How do you know whether or not your dealing with a partner that takes partnering seriously?
6 signs that the company is serious about partnering:
- They staff their alliance organization with true alliance professionals. I worked for an exec at IBM who was serious about hiring the best and brightest (and firing those who weren't). He didn't want "Statue of Liberty people" - ('send me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses') on his team. It was his slang for the mediocre. Is your partner's alliance organization staffed with alliance professionals who are passionate about alliance formation and execution?
- They provide professional development and training to their alliance staff. See 1.
- They have a mature and sophisticated sales organization with "partner mindset" A company that's serious about partnering hires salespeople with experience collaborating with partners to identify new opportunities and then incents them appropriately.
- Their CEO walks the walk. Alliance strategy should be part and parcel of the business strategy. The CEO should not only talk about the importance of alliances at internal company meetings, but also to customers, and the press and analyst communities.
- They've got a full time alliance executive. Or if it's a relatively small company, a designated exec with alliance responsibility. I think that when your company gets to a certain size you need a DEDICATED alliance executive. If the company is serious about alliances, and they've built a portfolio of partners and planning on building more, there really should be an exec that's focused on alliance strategy and execution. Doing it right is not a part-time pursuit.
- They inspect what they expect. Companies that are serious about generating results from their alliances are serious about measuring and managing alliances. They establish alliance business plans with goals and objectives. They manage their alliances portfolio against a set of performance criteria. If the company is inspecting what they expect as it relates to alliances, they're likely serious about it.
What say you?
So true - and I'm scouring my memory to see if I can come up with one company (out of the 75+ alliances I've built) that would pass muster on all six - I fear there may be none. I've seen 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 in various combinations, but never all of them at the same time - and I have NEVER seen #3.
ReplyDeleteAnyone out there seen a company that features all six? Who was it? (they'd probably appreciate the shout-out :)...
@Tom, I know right... but a person can dream, right? Seriously, it is indeed rare to see all six, but if you are looking at a company that's 0 for 6, isn't it time to step away from the table? Re: #3, I think it's in the inherent nature of sales people to want full control and to have difficulty ceding perceived control to a partner. At my company, I have seen several standout AEs who have more of a collaborative mindset, mostly because they had positive experiences (bigger deals, faster closure, quality leads/intros) working with partners in the past. It is rare to find a whole sales team filled with these folks though!
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