Partner Sales Programs

When I first started in Procurement, I used to segment suppliers by spend alone. You know the old Pareto rule we all use: The “strategic” ones were the top 20% of spend (sometimes less!) The “tail” was… well, the tail. And if you also work in Procurement, you already know the flaw in that logic. Spend doesn’t always equal value, especially when it comes to services. I learned this when we had three very different suppliers in the same category: 🔴 Supplier A: Huge spend. Solid, but they delivered exactly what the contract said. Nothing more. 🟠 Supplier B: Mid-spend. They’d call me before I even knew there was a problem. 🟡 Supplier C: Tiny spend. But one year, their niche expertise saved us from a regulatory mess that would’ve cost millions. Same category Same procurement process Completely different value profiles Around that time I decided to shift from a spend-based segmentation to a value-potential segmentation: 70% Core – The operational backbone. You keep them efficient and reliable. It’s about SLAs, contract compliance, and stability. 20% Adjacent – Capability builders. They bring in adjacent skills, fresh insight, and potential to expand into new areas. 10% Transformative – Innovation partners. High risk, high reward. They might change how the business operates in the next 3–5 years. Managing this mix isn’t just operational but also political because stakeholders will always push for more time with the “big” suppliers. It’s relational because you need trust to get a small supplier to share their best ideas. It is also strategic because you’re betting on who might matter most in the future. When you get it right, you stop treating small suppliers like an afterthought… …and you start finding value in places the spend report will never show you. -------------- If this got you thinking differently about supplier segmentation, you’ll love my newsletter The Procurement Blueprint, where I share the real strategies, tools, and mistakes from nearly 20 years in Procurement. Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/eg5C2b5i

The hardest lesson in Customer Success? Not every account needs the same attention. I've seen too many CS teams burn out trying to give white-glove service to every single customer. Meanwhile, their highest-value accounts aren't getting the strategic partnership they need to expand. Here's the framework that works for me: 📍MAINTAIN (Low Risk, Low Value) Your efficiency plays. Automated onboarding, self-service resources, and health-check emails. Keep them healthy without burning CSM hours. 📍RETAIN (High Risk, Low Value) Your fire drills. Rapid risk diagnosis, short-term recovery plans, executive escalation. Get them stable or let them go gracefully. 📍EXPAND → 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞, 𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤 Your growth engine. This is where the magic happens -QBRs, strategic roadmap discussions, champion programs, and co-marketing opportunities. → 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞, 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤 Your rescue missions have a massive upside. Jump in fast, diagnose issues, build recovery plans, then shift to expansion mode. 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐒 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭'𝐬 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞. Your CS team shouldn't be stretched thin - they should be strategically deployed. What's your approach to CS segmentation? Drop a comment - I'd love to hear what's working (or not working) for your team

Most people only see sales from the front. The pitch The persuasion The pipeline. But behind the scenes, especially in Southeast Asia, sales live inside partnerships. No matter how good a seller is, you can’t win alone. Not in tech. Not in enterprise. Not in SEA. There are always three groups moving together: 🧩 The principal partner (product, brand, enablement) 🧩 The delivery partner (execution, workflows, customer support) 🧩 The humans (personalities, motivations, culture) When these three align, outcomes look easy. When they don’t, deals feel “stuck” even when interest is high. And if I’m honest, dynamics are never perfect. Different priorities. Different timelines. Different definitions of urgency. But the thing that makes partnerships actually work is much simpler: → Respect (for each role) → Openness (to share the real situation) → Accountability (to deliver when it’s your turn) Without these, a partnership becomes a logo exchange. With these, it becomes a real growth engine. --- 👉🏻 I’ve been lucky to experience this close-up. Chloe Teo on the HubSpot side - patient, sharp, and supportive. Surindren Manickam on our side at VLAN Asia - relentless in keeping us visible, credible and on track with "Making Things Right". Vinoth Sekaran a big part of keeping this engine running. And now Daryl Loh stepping in - you can already feel the gears turning again. 👉🏻 Then there’s the cultural layer. Partnerships in the US are contract-first: “Scope, SLA, roles, done.” In Southeast Asia, it’s relationship-first: “Do I trust you? Will you show up when things get messy?” The first is transactional. The second is relational. Both can work but in SEA, relational trust often decides who gets the phone call, who gets looped into deals, and who gets invited into strategy. 👉🏻 Visibility plays a role too. It’s not just about being technically capable - the partner needs to know you exist and trust you enough to put you in front of their customers. Surin has been carrying that torch for years - keeping VLAN visible with principal brands like HubSpot and earning the right to be considered. That’s how deals get distributed. That’s how collaborations scale. 👉🏻 And finally: Clarity. When principals and partners aren’t clear about: → who drives what → how the customer buys → where the friction actually is the customer experiences confusion, not confidence. When there’s clarity, deals move. When there’s no clarity, they “remain in consideration” forever. --- People romanticize sales as a lone ranger job. The truth? A lone ranger can close some deals. But partnerships close markets. 2026 will reward the companies who partner well, not just pitch well. Thank you Hubspot partner team for an exciting 2025 ♥️ ✌🏻

