What are the 3 most important things to kicking off a successful service partner program?

- First and foremost, a crystal clear answer to the question - "Am I ready for a partner program and what do I want to achieve by launching a partner program"? The partners are the customers to the partner program, and hence develop this as an offering. - Clear alignment with the leadership on what do we as the entire org aim to achieve with this partner program. Get their buy-in, and not just that, also clearly articulate what would would be expected of them. When I was launching the partner program at Whatfix, I spent almost 1 Q going to the leadership of Sales, Solution, Marketing, Delivery/Customer Success, Sales Enablement, Learning, Finance, CRO, and CEO to present to them the draft, get their feedback, and then present the final version again. Treat it like a large transformation, and trust me it takes a lot of time and effort to align everyone. - Once the top 2 are done, define a clear and simple to understand partner program. It could be the version 1 or even an MVP, but keep it simple with clearly articulated growth paths, credentials required, enablement plan, benefits (both programmatic and commercial) and be ready to launch it quickly. Make sure you've clearly answered WIIFM for the partner.

1. Setting goals and expectations. Understand what value you can actually drive together in the beginning. If there’s only 1 or 2 opportunities you can realistically work on, be up front and focus on those specific wins. This goes back to ICP alignment as well. Don’t try to boil the ocean.

 2. Enablement, enablement, enablement. Ensure they know your value proposition and product so they can build their talk track

 3. Consistency in communication. Engage with your service partners often. Share knowledge that you’re hearing with your prospects and clients, using your service partner as an extended consultant. 


1. Dedicated resources (people) Your partners need point people to go to, and you need people to advocate for your partners. Be prepared to hire partner managers and clearly define their roles and responsibilities. 2. Enablement Create enablement programs for your internal teams and your service partners. Teach your sales and CX teams how to work with partners, and how to escalate requests. Educate your partners on your product, as well as how to effectively co-sell and co-service with your internal teams. 3. Systems for tracking Partnerships mean nothing if we can’t point to results. Establish communication channels, create dedicated properties for reporting in your CRM, and consider Partner Relationship Management (PRM) tools to help track partner engagement.

I will come back to JVP for this one. Joint value is really the sun and the moon here. You need to be very clear what you are each bringing to the partnership, and be hyper aware of any gaps or overlaps, so miscommunication can be avoided. Make sure your partner incentive packages are configured in a such a way that adds value to everyone involved. And be flexible where you can. Some partners are looking to generate incremental revenue streams through referral commission. Other partners would rather pass incentives on to their customers to maximize the customer experience.  If I had to list exactly three things that are important to kicking off a successful service partner program, I would say: 1. Joint value proposition  2. Ideal partner profile (industry, region, size, etc) 3. Partner incentives - this is a big part of the overall JVP, but it is what is ultimately going to drive growth for your program. 

I couldn't just list 3! Sorry! :D 1: Ask what they want. It’s great to have some ideas, but validate with your partners. Ask them what would be interesting, what do they need to grow their business? What can you do to help them grow? Where are they struggling? If you could change one thing with a magic wand, what would it be? 2: Find your stars. Find your IDEAL partners and create a very close relationship with them. Involve them with everything and start EVERYTHING with them. This is needed for the next one. 3: Create an online community. This is so valuable - I cannot stress this enough. We could have an AMA by itself on how to do it - but this could be the main source of value for your company in the coming years if done correctly. This is important because you want them to connect with each other and provide a feedback loop to you. This is how you guage interest in ideas, have discussions about what you might implement, and a great place to celebrate feature releases to an audience that is as excited about it as you are. 4: Build what they need. I answered this in another question - but this is critical. When you ask what they want, listen. When you announce a feature request that was inspired by them - tell them it was their requests that kicked this into production. Their feedback should be your roadmap - and they NEED to know it. 5: Don’t over-promise. It’s really hard to take a perk away once you’ve given it. Start small - and if you want to increase a perk you can always add it later to a higher tier.