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I’ve been something of a fly on the wall of the B2B SaaS and enterprise software partnerships community over the past few years.
And, wow!
This is a community made up of phenomenally talented, deeply passionate, caring, incredibly ambitious and connected executives, entrepreneurs, founders, advisors, investors, revenue leaders, marketers, solutions engineers, professional services & customer success heroes (my people), plus individual contributors of all stripes.
To be sure, most software vendor partnerships leaders are in sales organizations, but the cross-functional collaboration I’ve seen truly is epic, United Nations-level stuff.
Ok, so what makes me qualified to comment on the state of software vendor partnerships, especially with consulting services organizations?
It helps a little that I cut my teeth in digital marketing agencies for ten years in Seattle and London (much of it steeped in tech & data work), and I currently run the MeasureMatch consulting services marketplace.
Although we're not yet executing on a formal partner strategy (coming soon), we are 100% in the business of partnering with each of the three groups of customers we serve through our services marketplace, to create mutually beneficial upside.
In short, I’ve been living and breathing various flavours of sales, marketing and, especially, software vendor partnerships for the better part of 20 years.
Importantly, my team and I are about to embark on an overhaul of the MeasureMatch Partner Exchange, which is a set of tools designed to serve software vendor executives, partnerships and customer success leaders, so we're going to fully double down on growing and maximizing the value of partnerships in (and through) the MeasureMatch marketplace.
This write-up is an attempt to crystallize some of things I’ve learned about B2B SaaS partnerships over the past couple of years, much of which is getting baked into our marketplace.
For startups to large enterprises, MeasureMatch is the marketplace platform connecting business leaders with amazing consulting and professional services partners.
So, from the perspective of a B2B SaaS or enterprise software partnerships leader, let’s say in a very competitive field (is there another way?), what are the ideal attributes and characteristics of consulting and marketing agency services partners?
At a high level, ideal consulting & marketing agency services partners, for the pursuit of mutually beneficial sales motions and net new revenue opportunities, will be those that can bring complementary skills and capabilities to the party, and work collaboratively to achieve each other’s business goals.
Simple, right?
Deep industry expertise, understanding of procurement processes, and strong relationships with decision-makers are especially valuable to help create success in the face of stiff competitive threats.
Below are the top 10 things that software partnerships leaders should look for and develop with consulting & marketing agency services partners:
Consulting services partners with deep industry expertise can provide exceptionally valuable insights and knowledge about your target customers and help you to develop targeted solutions that meet their specific needs.
Our take: Create a finely tuned list of ideal customer profile industries and share that with prospective partners. Clearbit is a great resource to build a database of industry categories.
Partners that are innovative and creative can help you identify new opportunities for growth and develop new solutions that meet emerging customer needs in large organizations.
Partners that have strong client relationships can introduce your SaaS or enterprise software solutions to potential customers and help you build trust and credibility in the market. Relationships with decision-makers in large organizations can help you gain access to key stakeholders and decision-makers, which can be crucial for closing deals.
Partners that have strong sales and marketing capabilities can help to raise awareness, nurture prospects, and help to close deals.
Consulting partners with technical expertise can help to develop and integrate your SaaS solution with other systems, making it easier for customers to adopt and thrive with your software.
Partners that have strong collaboration and communication skills can work effectively with your team, helping to ensure that you are aligned on goals and working together to achieve them.
Partners that have a proven track record of success are confidence-builders.
Partners that share your values and culture can help ensure a strong partnership that is built on mutual respect, trust, and understanding.
Partners that have a strong understanding of the procurement process (which just might be the processes and friction between consultancies and their clients), especially in large organizations, can help to navigate the complexities of procurement and increase the likelihood of success. The basics include the request for proposal (RFP) process, vendor selection, contract negotiation and pricing.
Co-selling is a sales strategy where two or more companies collaborate to sell a product or service. In the context of software vendors and consultancy partners, co-selling can provide several advantages for both parties, including: increased revenue (for both parties), improved product adoption, reduced sales cycle, improved customer retention, enhanced reputation.
That’s it.
By way of a recap, ideal consulting & marketing agency services partners, for the pursuit of mutually beneficial sales motions and net new revenue opportunities, will be those that can bring complementary skills and capabilities to the party, and work collaboratively to achieve each other’s business goals.
Deep industry expertise, understanding of procurement processes, and strong relationships with decision-makers are especially valuable to help create success in the face of stiff competitive threats.
Below are a few folks I’d like to thank for their work and generosity, because I’m learning so much from them (you can, too):
James
Networking isn’t something I ever thought I’d relish. It certainly wasn’t on my list of things I wanted to grow up to do when I was a kid.
"The MeasureMatch platform is easy to understand and the simplicity of the layout lends itself to quickly submit business and service requirements, and get on with evaluating potential service provider partners."
