building to turn tactical partner relationships into strategic growth drivers. 🔑 Key Takeaways: ✅ Prioritization is everything – With a large bench of partners, Tom’s team is categorizing relationships into Operational, Emerging, and Strategic to focus efforts where they drive revenue. ✅ Governance & Goal-Setting – Historically, many partners were treated like vendors. Now, Tom’s implementing structured engagement, clear goals, and QBRs to build real partner momentum. ✅ Saying “No” (Without Burning Bridges) – Managing inbound partnership requests is critical. Tom’s team filters every new partner ask against business priorities, revenue potential, and execution complexity. ✅ AI & Partnerships – While AI is a hot topic, Tom sees it accelerating tactical work (think scheduling, intake filtering) rather than replacing strategic decision-making. 🔥 The Big Question: How are you tackling partner prioritization? What’s your approach to shifting from reactive to strategic partnerships? One thing I love about Partnership Leaders is the many forums where we can learn from peers tackling similar challenges from different angles—you start to see concepts abstract across specific scenarios and recognize the core strategies that drive success. 💡 Want more insights? Tom is diving deeper into "Building Tech & Alliance Partnerships, Zero to One" at Catalyst this year! He’ll cover: - Prioritizing what to build first when starting from scratch - Defining essential processes and structures for scalability - Securing cross-functional buy-in for new partner motions - Bringing a "start-up mindset" to large organizations Don't miss his session if you want proven strategies for building alliances from the ground up! #Partnerships #PartnerStrategy #Leadership #Catalyst25