Partner Engagement Process Standardization: Operational Excellence for Sales

Amy K. Mininger, kloudtrack® Teaming and Partner Relations, kloudtrack

Smart operational procedures are the catapult that transforms a good business concept into a thriving, sustainable entity. Many great ideas fall to the way side due to the lack of smart and executable sales operations. No matter how many sales representatives an organization may have; no matter how many partners; and no matter what type of CRM or technical systems have been purchased, a sales team will not perform effectively until a clear, documented process is in place. It takes some thought and collaboration. However, in the long-run it is worth it and can save organizations from making poor decisions.

Once a concept proves its worth with a target market, it certainly seems time to aggressively step up sales and marketing initiatives in order to replicate success. We have all been there. It is exciting. The natural inclination is to jump in with two feet and evangelize, investing time and money into new resources. In actuality, it is time to pause and analyze how exactly sales opportunities are evolving and precisely what triggers the deals to close. Wouldn't it be great to be able to clone the ideal sales experience and shorten sales cycles? In essence, that is what standard sales operational procedures can do.

Applying standards to a partner engagement process.
Well-aligned partners can be the very vehicle that takes your solution to global prospects quite literally overnight. The idea of formalizing a sales and partner engagement process might sound rigid to some sales managers, but it is a valuable operational asset. The goal is essentially to document a natural path for growth and to simplify communications. The document itself should be graphical and easy to understand by people across all departments and managerial levels.

The following information will: cover operational benefits, tools to assist efforts at each step, and a suggested approach for documenting a step-by-step process for engaging sales partners.

Operational Benefits.
Sales management has the challenge of tracking sales efforts, keeping each representative accountable, communicating across various departments and predicting an accurate pipeline. A powerful partner sales process is one that has clearly defined steps for your partners, points to available tools, and defines the metrics to measure progress. Results prove greater partner success rates, shorter sales cycles, and therefore growth.

Benefits of creating a standard partner engagement process are clear:

• Partner Criteria Clarity. Discussions with potential partners should be limited to companies or individuals that meet pre-defined qualifications. Spear your schedule for only those who share similar vertical target markets, have some track record for sales, and obviously are not competitive. If companies appear to have the signs of a good partner, ask if they are willing and able to invest in some joint marketing initiatives. Personalities can be a challenge, so it is good to take note of how initial communications go as it is often reflective of future communications.
• Setting Clear Expectations. At the early stages of partner discussions, defining a vision for the relationship will help set a precedent for ongoing joint efforts. Define the types of activities that will be expected, show them what verifiable outcomes will move the partnership to the next stage, and tell them what tools you will make available for joint success.
• Time-savings. When procedures are in black and white on a document, it cuts down on the number of communication cycles and often aids the educational curve of engagement.
• Cross-Department Communications. As additional teams enter partner initiatives (marketing, finance, legal, etc.), referencing standards will help them understand the stage a partnership and whether they should reserve time and resources to support the efforts or ensure they have the correct paperwork.
• Helps track partner best practices. As partners establish their level of engagement and deepen a relationship, the process itself and documents are refined. New tools may be identified to aid joint sales. Internal systems and applications may also reflect the standards in effort to identify time-to-benefit or how long it takes partnerships to ramp up. Tracking this data may help determine a strong return on investment.

Tools.

There are a number of tools that fold into a partner engagement process and aid standardization. Basic tools include: collateral materials, PowerPoint presentations, ready-to-use legal agreements, templates and general items that will make it easy for partners to communicate about joint solutions. Other tools help to internally communicate and track the details of efforts, like:

• Strategic Pyramid. A one-page roadmap that defines the goals of a partnership with metrics, and supporting tactics that both partners agree upon and commit resources to execute them.
• Target Market Sheets. Clear definition of qualified prospects, elevator pitches and value statements about solutions being sold, brief examples of pricing for each (like a cheat sheet).
• Sales CRM Tracking. Whatever CRM or sales management system, tracking efforts in a shared environment is best complimented by regular reports for management to track success.
• Master Marketing Calendar. All sales events and marketing activities should be available for reference by partners, including dates, locations, deliverable items and alerts of any new tools.

Suggested Approach for Documenting a New Partner Engagement Process.

There is a careful balance to be struck between documenting and implementing standard sales procedures. If a process is too complicated, it will not be followed. Carefully consider the feedback you get from those who will apply the standards on a daily or regular basis. Include critical legal steps. And remember that your process should be revisited annually to ensure optimization and operational excellence. The following is a suggested approach for documenting a new partner engagement process. Time frames included below are subject to change and dependent upon organizational structures.

Information Gathering. (week 1-2)
- Meet with executive management to state the purpose and value of documenting and implementing standard operational procedures
- Get verbal buy-in to support the creating of new standards
- Gather feedback from managers where partner efforts vary, identify duplication of efforts and communication breakdown
- Review of existing procedures and document a draft of the current way of doing things showing various efforts from all departments

Collect Materials. (weeks 3-4)
- Gather all documents that support the partner engagement, including all legal documents, marketing materials that are used for training or prospecting
- Review the documents for consistencies and inconsistencies while recording findings
- Report any needed materials or suggestions from management about the existing process
- Document all findings

Research Existing Partner Process. (week 5-6)
- Determine the partner criteria for partners that share similar verticals, have proven success, are non-competitive, any other criteria
- Interview managers and how they engage partners from the initial meeting to established partner (under contract) through existing sales process and any closed deal
- Document activities and verifiable outcomes that moved partners to deeper sales commitments
- Compare feedback from other departments to see if and when they engaged the partner initiatives
- Determine what initiatives worked best and what slowed sales cycles down for identifying best practices
- Interview the partner to gain their perspective throughout a typical sales engagement
- Document all findings

Draft New Guidelines. (weeks 7-8)
- Partner Criteria Definition

Stage 1 - Exchange (verifiable outcome = agreed to meet and consider partnership)
: Identify partnering decision-makers
: Send introductory information
: Set time to discuss partnering requirements
: Determine Potential

Stage 2 - Orientation (verifiable outcome = Signed NDA)
: Determine If Good Fit, Mutually Beneficial
: Walk through solution demonstrations and overviews

Stage 3 - Plan (verifiable outcome = Signed partner contract)
: Set Jointly Hosted Webinar Schedule
: 90-Day Co-Marketing
: Plan Documented
: Joint PR Announcement Of Partnership

Stage 4 - Co-Market (verifiable outcome = Execute upon sales efforts)
: Create joint Marketing collateral, including seamless overview presentation
: Link websites, social media to partner materials

Stage 5 - Proof (verifiable outcome = Validate lead flow)
: Confirmation email & correspondence
: Report win to management

Review and Approvals. (week 8)
- Have management provide feedback about draft process standards
- Incorporate all changes and gain approval to implement

Map to Internal Systems. (weeks 6-8)
- Hold all-department conference call to introduce new process
- Answer any questions and make any adjustments
- Map to CRM systems using the same semantics
- Map reporting structures using the same semantics for consistency

 

This article is published in SIIA's Marketing in Today's Economy, released in 2012.