TL/DR
To see faster growth from co-selling companies must embrace and enforce the first principles of common decency when selling with partners. Much like the golden rule we all learned in kindergarten, these co-selling first principles sound obvious, but can are hard to adopt and build-in to your organization’s DNA.
There are some fundamental principles that must be embraced and enforced across sales teams for companies to see faster growth from co-selling. It’s not enough to have co-selling friendly policies on paper, they must be enforced to be truly embraced and woven into the DNA of your sales organization.
As you consider The Co-Selling Manifesto and build your business case for co-selling transformation, please consider what it will take to get your sales teams to adopt and enforce these co-selling first principles:
- Put the customer first. Align with partners that can help each customer, or each new buyer, be successful.
- Respect relationships. If a partner brings you into an account where they have built a strong relationship, say thank you and ask: “how can I help?”
- Don’t be an asshole. Never sabotage a partner’s deal by bringing in their competitor.
- Build a coalition. Identify and engage with all the partners that have relationships with your buyer.
- Don’t compete against your partners. Never compete with a partner that brought you into an opportunity or a relationship with a new potential buyer.
- Let the relationship owner take the lead. Embrace a supporting role to win the deal with less friction.
- Activate the whisper network. Engage partners to endorse your solution at the moments that matter.
- Be comp neutral and channel agnostic. Let your buyers choose how they want to purchase, and pay your reps the same whether they close the deal directly, through a partner, or on a cloud marketplace.
To learn more about co-selling best practices we recommend you read: