Best of LinkedIn: Channel Marketing & Partner Ecosystem CW 37/ 38

00:00:00: Provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frennis, based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about channel marketing in partner ecosystem.

00:00:07: In calendar weeks thirty seven and thirty eight.

00:00:09: Frennis is a B to D market research company that supports enterprise marketing teams in unlocking the full potential of their customer data with the help of AI.

00:00:18: you can find more info in the description.

00:00:20: Yeah, so today our mission is to explore how go-to market motions are just fundamentally shifting right now We are taking a shortcut to being well informed on the absolute top trends in chattel marketing and partner ecosystems across linkedin.

00:00:34: Right will explore.

00:00:36: How do actually enable partners?

00:00:37: The operational tech stack that's required.

00:00:39: And you know the rapidly changing economics of hyperscalars.

00:00:42: and for you listening whether your say prepping for Q four strategy meeting or just trying to navigate the massive web of BDB partnerships, this deep dive will give you the focused no fluff insights.

00:00:53: You really need exactly.

00:00:55: so let's start with this major shift away from cold outbound because the data here is just wild.

00:00:59: Spencer Peric noted that BDB buyers now spend only seventeen percent other purchase cycle actually talking to vendors

00:01:06: Which means, you know the other eighty-three percent is happening completely in The Dark.

00:01:10: Right?

00:01:10: In The Dark like they're in private communities or using AI answer engines Or tapping into peer networks?

00:01:17: Exactly!

00:01:17: They are seeking out that trusted unfiltered information and because of That the strategy now Is what Spencer calls ecosystem led

00:01:25: growth.

00:01:26: Okay ecosystem-led growth.

00:01:28: Right,

00:01:28: which basically puts your product inside the buyer's network before they even start looking for a solution.

00:01:34: because I mean warm outbound from those ecosystems converts it something like three to five times.

00:01:39: Yeah,

00:01:40: it's a massive difference.

00:01:41: And Pari Natarashan over at Zinov connects this directly to the broader AI disruption we're seeing.

00:01:47: He says that for the next three-to five years The software vendors that own the partner ecosystem will own the enterprise

00:01:54: account Own the ecosystem on the account.

00:01:57: Exactly!

00:01:57: If you just need massive reach though Why not just pump our product through our massive legacy reseller networks?

00:02:05: It's like trying to play a next-gen VR game on the nineties retro console.

00:02:08: Yeah,

00:02:09: that is the perfect analogy honestly and he backs up this ecosystem shift with four specific reasons.

00:02:15: first Is reach without linear cost

00:02:18: right so you don't have to hire A new rep for every single territory

00:02:21: exactly?

00:02:22: second is outcome ownership partners actually sit inside The customers operations all

00:02:27: right

00:02:27: which drives a ninety percent gross retention rate versus just seventy percent when it's the vendor.

00:02:32: Wait,

00:02:33: really?

00:02:33: A twenty-percent jump... Yeah!

00:02:34: It's huge.

00:02:35: and third reason is last mile innovation.

00:02:39: Systems integrators are ones building out vertical layers.

00:02:42: Okay that makes sense.

00:02:43: And fourth

00:02:44: The fourth is what he calls honest tradeoff Basically accepting channel conflict so you can pull away from your competitors.

00:02:50: But going back to your point about legacy resellers, Leila Coupel Patel argues that they rarely sell complex saws effectively

00:02:58: because They're just set up to print cash on old legacy products.

00:03:01: Exactly!

00:03:02: They completely misaligned with future portfolios That require heavy technical validation and a multi-stakeholder alignment.

00:03:09: Accessed to a customer doesn't automatically equal the skill To sell complex solutions.

00:03:14: So If legacy resellers won't work for complex size, we obviously need to properly enable the right partners.

00:03:22: But how do we actually do that?

00:03:24: Well George Hope has a really interesting philosophy on this.

00:03:27: he says companies fundamentally misunderstand enablement because they just try to get partners to sell their specific products

00:03:34: like sitting them in a room with forty slides about your new features

00:03:37: yeah which nobody wants.

00:03:39: instead you should ask the partner what are you already and figure out how to make that twenty-five percent better.

00:03:46: Oh, I love that!

00:03:47: So for example if they do cloud migrations you help them make those migrations faster?

00:03:51: Exactly.

00:03:52: or If They Build AI Infrastructure You Make It More Secure You Enhance What They Already Do.

00:03:57: That completely flips the script.

00:03:59: Yeah.

00:03:59: And Jeremy Jeanjean adds a really critical layer here too.

00:04:02: He says great enablement isn't about delivering more training or theory.

00:04:06: Right.

00:04:07: It's all about field confidence and consistency, it's about practicing real customer situations.

00:04:12: And ultimately asking one question does that help the teams win?

00:04:17: If you're trying to get those early wins Allie Narelden has some great advice for new market entrance.

00:04:23: Don't chase the giant partners right away

00:04:26: because you just get lost in a noise.

00:04:27: Yeah

00:04:28: Pretty much.

00:04:29: Start with a few specialized, small or mid-sized partners.

00:04:33: being twenty percent of the ten million dollar business gets you way more long term focus than be one percent hundred million dollars giant

00:04:41: right?

00:04:41: You have to co sell on the ground and actually close business within.

00:04:45: build that loyalty.

00:04:46: exactly so we're enabling them in field were making their own products better but how do know our messaging is actually landing.

00:04:53: So Chuck Kiesling has a really painful litmus test for this.

00:04:57: He says Microsoft Partner Motions only scale when the sellers can explain your value unaided.

00:05:03: Unaided, so like without the founder in the room?

