This is part 2 of the two-part episode where we learn how Salesloft & Jbarrows were able to build a strong partnership that is built on the no asshole rule, hard work, and reciprocity. They talk about the importance of working with companies you believe in and how making sure your technologies are complimentary are some of the traits they look for in partners today.

“Sometimes you have to lead them to an aha moment of why the two exist together.”

Guests:

Morgan J Ingram - Director of Sales Execution and Evolution at JB Sales

Christopher Merrill - Chief Revenue Officer at JB Sales

Sections:

[00:03:12] Intro’s

[00:07:44] How Morgan uses and partners with SalesLoft

[00:10:53] How Chris qualifies partners

[00:13:34] What makes SalesLofts partner training

[00:19:00] Morgan’s poor experiences with partnerships

[00:25:30] Chris talks about alignment

[00:26:49] How to get closer to your partners

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

https://jbarrows.com/

Join the conversation inside the Partner Programs Collective >>

This is part 1 of a two-part episode where we learn how Salesloft & Jbarrows were able to build a strong partnership that is built on the no asshole rule, hard work, and reciprocity. They talk about the importance of working with companies you believe in and how making sure your technologies are complimentary are some of the traits they look for in partners today.

Guests:

Sean Kester - VP Platform Strategy at SalesLoft

Matt Alvarez - Director, Global Alliances at SalesLoft

Sections:

[00:02:09] Background

[00:03:21] Cross-functional alignment

[00:06:10] Who partnerships reports to

[00:09:53] Tech stack

[00:12:18] Operationalizing

[00:17:37] Partner growth strategy

[00:19:46] Learnings

[00:21:46] Word of advice

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

https://salesloft.com/partner-with-salesloft/

Join the conversation inside the Partner Programs Collective >>

This episode uncovers how the #1 Shopify app runs partner enablement in a unique way - by allowing their top partner Social Lite, an eComm digital marketing agency, to instruct their users on how to use Recart in full funnel traffic and conversion campaigns. I was able to get this conversation right after they had started to test and strategize this new facet to their partnership. We get into the mindset from both sides, what each team required to make this worth doing, and why they are so excited about the future of their partnership.

“The burden of support and training these merchants doesn't fall back on them necessarily. We can take that into our own hands.”

Sections:

[00:04:18] Intro’s - live partnerships

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

https://partners.recart.com/

https://www.sociallite.ca/

In this episode, we are lucky enough to have two people with experience on both sides of the partnership equation. Ashley Gomes, Senior Channel Customer Success Manager at Klaviyo, who was formerly customer success at Zaius and as well as a Supervisor and manager at a very large digital agency in Boston. And of course, Ashley Scorpio, VP of Partnerships at Hawke Media who has joined me in courses, masterminds and other podcast episodes.

This discussion is all about partner success in large ecosystems -

Main sections:

[00:04:26] State of Klaviyo’s partner program

[00:07:43] Personas they are you working with

[00:10:19] Hawke’s relationship with Klaviyo and how it came about

[00:17:29] Some of the things Klaviyo’s partner team does for success

[00:21:18] Klaviyo’s stack and LMS

[00:23:24] Ashley Scorpio’s definition of partnership success

[00:32:10] Partner memorandoms

[00:39:19] Ashley Scorpio’s view on partner communication best practices

[00:44:51] What Ashley Gomes wish she knew earlier on in her career

….

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

Klaviyo.com

Hawkemedia.com

Enabling your partner team to succeed quickly with product and marketing!

It’s not easy for a small team of a new tech to have the sort of confidence and trust in each other to achieve success in the channel at this early of a stage. This is the perfect team to record on this topic. Grant (CEO) hired Zach (VP of Sales/Marketing/Partnerships) in 2020 and gave him the runway and support to get their new agency-focused partner program off the ground quickly.

“You can't set a goal of saying, Hey, in 2021, we want our partner revenue to be a third of our revenue mix and then not support it through product investment, find creative ways to include them in your marketing and allow them to understand your customers because that's going to make them really excited.”

Main sections:

[00:04:06] Introductions

[00:05:41] The current state of your partnership program

[00:06:57] The state of the product with regards to the agency's dashboard

[00:11:16] The strategy for getting people into your calendar

[00:13:42] KPIs, goals, metrics

[00:18:54] Incentives

[00:22:13] SOP’s

[00:29:59] Product and marketing resource allocation

[00:31:13] Big realizations and words of advice

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

Unstack.com - our guests.

From a 1-man shop to Elite HubSpot partner… How Steve from HubSpot nurtured one of their most valuable agency partners.

