This is a summary of the Nearbound guide and serves as an introduction to your understanding of deploying Nearbound. We recommend downloading the guide in order to fully understand Nearbound and how you can implement it.

 

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, organizations are increasingly recognizing the power of partnerships to drive growth, innovation, and customer success. Strategic alliances and collaborations with external entities have become essential for businesses to expand their reach, leverage complementary strengths, and deliver exceptional value to customers. However, establishing and managing successful partnerships requires a well-orchestrated and efficient operational framework.

Welcome to Chapter 1 of our series on driving revenue with Nearbound sales: – Partnerships Team: Operations. In this chapter, we delve into the critical role of operations in nurturing and maximizing the potential of your partnership initiatives. We will explore the key phases involved in establishing and managing partnerships effectively, with a focus on data, insights, and continuous improvement.

Throughout this chapter, we will guide you through the five phases that form the backbone of your partnerships team’s operations. These phases will empower you to establish robust data-sharing mechanisms, expose insights to your teams, take informed actions, measure progress, and continuously improve your partnership strategies. Each phase is designed to help you cultivate trust, align your teams, and drive tangible results through effective partnerships.

Phase 1: Onboard Partners

Primary objective: get your data in order. 

This phase focuses on establishing a foundation for orchestrating Nearbound Sales by ensuring that your partners agree to share data, enabling joint planning across prospects, opportunities, and customers. As account data in both your CRM and your partners’ CRMs constantly change, it is crucial for you to take the lead in ensuring the accuracy of the shared data.

To achieve this, the following steps should be taken:

1. Integrate CRM systems: It is essential to integrate your CRM system with your partners’ systems to ensure seamless data sharing. By doing so, you can access the most important and accurate data, reducing false positives or negatives in data matching. Remember, the effectiveness of account mapping technology depends on the accuracy of the underlying data. Both you and your partners must work together to ensure data quality.

2. Accessible customer segments and target account lists: Make sure that your company’s most important customer segments and target account lists are accessible through the account mapping solution. This accessibility allows Partner Managers to align their efforts with the most relevant CRM data, ensuring mapping to the most critical accounts for the business. Collaborating on shared objectives becomes more efficient when everyone has access to the right information.

3. Define data sharing rules: Establish clear guidelines on data sharing. Determine which fields and objects you are willing to expose and identify any sensitive data that you are unwilling to share. Document these rules of engagement (ROE) to ensure that everyone on the team is aligned and aware of the boundaries. Data sharing is a sensitive topic, so addressing it early on will set the stage for a successful partnership. Your account mapping software can help you set default rules for sharing, as well as provide additional permissions to expose certain data at later stages of the engagement.

4. Trust as the foundation: Trust is paramount in any partnership. Keep in mind that what you are willing to share with your partners speaks volumes about the level of trust in the relationship and the value you bring to the table. To foster trust, it is important to be transparent and share information with your partners before expecting them to do the same. By leading with trust, you create an environment where both parties feel comfortable sharing valuable insights and data.

By successfully completing Phase 1, you establish a solid groundwork for effective collaboration with your partners. Remember that accurate and accessible data, well-defined data-sharing rules, and a foundation of trust are essential elements in building strong partnerships. With these components in place, you can move forward to the next phase of your Partnerships Team: Operations journey.

Phase 2: Dig Into the Data

Primary objective: ensure that you are exposing enough data to drive specific actions with your partners. 

Once you have established data sharing with your partners in Phase 1, it’s time to delve into the data and determine how and when to expose it to your partner and sales teams. This phase focuses on striking the right balance in sharing data—not too much, not too little—to enable informed decision-making without overwhelming or impeding progress.

Referencing the rules of engagement (ROE) and sharing guidelines defined earlier, assess whether the shared data provide sufficient insights to make a tangible difference. In some cases, one side may be more guarded in sharing, resulting in inadequate data exposure that hampers effective collaboration. Avoid falling into this trap and ensure that your team can take meaningful action based on the data available.

To achieve this, consider the following steps:

1. Identify critical data for Partner Managers: Make it easy for Partner Managers to access essential data that empowers them to take proactive actions. Highlight the information related to the healthiest customer accounts, accounts at the highest risk of churn, the most active sales opportunities, and those that have lost momentum or become stagnant. By focusing on these key data points, Partner Managers can prioritize their efforts and make informed decisions without constantly relying on other teams, such as customer success or sales, for account-specific details. Autonomy is crucial for Partner Managers to operate effectively.

