Should we be comping our sales team on involvement in partner deals and if so how should we set this up?

I truly believe that a fair compensation strategy—such as AEs getting compensated every time a deal is closed in their territory, even if it’s sourced by the partner—combined with a strong channel mindset from management, can be enough to motivate the team to collaborate with partners. This becomes even more effective when the channel team can clearly demonstrate the value of involving a partner in the deal, showing how it benefits everyone involved and drives success.

Sales should always understand the value of partnerships. It’s a give some to get some play. Sales reps should know, the more they provide, the more they’ll get back on their own deals. 

 But if you need more engagement, absolutely, comp your sales teams as appropriate. You can set this up a few ways: 
 Influence: SPIFF your sales team for every time they influence a partner deal

 Referrals: If you have a referral partnership agreement, allow that percentage to go towards your reps quota retirement if the deal closes. This should be very clear for your internal team when you sign referral agreement. 

 If your partner isn’t reciprocating to your sales team, have that open discussion. It takes two to tango.

Comp neutrality is critical. The partner teams will not be successful, plain and simple. And partners won’t want to work with the sales teams because they will be afraid the reps will take the deal directly. You need the CRO or CSO alignment to be sure it’s written in the rules of engagement and the sales comp plan. This is non-negotiable in my book.

This is an interesting question! I do believe that every sales org is different dependent on the size, maturity, and market position of the company, but when partner deals are incentivized or prioritized, the outcomes can include: 1. Increased affinity by the partner (by proving you're easy to work with and provide white-glove service) 2. Increased incentive for sales to participate in partner initiatives (ex. outreach for client-facing events) However, to be successful with a sales team, I find it most important to be able to showcase the value that a partner brings to a sales cycle. We often find that our partner-led sales cycles close faster and at a higher win rate. We're able to gain more information about how the client is feeling and get more clarity on the pain points they're experiencing.

Managing potential friction with a direct sales team, that is not inclined or aligned to co-sell is a dangerous proposition that can lead to losing trust. A few factors to consider: Does the sales cycle require touches and engagement from the sales team? Is your direct team compensated at par value for deals that transact via partners? Do you have a process, program in place that protects partner margin aka deal registration? Are your company's sales, finance and partner leadership teams on the same page about the role of partners in driving revenue growth? I would aim for full compensation alignment and clear roles and responsibilities early on. Now, in the case of supporting a geography or vertical that may not have or need direct sales support, you may opt to increase the expectation from the partner and also consider paying a higher percentage of revenue to offset investments that the partner makes.

The best way to get sales reps more involved with partners is to make it comp neutral for them. Example - List price is $100. Partner gets 40% discount off list so $60 is what the company nets. Comp neutral would be the sales rep at your company getting quota attainment and commission on the $100, not $60. I prefer an in the middle approach of splitting the difference as the customer is unlikely to pay list price if they had gone direct so the sales rep in this scenario gets comped on $80.