If you’re reaching out to partners with a pitch focused solely on your product, you’re missing the mark. Partners want to know how working with you benefits their customers and strengthens their own offerings. Here’s what they actually care about: 1. Customer Impact Partners need to understand how your solution solves specific customer pain points. How does it improve efficiency, reduce costs, or create a better experience? Show them the results they can expect when they bring your product to their customers. 2. Revenue Opportunities Partners are businesses, too. Demonstrate the revenue potential of your partnership with clear data and examples. Will partnering with you help them increase customer retention, expand their services, or access new markets? Spell it out. 3. Long-Term Value and Support Partners want to feel confident that you’ll be there for the long haul. Offer a clear outline of the resources, training, and support they’ll receive, and share a roadmap that aligns with their growth goals. Building confidence in your commitment is just as important as the product itself. If you want a strong, engaged partner, focus on how your partnership creates shared success and meaningful value. Lead with impact, not product specs.

  I was ready to pay thousands to add a washer/dryer to my bathroom so I don’t have to lug laundry baskets downstairs anymore. I had several contractors come out to give me bids. Most of them did exactly what I asked. They talked about adding a dryer vent, running new lines, and tearing out cabinets and walls to make everything fit. Then one guy paused and said, “Why don’t you consider one of those new washer/dryer combos?” I hadn’t even heard of them. Apparently, there’s a new kind that doesn’t require a dryer vent — it washes and dries in the same machine. Takes up half the space. It wasn’t EXACTLY what I asked for, but would save me a ton of money. Brilliant. He didn’t just RESPOND to my request. He anticipated what I ACTUALLY needed. That’s what great salespeople do. They don’t just listen; they predict. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But Katie, you always tell us to listen to the customer!” And you’re right. With new customers, listening is everything. That’s how you uncover their headaches, their frustrations, the real problems behind the purchase. But once they become a customer, the job changes. The best salespeople stop reacting and start anticipating. They know their products inside out, they know their customers’ patterns, and they can see the problems coming before the customer does. One rep I know is brilliant at this. He reviews his accounts regularly, checks what’s aging out, looks at the customer’s upcoming goals, and brings ideas before they ask. He’s not an order-taker; he’s a partner, and as a result, he’s been a top performer for years and has constant job offers from various companies. Learn from him. Don’t wait for your customer to call you. Real partners don’t wait for instructions. They think three steps ahead, call with insights, and show the path forward before the customer even knows there’s a fork in the road. Customers don’t want order-takers. They want partners. Stop waiting for the call. Start making it. #sales #salestraining #leadership #customersuccess