2. Most impactful exposed fields: Consider the fields that have the most significant impact on decision-making and visibility. The following fields are typically highly valuable:

• Company Name: Identifying the company associated with an account provides clarity and context for Partner Managers.
• Country/Region: Understanding the geographic location of an account can help tailor strategies and initiatives accordingly.
• Account Status: Knowing the current status of an account (e.g., active, at-risk, high-value) enables focused attention.
• Deal Stage: Tracking the stage of a sales opportunity helps determine the appropriate actions and resources needed.
• Domain: Identifying the domain associated with an account allows for targeted engagement strategies.
• Open Deal/Date: Tracking the start date or progress of a deal provides visibility into active sales opportunities.
• Account Owner/Partner Owner: Assigning ownership to accounts helps facilitate accountability and effective collaboration between teams.
• Close Date: Estimating or tracking the expected closing date of a deal allows for effective pipeline management.

By exposing these key fields, you equip Partner Managers and sales teams with the necessary insights to make informed decisions, take appropriate actions, and drive positive outcomes.

Remember, striking the right balance in data sharing is essential. Expose enough data to enable autonomy and action, but avoid overwhelming your teams with unnecessary information. With the appropriate data exposed, your Partnerships Team for Operations can proceed to the next phase, building upon the foundation of effective data utilization and collaboration.

Phase 3: Share the Insights

Primary objective: provide easy access to data across sales, customer success (CS), and partner teams.

This phase focuses on reviewing the data and ensuring that insights are shared effectively with the rest of the business.

To accomplish this, consider the following steps:

1. Dedicate time to reviewing data: As a member of the partner operations team, you will likely be closely aligned with or even working alongside the dedicated operations personnel for the direct sales organization. This dual role provides an opportunity for you to compile and present insights in a way that resonates with the entire business. Collaborate with Partner Managers and Partner Leadership to understand the specific insights they want to share and ensure that they are communicated in a manner that other teams across the business can understand and appreciate. By dedicating time to reviewing the data and crafting compelling insights, you contribute to the success of the partnership initiatives.

2. Confirm permissions and access: Work closely with your partner leaders to determine which sales leaders and sales representatives require access to the shared data as part of the isolated rollout. Before Partner Managers can effectively share the insights with their counterparts, it is crucial to ensure that everyone involved can access the same information. Collaborate with the necessary stakeholders to set up the appropriate permissions and access controls. This step ensures that the insights can be effectively communicated and leveraged by the relevant teams, fostering collaboration and alignment.

By focusing on sharing insights and providing easy access to data across teams, you enable better collaboration and decision-making. Your role in compiling and presenting the insights helps bridge the gap between partner teams and other departments within the business, ensuring that the shared data resonates and generates excitement. Confirming permissions and access ensures that all stakeholders can leverage the insights, promoting transparency and alignment throughout the organization.

With Phase 3 completed, your Partnerships Team for Operations is well on its way to facilitating effective data-driven collaboration. By actively sharing insights and enabling access to relevant data, you contribute to the success of partnership initiatives and strengthen the overall operations of the business.

Phase 4: Take Action

Primary objective: take action based on the insights gained and gather real-world feedback. 

This phase focuses on tracking meetings, capturing meeting results, and creating a framework for evaluating success and making improvements over time.

To accomplish this, follow these steps:

1. Track meetings and results: It is essential to track the meetings conducted by Partner Managers and sellers, as well as the outcomes of these meetings. By doing so, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of what success looks like in your partnership initiatives and identify areas for improvement. Collaborate with partner and sales leadership to define the metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be used to measure success. This step requires the active involvement and effort of Partner Managers and sellers alike.

2. Create call types and dispositions in CRM: Work with Partner Leadership to establish specific call types in your CRM system. These call types represent different activities and conversations that Partner Managers and sellers engage in during the partnership process. It is important to have a variety of call types beyond just those related to account mapping meetings. Consider creating call types such as “Partner Manager and Partner Invitation to Account Map,” “Full Mapping Review,” “Specific Account Review,” “Partner Manager and Seller Mapping Review of Their Accounts,” and “Seller and Partner, or Seller to Partner’s Sales Team.” These call types help differentiate the various interactions and actions taken with partners, enabling you to determine which plays drive the most productivity. Customize the nomenclature to align with your organization’s terminology and practices.

3. Define dispositions for call types: Establish dispositions or outcomes associated with the different call types. Dispositions allow you to measure progress and success rates using the data collected in the field. By understanding the willingness of partners and sellers to engage and help, you gain more detailed insights into how well account mapping is functioning across your ecosystem. Consider dispositions such as “Successful mapping achieved,” “Further collaboration needed,” or “Opportunity identified.” These dispositions help categorize the outcomes of the activities and provide valuable information for evaluating the effectiveness of your partnership initiatives.