00:05:06: Right if you need the Founder In The Room just to explain the product that's not a scalable motion That is a bottleneck as he puts it capability matters but clarity scales

00:05:15: Capability Matters But Clarity Scales.

00:05:19: I really like that.

00:05:20: Real quick, before we dive into the engine room that makes all this work.

00:05:24: just a casual reminder to subscribe with The Deep Dye Feed so you don't miss our future strategic additions.

00:05:30: Okay So We have strategy and clear messaging.

00:05:32: Yeah But scaling This requires fundamental shift in company operations right?

00:05:38: It

00:05:38: absolutely does.

00:05:39: Mike Mason brings up hard truth here.

00:05:41: He says Co-Sell is not a partner program it's a Company Operating Model.

00:05:46: Okay, meaning it can't just live in the partner team silo?

00:05:49: Exactly.

00:05:49: It requires executive buy-in inclusion and standard pipeline reviews an updated compensation structure marketing alignment The whole nine yards.

00:05:58: And doing that across an entire company requires a pretty serious text out.

00:06:01: Oh

00:06:01: definitely

00:06:02: Rob Moyer talks about the Partner RevOps stack.

00:06:04: Yeah!

00:06:04: Its no longer just you know random print solutions its seven distinct layers of infrastructure.

00:06:09: yeah You've got system record ecosystem intelligence partner management co-sell, partner automation, attribution and intelligence optimization.

00:06:18: It's massive!

00:06:19: And AI is completely transforming this stack right now.

00:06:22: Oh entirely.

00:06:23: Grant Midgelstead shared this amazing real world example.

00:06:27: he built an AI workflow with Microsoft Scout that actively watches the CRM for stale COSEL pipeline.

00:06:34: Stale pipeline being things like slipping close dates or fading momentum?

00:06:37: Exactly!

00:06:38: The AI spots that, briefs him and then nudges the right seller via a contextual Teams message to reconnect.

00:06:45: Wow And it writes updates straight back to the CRm.

00:06:47: That is wild.

00:06:48: It's like having digital manager Greg Portnoyd Ular has similar approach.

00:06:53: He built what they call P O P S sub agents.

00:06:56: What does this do?

00:06:57: Think

00:06:57: of this as a tireless digital assistant taking over the eleven PM dirty work.

00:07:02: Nice!

00:07:02: Yeah, you tell the AI what you want an ops person to do like following up on stalled onboarding or referrals.

00:07:08: it shows you a plan tries out unreal data and then runs those sub-agents autonomously which is

00:07:13: brilliant because it frees up human teams to do strategic work.

00:07:16: but understand where all these ecosystem infrastructures actually heading.

00:07:21: We have to follow the money, especially when it comes to hyperscalers like AWS and Microsoft.

00:07:26: Right let's talk economics because the accounting is shifting completely.

00:07:30: Jay McBang gave some great macro analysis on this.

00:07:33: He

00:07:33: did!

00:07:34: he pointed out that with an average of six point three partners surrounding every tech deal The economic model is fracturing.

00:07:40: Wait...six-point-three partners on one deal?

00:07:43: Yeah, on average.

00:07:44: That's crazy.

00:07:45: and because of that density funding is shifting from traditional contra revenue you know like resale margins or rebates over to OPEX Funding

00:07:52: Right.

00:07:53: so vendors are paying for lifecycle influence AI practice building and co-development before the Revenue even exists.

00:07:59: partner profitability now completely depends on participating in multiple stages of the customer life cycle.

00:08:04: Okay So if money moving toward early influence an ecosystem value how do partners actually prove their worth?

00:08:11: to a giant like Microsoft.

00:08:13: Well, Bill Moffitt has this great framework to solve the problem of unattributed value.

00:08:18: he calls it The Two Economics Test.

00:08:20: Partners have to prove two things.

00:08:22: Okay what's first?

00:08:23: First What measurable business outcome changes for customer

00:08:27: Makes sense Standard Value Problem?

00:08:29: And second

00:08:30: Second What internal Microsoft metric moves when we win?

00:08:34: So like Azure consumption or co-pilot adoption.

00:08:38: Oh, I see.

00:08:38: so if Microsoft's direct reps can't see the value you bring to their specific metrics they

00:08:43: won't sell for You.

00:08:44: it's that simple.

00:08:45: Wow.

00:08:46: But once you crack that code The growth is staggering.

00:08:50: Maneshra Vindran and Roman Kyrsanov put out data on the one billion dollar marketplace club.

00:08:55: Yeah, the numbers are wild

00:08:57: They really are.

00:08:58: Octa's AWS Marketplace contract value grew over forty five percent while a wider company revenue grew twelve percent.

00:09:04: So it's growing almost three point eight times faster than standard sales.

00:09:07: Exactly, and CrowdStrike's AWS Marketplace contract value grew fifty percent to nearly one-point five billion which doubled their standard ARR growth.

00:09:15: And the way they achieve this is by finding existing cloud commit budgets

00:09:19: Right.

00:09:19: They win the internal mandate to treat the marketplace as a true channel... ...and they embed CoCell directly into existing sales motions

00:09:26: Which brings us right back to Mike Mason's PointCoCell as an operator model.

00:09:31: Yes, entirely.

00:09:32: So to wrap this up I want leave everyone with a final thought to mull over.

00:09:36: look at your own go-to market strategy right now.

00:09:38: ask yourself are you building outbound that interrupts the buyer who isn't looking?

00:09:43: or Are You Building A Presence in The Ecosystem That Naturally Pulls Them In?

00:09:48: If you enjoy This episode new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:09:51: also check Out Our Other Editions on Field Marketing Martech AI and B to be Go To Market ABM And Social Selling.

00:09:58: Thanks so much for tuning in and don't forget to subscribe.