Your segmentation strategy is probably (read: statistically) wrong. Not because you're targeting too narrowly. Not because you're going too broad. But because you're asking the wrong question entirely. The entire industry is trapped in a false binary: hyper-targeting versus mass reach. Meanwhile, we're hemorrhaging money at both extremes. Narrow segments that can't achieve statistical significance. Broad campaigns that speak to no one. And everyone's pretending their chosen poison is medicine. Here's what nobody wants to admit: We've outsourced our strategic thinking to algorithms that were never designed to think strategically. Consider this uncomfortable truth. Google and Meta's algorithms optimize for users already likely to purchase. Not the ones you could actually influence. They're hitting targets with stunning accuracy while completely missing the point. You're paying premium prices to reach people who were already going to buy from you. The platforms love this. More segments mean more ad spend and more expensive placements. Agencies bill for the complexity. Consultants need problems to solve. Everyone profits from the confusion except the brands actually footing the bill. Segmentation isn't a targeting problem. It's a portfolio management problem. Think about your investment portfolio. You don't put everything in growth stocks or everything in bonds. You balance risk and return across asset classes. Your segmentation strategy should work the same way. 40-50% in core holdings: broad, stable segments that build brand and gather intelligence. 30-40% in growth plays emerging segments with higher risk but transformative potential. 10-20% in speculative positions: experimental micro-segments that teach you what you don't know. 5-10% in hedges: counter-segments that challenge your assumptions before the market does. Those "wasted" impressions on the "wrong" people? They're actually investments that compound over time. TransUnion's research on "Movable Middles" proves this. Brands that identified and targeted these neither-loyal-nor-competitor-loyal segments achieved 9.5x more conversions and 23x ROI in some cases. Not through narrow targeting. Not through broad reach. Through strategic portfolio thinking. The solution isn't better tools or more data. It's accepting that segmentation is a tension to be managed, not a problem to be solved. #MarketingStrategy #Segmentation #DigitalAdvertising #MarketingROI #BrandStrategy #GrowthMarketing #AdTech #StrategicThinking #MarketingEffectiveness

Being a strategic partner instead of a vendor costs $0. (But it's rare and valuable and hard to do) It's the one thing your enablement team won’t teach you. Yet it's the only criteria a buyer actually looks for when they are forced to justify a 7-figure spend to their CFO. Want to move up in your career? The real secret isn't just the intelligence you gather from your customers. It's how you translate that data into a business case so specific that it couldn’t have been made for anyone else. Want to become the type of seller that executives don't just "buy from," but actually invite into their boardrooms? Be someone who: → Hears the subtext and identifies internal landmines → Admits when your solution isn’t the right fit for a specific problem → Simplifies the complex so your buyer can sell the case without you in the room → Provokes the hard talk that reveals the real risk → Remembers the "personal win" your stakeholder needs to get promoted Sellers who act as strategic partners: - Get invited to the closed-door meetings where strategy is set  - Secure "found money" even during active budget freezes  - Receive the "inside truth" before it’s public knowledge - Become the first call when a high-stakes crisis hits Sellers who act like vendors: - Get delegated to "junior analysts" who have no power to say yes  - Watch their "Champion" get overruled in the meeting they weren't invited to - Negotiate exclusively on price because they haven't built a business case - Find out they lost the deal through a generic system notification Long story short: Your strategic perspective matters more than your product knowledge. You can represent the most disruptive technology in the market. But "best-in-class" software without a partner's mindset  is like a fighter jet with no runway. An engineering marvel, but it's never going to get off the ground. In the end, executives don't just sign off on features. They bet on the partners who protect their reputation and their P&L. Be that partner.

The Partnership role is evolving fast. We are moving away from the era of the "Relationship Manager" and entering the era of the "Ecosystem General Manager." It is less about who you know, and more about how you operate. Here is the framework I use to navigate this shift: 1. The Operational Pillar (RevOps) Partnerships need to move from "good vibes" to data-driven attribution. If you can't trace a partner's impact through the CRM with the same rigor as a direct sales rep, it is hard to prove value. Practical Tip: Stop using spreadsheets for tracking. Ensure your CRM has a specific field for "Partner Influence and co-sell" separate from "Partner Source" so you can track assist value, not just sourced revenue. 2. The Financial Pillar (Portfolio Management) We need to treat the partner ecosystem like a VC fund. You have limited capital (time and resources), so you cannot be "fair" to everyone. You have to bet big on the winners and pull back from the others. Practical Tip: Audit your partner list this week. Apply the 80/20 rule. Who are the top 20% driving results? Shift 50% more of your time to them immediately. 3. The Product Pillar (The Mindset) Stop thinking about "recruiting" partners and start thinking about building a product for them. The partner is your user. If your portal or enablement process is clunky, they will churn just like a software user would. Practical Tip: Conduct a "User Interview" with your top 3 partners. Ask them: "What is the hardest part about doing business with us?" Then fix that one thing. 4. The Ecosystem Pillar (The Value Chain) Partners are often pigeonholed as just a sales channel (resellers). But in a modern ecosystem, they are a value multiplier across the entire business - from product innovation to marketing trust to customer success. Practical Tip: Set up a meeting between your best Service Partner and your VP of Customer Success. Find one account where the partner can help reduce churn. I am curious to hear your take on this evolution. Which of these four pillars is the biggest priority for your team right now?