4. Build a reporting framework: Develop a reporting framework that incorporates all call types, targets, and progress against targets. This framework should include reports at the individual representative level, team level, and dashboards to provide a holistic view of the partnership activities. The reports will help track performance, identify trends, and inform decision-making. Regularly review and analyze the data to gain insights, measure progress, and make data-driven improvements to your partnership strategies.

By taking action, tracking meetings, and analyzing results, you enable a continuous feedback loop that drives improvements in your partnership initiatives. The creation of call types, dispositions, and a reporting framework provides structure and visibility to measure success and identify areas for growth. With this framework in place, you can effectively evaluate the performance of your Partnerships Team for Operations and make informed decisions to optimize your partnership programs.

As you proceed to Phase 5, remember that the journey doesn’t end here. Continuous evaluation and refinement are key to achieving long-term success in your partnership efforts.

Phase 5: Measure, Coach, Iterate

Primary objective: measure, coach, and iterate on your partnership initiatives. 

This phase focuses on tracking and documenting the effectiveness of your strategies, providing feedback and coaching to the partner and sales teams, and continuously improving the measurement framework over time.

To achieve this objective, follow these steps:

1. Dedicated time for reviewing data: Schedule regular bi-weekly meetings with Partner Leadership to review the data and insights gathered from your partnership initiatives. As the operations expert, your role is to help the partner and sales teams objectively understand what is working and what needs improvement. During these sessions, record conversion rates from specific meetings to the next steps in the process. This analysis will provide valuable feedback on the effectiveness of your partnership efforts and guide future decision-making.

2. Identify gaps and blind spots: During the data review sessions, focus on identifying any gaps or blind spots that prevent teams from fully understanding how to improve their processes. Encourage open discussions and share anecdotes and real-life examples from the field to provide context and facilitate meaningful conversations. Understanding the challenges and issues faced by the teams will enable you to address them and implement targeted improvements.

3. Ensure alignment with sales and marketing ops teams: It is crucial to ensure that your attribution model, which tracks and attributes activities and data throughout the account and opportunity lifecycle, is well understood and integrated with the broader sales and marketing operations teams. This alignment ensures that the data and insights collected during the partnership initiatives are incorporated into coaching sessions, pipeline reviews, forecasting, and customer success onboarding and account management. By integrating the partnership data into existing processes, you create a holistic view that informs decision-making across the organization.

4. Continuously improve the measurement framework: Work on refining and enhancing the measurement framework month over month. Learn from the feedback, data, and insights gathered and make iterative improvements to the framework. Seek input from the partner and sales teams to understand their needs and challenges and adjust the measurement framework accordingly. This continuous improvement approach will enable you to optimize the effectiveness of your partnership initiatives over time.

By focusing on measuring, coaching, and iterating, you drive ongoing improvement in your partnership operations. Regular data reviews and coaching sessions with Partner Leadership provide valuable insights for refining strategies and addressing challenges. Identifying gaps and blind spots helps overcome obstacles and improve processes. Ensuring alignment with sales and marketing ops teams allows for a comprehensive view of the entire customer lifecycle. Continuously improving the measurement framework ensures that your partnership initiatives evolve and deliver better outcomes.

With Phase 5 completed, your Partnerships Team for Operations has established a solid foundation for success. By consistently measuring, coaching, and iterating, you enable continuous improvement and drive the ongoing success of your partnership programs. Remember to foster a culture of collaboration and feedback to nurture the growth of your partnerships and enhance overall business performance.

Conclusion

At the heart of successful partnerships lies trust. Trust between partners, trust in the accuracy and accessibility of shared data and trust in the value each party brings to the table. In this mantra, “Trust is the new data,” we emphasize the significance of building and nurturing trust as the foundation of strong partnerships. Without trust, the exchange of valuable data, insights, and collaborative efforts becomes compromised, hindering the success of partnership initiatives.

We encourage you to embrace the principles and practices shared in this chapter as you embark on your journey to strengthen your partnerships and unlock new opportunities. By prioritizing trust, aligning operations, and leveraging data-driven insights, you can forge lasting, mutually beneficial alliances that drive growth and create a competitive edge in today’s interconnected business landscape.

There’s much more information available on how to implement this strategy. We recommend downloading the Nearbound guide, reading it fully, taking notes, and determining your 2-3 actions that you will take to start implementing this. Nearbound is your path to the promised land and out of the economic challenge. Nearbound will help you stop selling on hard mode and market much more efficiently.