Marketers in partner-driven businesses can do all sorts of great things for their partners, but if it does not relate back to how the partners can use it to drive more for their business, then a marketer’s efforts will go to waste.
A Marketing Leader, Speaker, Podcast Host of Heads In The Cloud, and CMO of Star2Star Communications, David Portnowitz, delivers a call to action to marketers to be the driving force in their partner relationships. Just building a partner portal or creating a helpful guide will not work. This episode discusses how marketers can provide value to their partners, to continue to strengthen relationships and drive revenue.



 
Takeaways:
In a partner-driven sales model, you have to arm your partners with valuable content that will help them do their job better and close deals.
Great ways to stay top of mind to your partners are to send them a personalized thank you gift with a note, do a road show and have in-person meetings with small events, and send them relevant content about what matters to them.
Marketers need to help keep their sales team informed. What kind of industry or competitor insights can you bring to them, that they can then bring back to your partners and prospective clients?
Understand who your partner is trying to sell to, the verticals, and their challenges. Use that knowledge to provide them with helpful information and become invaluable to them.
Treat sales as one of your customers and find out what you can do to help them close more deals.
Think about the best customer service experience you have ever had, whether it was at a top restaurant or in a retail store. What can you learn from that experience that you can apply to your own business for your customers?
Career advice: Be patient and don’t take things personally.

 
Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-portnowitz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DPortno
Star2Star Communications: https://www.star2star.com/
Heads In The Cloud Podcast: https://headsinthecloud.simplecast.com/episodes
Thnks: https://www.thnks.com/
Setting The Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer: https://www.amazon.com/Setting-Table-Transforming-Hospitality-Business/dp/0060742763




 
Busted Myths:
If you build a partner portal, your partners will automatically start using it. - This is NOT the case. You have to market the portal to your partners. You have to convince them why they should use it, how it is going to help them fill their pipeline, and provide content that is essential to their business. The phrase “If you build it they will come.” does not apply here.




 
Shout Outs:
46:44 Drift




 
Ways to Tune In:
iTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6Kdsamn
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show
Google Play - https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_Show
YouTube - Full video - https://youtu.be/8DfETFhrAp0