How can you keep your partnership portfolio competitive?

To stay competitive with your channel partnerships, keep an eye on what's happening in the market, what customers want and what your competitors are doing. Talk to your partners often to see how things are going and where you can do better. Give them the training and tools they need to succeed and work together closely to build strong relationships. Be ready to change and adapt as things in the market change, so you can take advantage of the new opportunities.

By being mindful of what you are trying to achieve as a part of the larger strategy. I have always found thoughtful partnerships are the one where new value is getting created and not just exchanged.

In today's dynamic business landscape, maintaining a competitive edge requires a robust partnership portfolio strategy. To achieve this, defining clear partnership objectives is paramount. These objectives should align with overarching business goals, whether it's expanding market reach, accessing new technologies, or enhancing product offerings. By continuously evaluating and adapting partnership strategies, companies can stay agile and responsive to market demands, ensuring their portfolio remains competitive. Ultimately, fostering strategic partnerships not only amplifies innovation but also reinforces market positioning, driving sustainable growth in a rapidly evolving ecosystem.

Align & Evaluate: Regularly assess partnerships against your goals. Are they delivering value? Consider a framework like the BCG Matrix to categorize them (stars, dogs etc.) for prioritization. Stay Relevant: Actively seek new, innovative partners that complement your offerings and address evolving customer needs. Broaden your deal flow through industry events and external networks.

Para manter seu portfólio de parcerias competitivo, é crucial investir em relações duradouras e mutuamente benéficas, entender as necessidades e objetivos dos parceiros, e adaptar-se às mudanças do mercado. Mantenha-se atualizado com as tendências da mercado/vendor e inove constantemente, oferecendo soluções que agreguem valor real aos parceiros. Além disso, a transparência, a comunicação eficaz e o compromisso com a excelência são fundamentais para fortalecer a confiança e a lealdade, criando uma base sólida para o sucesso a longo prazo.

In my experience, clarity in partnership objectives is crucial. One time at work, we realized the importance of identifying exactly what we needed from our partners to support EasyWeGo’s mission. We focused on technological innovation, reliable networks, and efficient transportation management. By doing so, we ensured that every partnership added value, enhancing our service offerings and making our portfolio competitive. This approach allows us to communicate a compelling value proposition to potential partners, aligning our partnerships closely with our strategic goals.

My best partnerships have been where there is a logical combined sales opportunity. Where each of us brings defined value and by combining it, we offer an even better customer sevice.

*Define your problem / need or goals to achieve or opportunities that can be achieved through partnerships. *Develop a clearly defined partnerships strategy, as well as design and model your different mutually beneficial partnership programs carefully to become a solution for your problem / need, as well as, keeping them just as rewarding to your potential partners. (Ie. Promotion partnerships, product / service partnerships, purchase partnerships.. etc.). *Implement the first stages of partner acquisition, through partnerships mapping, scoping and building.

To maintain a competitive partnership portfolio, regular assessment is crucial. Start by evaluating existing partnerships against strategic objectives. Identify areas of strength, weakness, and untapped potential. Utilize metrics like revenue generation, market penetration, and customer satisfaction to gauge performance. Foster open communication with partners to align goals and address any challenges. Continuously seek out new opportunities that complement and enhance the portfolio. Adaptation, innovation, and collaboration are key to staying ahead in today's dynamic business landscape.

Conducting a partnership portfolio analysis using tools like the BCG matrix can provide valuable insights into the performance and potential of your partners. By categorizing them into star partners, question marks, cash cows, and dogs, you can make informed decisions on where to allocate resources and how to manage your partnerships effectively. This approach allows you to prioritize investments, nurture high-potential partners, maintain steady performers, and consider divestment for underperforming partnerships.

One thing I've found helpful is using the BCG matrix to evaluate our partnerships, categorizing them into Stars, Question Marks, Cash Cows, and Dogs. This method helped us spotlight underperforming partnerships that, with the right focus, could turn into valuable assets. By identifying and investing in our 'Star' partners and reevaluating less productive ones, we could dynamically adjust our portfolio to better meet our strategic objectives, ensuring our partnerships remain relevant and growth-focused.

Routine Offer Portfolio Assessment - will enable you to do a Partnership Portfolio Assessment. By Assessing the strengths of your company against gaps in various pillars for success, you can identify opportunities for growth and development without partners -- and if you add to the mix. By doing this regularly, you can identify areas where you 'could grow or offer better service if you had such a partner.' We do these types of Assessments for our clients regularly and identify areas for improvement and growth every time.

It is essential to keep track of partner performance, this is done through measuring partnership objectives vs. actual implementation and key results. This will assist you in identifying your top performing partners, low performing partners - who have high potential, and ultimately identifying the gaps in your partnership portfolio. Utilizing analysis tools such as BCG Matrix or CRM software, can assist you in retrieving valuable data on your partnership performance, through the data you can take action to improve performance, and scaling partner accounts to magnify value.

