Are You Setting Yourself Up to Find the Perfect Channel Partner?

What I’ve learned from working with successful Salesforce AppExchange partners

In my previous blog post, we talked about the common interest for the partners in the ecosystem to define a channel strategy to help them scale and get to market faster. Now, let’s talk about how to find the right partner.

Expanding your reach to the market through partners creates exponential growth in revenue. I have worked closely with some of our AppExchange Partners in the ecosystem who have found their match and built successful partnerships to accelerate growth and expand their reach.

“25% of quota last year was met by partners; this year the goal is 50%”, said Mitch Gouss, Director of Alliances and Channels, SpringCM.

How to Find the Perfect Partner

Now, you have to invest in finding the right partner with whom you go on this journey. Finding the right partner can be just as hard as finding your match in real life, so be prepared to invest the time and effort if you are aiming for success.

You now have an understanding of why you want to partner, so let’s help fulfill your business purpose by finding you the right match. Before we get there, we want to ensure you have a plan on the type of partners you are going to find. Here are some tips to start you off:

• Identify the industries and market segments you specialize in and search to see what other partners share the same customer profile. You can leverage the AppExchange to get an understanding of other partners.
• Make a list of a couple of immediate partners that peek your interest, and reach out to make introductions.
• Be honest and transparent about your goals so you can begin to establish the foundation and see if there are potential opportunities where you can join hands.
• Have ideas on what you can do together, propose co-hosting events to get to know them better.
• Last, try to draft a pitch on what your offering plus theirs will look like as a complete story you would tell your customer.

These tips will enable you in having a targeted approach when you start talking to potential partners.

Key Takeaways

Key takeaways and the three most important themes to keep in mind in your search for your perfect match:

1. Find a partner who strengthen the total value of your solution.
2. Find partners within the same market segment and industry.
3. Find partners who share the same values.

Back to finding your match in life, it’s just as important to find a partner who complements you, or your product in this case. Think, what could come before or after your product that would complete an end-to-end solution as a whole?

Once you find a couple of different options, check out their AppExchange listing, reviews, and more information on the Partner Community to see if they are the right-size partner for you. Are they playing in similar market segments and industries? Could they help you expand in new markets?

Last but not least, you want to make sure you share the same values, and that there is a cultural fit — if that doesn’t exist, the foundation can never be built.