This Omdia poll tells a story every partner leader should sit with for a moment. Partners aren’t asking for more swag. They’re asking for access, relevance, and proximity to decisions. When 40% say the most valuable non-monetary incentive is exclusive access to resources and enablement, that’s not a training problem — that’s a time-to-value problem. Partners want to be better, faster, and more credible in front of customers. --> Enablement is currency. The next tier is even more revealing. Relationship-building events, recognition, and strategy sessions with leadership all cluster tightly together. Translation: partners want to be seen, heard, and trusted. Not managed. Not processed. Included. What ranks lowest? Personalized merchandise. Swag doesn’t move pipelines. Access does. This mirrors what we see across partner ecosystems more broadly. As buying journeys fragment and deals surround themselves with more influencers, partners are optimizing for signal over stuff. They want insight before it’s public, alignment before the deal is registered, and a seat at the table before the customer decides. In fact, recognition beyond the point-of-sale is the #1 thing they are asking for. If incentives can follow, even better. The takeaway is simple: the best partner programs don’t lead with money or merch. They lead with information, influence, and intimacy. In the next era of partnerships, incentives won’t be transactional. They’ll be strategic.

Most partner ecosystems don't fail because of bad products. They fail because no one asked the hard questions upfront. Before I invest in any partner relationship, I ask 3 things. Real problem. Real commitment. Real 90-day proof. Full framework in my latest post. 👇 26 years in partner ecosystems taught me one thing early: not every partner relationship is worth building. I've seen companies — and I've been in companies — that chase partner logos like trophies. Sign the agreement. Take the photo. File the press release. Then wonder six months later why nothing moved. The relationships that actually drove revenue — at Microsoft, Google, HCL, Netmagic — all passed three questions I now ask before committing time, money, or a team to any partner. Q1: Is there a real customer problem we solve better together than apart? Not "do our portfolios overlap." Not "do we both sell to enterprises." The bar is: can we walk into a customer conversation and show them something neither of us could deliver alone? If I can't answer that in two sentences, the partnership isn't ready. At Netmagic, I learned this the hard way managing alliances with Accenture, EY, and KPMG simultaneously — the ones that produced pipeline had a crisp joint story. The ones that didn't were just logos on a slide. Q2: Do they have skin in the game — or are they waiting to see if we invest first? A partner who commits resources, assigns a named person, and shows up with their own pipeline targets is a completely different animal from one waiting to see what incentives you'll offer. I spent years working with GSIs like Infosys, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra at Microsoft. The co-sell motions that delivered had one thing in common: the partner had already made a bet. They'd built a practice. They'd trained a team. They were invested before we wrote the first check. Commitment signals commitment. Q3: Can we measure progress in 90 days — not 18 months? Long partnership timelines are where accountability goes to die. Every partnership I've built that scaled had early indicators we could track: leads qualified, joint pipeline created, deals co-sold, consumption milestones hit. If someone tells me we'll "see results next year," I ask what we'll see next quarter. If there's no answer, the relationship isn't structured — it's just optimistic. The discipline of a 90-day rhythm is what separates partnerships that produce from partnerships that persist without purpose. These questions won't make every partnership work. But they've helped me avoid the ones that were never going to. If you're building or inheriting a partner ecosystem right now — print these out and put them on the wall. What's the first question you ask before investing in a new partner? Drop it in the comments — I read every one. #PartnerEcosystem, #ChannelSales, #GTM, #CloudGrowth, #SalesLeadership, #MicrosoftPartners