In today's dynamic business landscape, maintaining a competitive edge demands strategic optimization of partnership portfolios. A diverse mix of partnerships can fortify your market presence, enhance offerings, and drive innovation. Begin by assessing existing partnerships, identifying gaps, and aligning with business objectives. Continuously evaluate partnerships for mutual benefit and adapt to evolving market trends. Embrace collaborations that complement strengths and mitigate weaknesses, fostering a symbiotic ecosystem. By fine-tuning your partnership mix, you pave the way for sustained relevance and market leadership.

Optimizing our partnership mix was essential after assessing our portfolio. By mapping our partners against the Ansoff matrix, we identified gaps, particularly in geographic coverage and technology. For instance, discovering a lack of presence in South America led us to secure a strategic partnership there, filling a critical gap. This strategy of continuous portfolio optimization ensures that EasyWeGo offers a comprehensive solution to our users, maintaining a competitive edge in the market.

Partnerships can come through any stage within the customer journey. Once you have identified a clear strategy and business bottlenecks, you can mobilize partnerships and reinforce different areas in your ecosystem. Ansoff matrix and partnership opportunity mapping can help you define your target partners based on market fit. This includes partner landscape assessment and a list of prioritized partnership concepts and potential partners. Ultimately, this leads to having a partner mix that is in complete alignment with your strategy and objectives.

To maintain a competitive edge in your partnership portfolio, constant monitoring and performance measurement are essential. By regularly assessing the effectiveness of each partnership, you can identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Utilize key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to your goals, such as revenue growth, customer acquisition, or market share. Adjust strategies as needed to optimize outcomes and ensure alignment with your overall business objectives. This proactive approach fosters adaptability, innovation, and sustained success in a dynamic marketplace.

Regularly monitoring and measuring partnership performance has been key. By establishing specific KPIs for each partnership and utilizing a dashboard for real-time tracking, we could swiftly address issues and capitalize on opportunities. This approach led to significant improvements, such as enhancing payment wallet integrations, directly contributing to better user experiences and fulfilling our strategic goals through data-driven decision-making.

Partnerships flourish by establishing governance through mutually agreed upon OKR (Objectives & Key Results) or KPIs, and having established operational and management structures. Utilizing the partner dashboard to track activities, and retrieve performance and progress reports. The partner dashboard has to include all key performance indicators in a clearly measured and data-forward setting.

In today's dynamic business landscape, maintaining a competitive partnership portfolio is essential for sustained success. One key strategy is to prioritize communication and collaboration with partners. Regular dialogue ensures alignment of goals, identifies emerging opportunities, and addresses any challenges promptly. By fostering transparent and open relationships, organizations can leverage collective expertise and resources to stay ahead in the market. Embracing a culture of collaboration not only enhances innovation but also strengthens the resilience of the partnership ecosystem, enabling businesses to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing environment.

In my experience as Senior Partnerships Analyst a few ways in which I’ve been successful in communicating & collaborating with partners is through some of the following: • Office Hours • Community of Practice • Weekly Newsletter • Monthly Digest

Maintaining open communication and fostering collaboration has strengthened our partnerships significantly. Routine discussions and joint projects have not only solved challenges but also sparked innovation, like our green initiative with a transportation partner. These efforts enhance our service quality and reinforce a sense of shared purpose, proving that regular dialogue and collaborative ventures are essential for long-term success.

A partnership without effective communication, will fizzle and burn in a second. Engaging with partners is one of the key factors for having a fully active partnership portfolio, this can be achieved through the following: *Establishing regular communication: through weekly meetings, email, calls. *Using project management tools such as Asana to report on progress, provide feedback or needed approvals in a timely manner. *Participating in industry events. *Create co-marketing and promotional campaigns. *Develop loyalty programs for top performing partners. *At all times maintain a collaborative mindset with a win-win mentality. The key is to always engage and maximize on opportunities that will help all parties achieve their objectives.

You must always strive to keep your portfolio competitive. You should expect to attract the best of the best when it comes to your ecosystem. If you are not attracting them, then you need to look internally and see where you can continually bring innovative offerings that add incremental value to them and their customer base. When I ran partnerships for a smaller SaaS organization that was competing with some of the largest and most heavily funded companies in the space, I made sure I spoke to our top partner prospects to see how we could do more with them. We invited them into our product roadmap meetings, our sales and marketing meetings, and made them feel that they were an extension of us. Always look to improve.

An example of our best partnership is with a company called Frieser & Schuckmann. We are supporting IT channel partners in developing more profitable, Consultative Offers for the new EU NIS2 compliancy directive. One of the offer components is F&S's CyberBasics Compliancy Management Platform. It is a perfect fit for partners that want recurring revenue, CEO conversations and more profit. It makes the Compliancy Offers we develop for our clients highly desirable.

Staying flexible and open to unexpected opportunities is vital. A serendipitous meeting at a conference introduced us to an innovative payment solution, highlighting the value of networking and staying connected with the industry. Such encounters can lead to partnerships that defy conventional criteria but offer substantial benefits, emphasizing the importance of a culture that encourages curiosity and openness to new ideas.