Freshworks Principal - Partner Program and Operations , Ramya Rajuon Partner Program Strategy

Kicking off a successful service partner program boils down to three critical pillars: 1.Crystal-Clear Value Proposition for Partners: Before you recruit anyone, you must articulate why partnering with you is a game-changer for their business. What specific problems do you solve for their customers that they can't solve alone? How will partners make money (margins, services revenue, recurring revenue)? What unique market access or competitive advantage do you offer? If you can't clearly answer "WIIFM" (What's In It For Me) for a partner, you won't attract the right ones. 2.Streamlined Onboarding & Robust Foundational Enablement: The moment a partner signs, you need a frictionless path to activation. This means a well-defined onboarding journey (agreements, system access, commercial setup), followed by comprehensive, accessible, and mandatory training leading to certification. Partners must quickly gain the confidence and competence to sell, implement, and support your product effectively. 3.Ironclad Rules of Engagement (ROE) & Sales Alignment: This is often the make-or-break factor. You must define clear, transparent rules that govern how your direct sales team and partners interact on deals, manage leads, and handle account ownership. Crucially, your direct sales team needs to be incentivized, not penalized, for working with partners. Proactive communication and joint sales planning sessions are essential to build trust and avoid channel conflict from day one.

That's a critical point for any Partner Program Leader – aligning your goals with executive expectations is key to demonstrating value. For service/certified partners, while revenue is always paramount, it's a blend of direct and indirect contributions: Revenue Goals: 1.Partner-Sourced ARR/MRR: The direct revenue partners bring in. This is the simplest measure for the exec team. 2.Partner-Influenced ARR/MRR: Revenue where a certified partner played a crucial role in implementation, integration, or solution design, even if the direct sale was handled by your team. This demonstrates their strategic impact. 3.Attach Rate: The percentage of new deals where a certified service partner is engaged for implementation or ongoing services. Other Key Goals: 1.Partner Activation Rate: How many new partners complete onboarding and achieve initial certifications within a defined timeframe. 2.Certified Capacity: The total number of certified individuals within your partner ecosystem, indicating their ability to scale. 3.Customer Success Metrics (Partner-Led): Higher customer retention rates, CSAT, or NPS scores for clients served by certified service partners. This proves the quality of their delivery. 4.Pipeline Contribution: The volume and value of leads or opportunities partners bring to the table. What the Exec Team Needs to See: They want to see sustainable, efficient growth. This means: 1.A clear upward trend in partner-sourced/influenced revenue. 2.Evidence that partners are improving customer retention and satisfaction. 3.Scalability – that the program can grow without a linear increase in your internal resources. 4.Strategic market penetration – partners opening up new geographies or industry verticals. 5.A healthy, engaged partner ecosystem that acts as an extension of your own GTM.

Partner training and certification are non-negotiable for building a high-performing, scalable partner ecosystem. For us at a SaaS company, the benefits are clear: 1.Quality Control & Brand Reputation: Certifications ensure partners possess the necessary product knowledge and implementation skills. This leads to higher quality deployments, better customer experiences, and ultimately, protects our brand reputation. 2.Reduced Support Burden: Well-trained partners can resolve many customer issues themselves, reducing the load on our internal support teams and improving overall customer satisfaction. 3.Scalability & Reach: Partners extend our sales and service footprint into new markets and segments more efficiently than direct sales alone. Certified partners can independently drive adoption and success. For the partners themselves, the value is immense: 1.Credibility & Differentiation: Certification validates their expertise, making them more trustworthy to customers and helping them stand out in a crowded market. 2.Increased Profitability: Deeper product knowledge leads to more successful sales cycles, higher implementation margins, and the ability to handle more complex (and lucrative) projects. 3.Access to Opportunities: We prioritize certified partners for leads, co-selling opportunities, and implementation projects .