“The number one thing to do is to find out the personal goals of the partner owner.”

In this episode, we get to understand the inner-workings of one of the most successful and closest relationships I’ve come across between channel manager and agency owner. This is a 6-year partnership that began with Richard Wood was a 1-man shop. Now, Stave Vahaughn has nurtured Richard into a HubSpot Elite partner (the highest tier in their partner program). These two guys share how they do it in this episode of The Partner Enablement Podcast.

Main sections:

[00:04:33] Overview of Hubspot’s partner program

[00:06:11] Six and Flow’s partnership with Hubspot

[00:09:10] The path to becoming an elite partner

[00:11:44] The role of the channel account manager

[00:16:37] Checklist for brand new accounts

[00:21:41] The value of trust in a partnership relationship

[00:25:27] What makes a great channel account manager

[00:32:22] How to determine a partner fit

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

5This episode is our first partner manager + agency founder interview in one episode. This was a huge success. Tim and Rachel have great rapport and are able to riff on each others’ answers to add more clarity. They both came up in different departments at top agency MuteSix, and now Tim has founded his own successful eComm agency, while Rachel has since joined Okendo.io as their partnerships VP and has Tim as one of her partners. I think you’ll really enjoy this discussion.

[00:04:19] The state of the partner program at Okendo

[00:06:42] MuteSix tech stack and partner program

[00:09:44] Rachel’ worldview and experience with partnerships and how it’s changed

[00:12:52] How being a founder of an agency changed  Tim’s mentality on sales and partnerships

[00:16:43] What to ask in early conversations with potential partners

[00:20:44] Tactics and strategies to get agencies to start a partnership discussion

[00:24:09] Routines and actions steps that lead to more business sooner

[00:27:07] The importance of keeping things moving forward

[00:30:30] Communication tips and pitfalls to watch for

[00:34:06] What makes effective webinars

[00:40:26] Exploring integrations

[00:42:29] Two types of pushback in partnerships and what to do

[00:47:04] Product led partnerships

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

https://www.okendo.io/

https://www.loop.club/

Brian has been in partnerships for 14 years. He was a part of one of the fastest growing SaaS partner programs at Infusionsoft (Keap), and now leads the channel endeavors for Sendoso’s team. He is famous in our minds for reminding us that a partnership is not a vendorship. In this episode, he explains what that means in practice.

Main sections:

[00:02:40] Brian’s background

[00:05:13] Partnership types and differences

[00:09:16] Roles and duties for success in a partnership team

[00:13:35] If you could only make one hire for a partnership team, what would that be

[00:16:00] What’s involved in partner enablement

[00:23:38] The most important factors to success in a partner program

....

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

The Partner Program Development Journey with a Chief Partnerships Officer

Braydan is Chief Partnerships Officer of Sendoso. He’s been growing Sendoso for 5 years and formed numerous partnership types to grow as fast as they have. In this episode, we find out what the journey has been like from his vantage point.

Main sections:

[00:04:04] The priorities - forming the partnerships agenda

[00:06:15] The first partnerships and how/why

[00:07:34] KPIs and why

[00:09:43] Getting aligned from C-Suite down

[00:12:09] Enabling partners

[00:15:49] The process of building the program

[00:19:30] The future of their partner program

[00:20:48] Words of advice

….

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

Ryan Ruud, CEO of Lake One Digital, Partner of Vidyard

This is part three of our deep dive into how Vidyard is growing their partner program. My guest today is Ryan Ruud, CEO of Lake One Digital, a top Vidyard and HubSpot partner. He and his team solve gnarly technical problems in both marketing and sales. In this session, Ryan is very open and transparent about what he does with his partners.

Main sections:

[00:06:36]  How to choose partners

[00:10:59] When to explore a partnership further

[00:13:10] Why you want to go deeper into relationships.

[00:17:25] What really works during the courtship period of a potential partner

[00:19:15] What does not work and how enablement fits in

[00:24:30] Getting a go-to-market in place and executed early.

[00:27:21] The value of having an action plan in partnerships

[00:29:18] Communication channels

[00:33:05] Effective partner newsletters

[00:38:12] When it’s time to explore new partnerships with competitive tools or services

[00:41:15] Best practices for cold emails

….

Resources:

Sendoso.com - The leading sending platform.

Partnerstack.com - Partner tracking and payouts.

Sharework.co - A free account mapping solution.

https://lakeonedigital.com/ - our guest.

Vidyard.com/partners - to see Vidyard’s program.