PandaDoc Strategic Alliances Manager, Jake Schapiroon Partner Program Strategy

Rather than avoiding pitfalls, I’ll give a few tips on things that help avoid creating pitfalls in general. 1. When entering partnerships, it’s important to have clearly defined goals and expectations from both partners. Having alignment in values, target markets, and long-term vision between partners creates a roadmap for success. Ideally, the goal is to create a well-defined partnership agreement that outlines roles, responsibilities, and expectations. 2. Create effective communication channels and utilize collaborative project management tools. Establish regular check-ins bi-weekly and then adjust to either monthly or weekly if needed. Create realistic expectations regarding timelines, deliverables, and outcomes. Likewise, make sure to provide proper support and training for partners. 3. Do the proper due diligence to thoroughly evaluate a potential partner's capabilities, reputation, and financial stability. It shouldn’t be awkward, the partner should be proud to share case studies, client references, and industry reviews. Don’t take for granted the partner's technical expertise, resources, and track record. 4. I’m not sure whether to make this its own or include it with #1, but it feels like it’s worth its own spot: Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track partnership success.

You always need to highlight and go back to your answer to what's in it for them? Check out “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek. More specifically, clearly communicate how they solve specific customer pain points or enhance their workflows. Be sure to show tangible benefits like increased efficiency, cost savings, or improved data insights. Examples include video tutorials or interactive demos and examples of how customers have been successful in adopting XYZ. I always think it’s useful to have a user-friendly interface within your platform where customers can easily discover and explore available integrations. If not within the platform, a partner directory or marketplace works great. Make sure to provide clear descriptions, screenshots, and ratings for each integration. If you are able to do it within your platform and you have the data and messaging capabilities for it, utilize in-app messaging to notify customers about relevant integrations based on their usage patterns. Eliminate friction for your customer. Minimize the complexity of the integration setup process. Provide step-by-step guides, tutorials, and readily available support, but make them unnecessary for customers. Create detailed documentation, including FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and API documentation, but once again make them unnecessary for customers.

In all of my partnerships roles I've tracked revenue sourced from tech partners through a lead submission process and a tagging in the CRM on the deal that attributes the revenue to the tech partner. At it's most basic, it's sending over the company url to a partner manager, but a simple form tool or a partner management software like PartnerStack can certainly make things easier.

It's not just about finding a company with the right technology, it's about finding a partner that aligns with your goals and values. First make sure you’ve defined your needs and clearly articulated what you're looking for in a technology partner. Here are some questions I like to ask: - Does the partner's technology and expertise complement your existing offerings and support your overall business strategy? - Does the partner's target market align with yours? - Will the partnership help you reach new customers or expand existing accounts? - Can the integration be achieved seamlessly? - Are they responsive and easy to work with?

Use your marketing team and your partner’s marketing team. Send targeted email campaigns to promote relevant integrations to specific customer segments. Create blog posts, articles, and white papers that highlight the benefits of your integrations. Develop content that addresses common customer pain points and how integrations can solve them. By collaborating with your partners on joint marketing campaigns you’ll reach a wider audience. If there’s an opportunity to co-host webinars or have joint participation in industry events, even better. As I said in another answer, if you are able to do it within your platform and you have the data and messaging capabilities for it, utilize in-app messaging to notify customers about relevant integrations based on their usage patterns.

First you need to develop joint business plans with partners outlining clear goals, objectives, and strategies for driving adoption. Develop and deliver comprehensive onboarding programs that educate partners on your technology, value proposition, and sales process. Offer regular training sessions and certifications, conduct joint sales training sessions. Maintain regular communication with partners to provide updates, address concerns, and foster strong relationships, I talked in another answer about bi-weekly meetings. Like I said previously, establish clear communication channels and protocols. Act as an advocate for partners within your organization and facilitate collaboration between partners and internal teams. Actively solicit feedback from partners on their experiences and identify areas for improvement. Create compelling content that highlights the benefits of partner integrations and showcase partner success stories.

I love this one. A few different ways you can approach it and adjust goals over time. Here’s a “menu”: 1. Adoption & Activation Milestones A. Set a target for the number of customers who activate the integration within a specific timeframe (e.g., 30, 60, 90 days). B. Track the percentage of customers who successfully onboard and use the integration. C. Monitor how frequently customers are using the integration features. 2. Sales & Revenue Milestones A. Establish a target for the number of joint sales opportunities created within a specific period. B. Set initial revenue goals for the integrated solution, share these revenue goals between both companies. C. Set targets for how many of each company's customers are utilizing the other company’s product.

I’ll admit I’m not the expert when it comes to technical quality or security but here are some of the things I think about here: - Robust integration functionality with seamless data flow and functionality between your platform and the partner’s. - Clear documentation of the integration's technical specifications and capabilities including detailed technical documentation for your internal teams and mutual customers. - Adherence to your API standards and best practices. - Completion of a security assessment or audit, demonstrating compliance with industry standards - Easy to follow onboarding documentation for end users. Like I said in another answer, eliminate friction. - Establishment of dedicated support channels for integration-related inquiries. These can be mutually defined but should include service level agreements (SLAs) for response times and issue resolution plus clear escalation paths. To boil it down, I would say the must haves are security, reliability, and support.