Enablement is where many partner programs either thrive or stumble. From my experience, here are some common partner enablement mistakes I've seen and learned to watch out for: 1.One-Size-Fits-All Enablement: This is perhaps the biggest pitfall. Treating all partners (resellers, services, technology, referral) the same is a recipe for disengagement. Each partner type has different needs, motivations, and interaction points with your product and team. Your enablement should be tailored, offering specific tracks for sales, technical, and implementation roles. A services partner, for instance, needs deep technical certifications and implementation best practices, not just sales decks. 2.Information Overload & Lack of Structure: Dumping a massive library of documents onto a partner portal and calling it "enablement" is ineffective. Partners are busy. Provide structured learning paths, clear certification requirements, and easily digestible content. Use an LMS (Learning Management System) and a well-organized PRM (Partner Relationship Management) system to guide them. 3."Set It and Forget It" Mentality: Enablement isn't a one-time onboarding event. Your product evolves, your market shifts, and your partners need continuous updates. Regular webinars, refreshers, advanced training, and early access to new features are vital to keep them engaged and competent. 4.Neglecting the "Why": Partners need to understand not just how to sell/implement, but why your solution is valuable to their customers and their own business. Focus on use cases, ROI, and competitive differentiation, not just feature lists. 5.Lack of Measurement and Feedback: Are your enablement efforts actually leading to partner activation, pipeline, and revenue? If you're not tracking completion rates, certification levels, and their correlation to performance, you are flying blind. Crucially, solicit direct feedback from partners on what enablement they need and what's working.

Partner recruitment is the core of building a robust partner ecosystem.It's not just about their existing client base or their size; it's about their genuine willingness to invest in understanding our product deeply, getting certified, and then actively delivering exceptional value to shared customers. We want partners who see our solution as a strategic pillar for their own growth, not just another line item. This commitment translates into proactive engagement, quality implementations, and ultimately, happy, retained customers. My non-negotiables, therefore, stem directly from this: 1.Alignment with our Ideal Partner Profile (IPP): Do they target our ideal customer segments? Do their services complement our product? We need to ensure a mutual market fit from day one. 2.Investment in Enablement & Certification: Partners must be willing to dedicate resources to training and achieving necessary certifications. Without this foundational knowledge, they cannot effectively sell, implement, or support our solution. This commitment to learning is non-negotiable. 3.Shared Values & Integrity: Trust is the bedrock of any successful partnership. We look for partners who operate with transparency and a genuine focus on long-term relationships, both with us and with the end customer.

When to operationalize an early-stage partner program? The moment you sign your first partner. It's about establishing foundational, repeatable flows, not building a perfect, complex system from day one. Prioritize these core processes: 1.Partner Onboarding: Crucial for first impressions and rapid activation. Define clear, step-by-step journeys with automated communications and initial enablement paths, ensuring quick system provisioning (PRM, CRM, LMS access). 2.Basic Enablement & Resource Access: Equip partners to sell and support immediately. Provide core sales/marketing collateral, foundational product training, and a simple partner portal for resources and certifications. 3.Partner Types & Commercials: Clearly define 1-2 initial partner types and establish simple, transparent resale discounts or commission structures. Implement a clear deal registration process to prevent early channel conflict. 4.Systems to Track: You can't manage what you don't measure. Implement a PRM as your single source of truth, integrate with your CRM, and set up basic reporting for key metrics like partner-sourced pipeline and onboarding completion. 5.Internal Collaboration & Conflict Avoidance: This is vital. Establish clear Rules of Engagement (ROE) between channel and direct sales teams. Align compensation and foster regular communication to ensure mutual benefit and prevent friction. 6.Focus Countries: Strategically prioritize markets based on an Ideal Partner Profile (IPP) and market analysis, concentrating resources where they will yield the most impact. Remember, operationalization is an iterative journey. Start lean, refine continuously, and always keep the partner experience at the forefront to build a scalable and successful ecosystem.

Designing an effective tiering system for service/solutions partners is crucial for fostering engagement and growth. The core principle is to create a clear, motivating path that aligns with their business objectives, moving beyond simple "Gold, Silver, Bronze" or tier labels. First, define the system's purpose: what behaviors are you incentivizing? For service partners, this often means driving capability, capacity, and customer satisfaction. Next, establish clear, measurable criteria for progression. Beyond just revenue, include metrics like: 1.Certifications & Expertise: Demonstrating deep product knowledge and implementation skills. 2.Implementation Success: Tracking customer satisfaction and successful project deliveries. 3.Customer Retention/NPS: Indicating the quality of their ongoing service. 4.Pipeline Contribution: Their role in generating new business opportunities. Then, design differentiated and valuable benefits for each tier. These must genuinely motivate partners to invest more. Think beyond just higher resale discounts to include: 1.Dedicated Support: Enhanced access to Partner Account Managers and technical resources. 2.Advanced Enablement: Exclusive training, early access to features, and Marketing Development Funds (MDF). 3.Visibility & Recognition: Prominent listing and joint marketing opportunities. 4.Operational Support: Enhanced PRM access and API integrations for seamless management.