5 Silly Partner Proposition Mistakes

The size of your company doesn't matter when you have a compelling Partner Proposition. In today's world, if you were a one-person company working from your kitchen with a Covid-19 vaccine, the world would find a path to your door. 

If there was one area you could improve to be more successful in selling globally through partners, it is boosting the value you offer in your partner proposition. 

 Partner Proposition is one of the three pillars of partner success along with Partner Fit and Partner Enablement. These three pillars a deeply intertwined. 

 The top 5 mistakes tech companies make in their Partner Propositions:

1) Thinking Partner Commissions is everything 

Partners are unlikely to change their business based on the revenue share a vendor is offering. Many vendors wrongly believe they will and waste so much time and effort engaging partners with weak partner propositions.  

 When a reseller is evaluating to sell a solution to sell, revenue share is number three, after they've assessed the product is suitable for their business. 

 2) Misaligned Proposition to Partners Business Drivers

It is a fundamental mistake thinking that your offer is the same for all target partner types. Different business types have different business drivers, and your Partner Proposition will need to be adjusted to align with each business type. 

This mistake is a lack of understanding of the partners' business and what is important to them.

3) Deal Size and Shape Imbalance

Deal Size imbalance is a Partner Fit mistake, where what you are offering is so much different than the partner's typical deal size. Equally, if your product doesn't enable additional services revenues to a services-driven company, then they are less motivated. 

Would you consider asking an enterprise solution reseller to sell a low-monthly fee SaaS solution?

This imbalance may be at a business level or at the frontline, where the salesperson's commissions on your product are insufficient to motivate them.  

 4) Offering No Support - Expecting Partners to do everything

Partner Enablement is a part of a Partner Proposition that grossly underserved. 

For a reseller to decide on selling your product, you are asking them to make an investment decision across the marketing and sales effort versus the return on that investment.

If you can make their job easier with better enablement with training, materials, and proactive marketing and sales support, it reduces their efforts and eases their sales. 

5) Designing the Partner out of your Proposition

Too many product managers specify solutions easing the customer journey while forgetting their go-to-market and the value offered by channel partners. 

Companies need to consider designing-in features offering value to their channel partners and better enable their go-to-market.  

Some examples are fitting the specific partner features, free partner licences, and creating partner services around your product while offering greater value for customers. 

These are some examples highlighting some opportunities for improving Partner Propositions. If you would like to learn more about Partner Proposition development for different product types and different partner types, click here to download your Partner Proposition Checklist.