We dug into the data and discovered that only 10% of our partners followed through to deliver introductions every quarter. After some trial and error, we discovered that the problem stemmed from an imbalance in reciprocity. We had overloaded our partners with requests without first proving our own value and building trust. It was a classic case of putting the cart before the horse.
We provided partners with free access to our products, training, and support and services teams. We offered free sales and business coaching and provided co-branded sales collateral to them. By doing so, partners could easily learn our platform, better support our customers, identify customer alignment opportunities themselves and make referrals based on firsthand customer knowledge.
By doing so, partners could easily learn our platform, better support our customers, identify customer alignment opportunities themselves and make referrals based on firsthand customer knowledge.
Instead of just promising future reciprocation, we gave partners proof points upfront by being the first to share referrals and cross-sell opportunities we identified from our own book of business. These initial touchpoints built confidence and incentivized partners to match our effort and energy.
We segmented our partner portfolio to maintain the capacity for deeper, high-touch relationships in different product and service areas. This ensured adequate resources to train and equip each partner with referrals and client support.
These changes didn't happen overnight, but the results were well worth the effort. The following year, we saw a 350% increase in revenue from partner-attached deals, an increase in the average contract value, a shorter sales cycle, and the best win rate across all lead sources.
We started CollabUnity to help other scaling companies leapfrog over my early career mistakes. Let's connect and discuss how we can help take your partnerships to the next level.