Best of LinkedIn: Channel Marketing CW 43/44

00:00:00: This deep dive is provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frennis based on the most relevant LinkedIn post about channel marketing in calendar weeks, forty three and forty four.

00:00:09: Frennis is a B to B market research partner, helping enterprises translate market, customer and competitive insights into actionable strategies that drive growth and success across their channel and partner ecosystems.

00:00:22: Welcome to the deep dive.

00:00:24: So this week, we dug into the key LinkedIn content for B to B channel marketing folks over the last couple of weeks, CW, forty three and forty four.

00:00:32: And the big takeaway seems pretty clear.

00:00:35: Yeah, it feels like we're moving past just talking about partnerships and ecosystems in theory.

00:00:39: Definitely.

00:00:40: It's shifting hard towards very specific disciplined execution, and AI seems to be underpinning almost everything now.

00:00:46: Exactly.

00:00:47: We've tried to filter out the noise and focus on what really works, what actually generates revenue.

00:00:51: We're looking at four big shifts you probably need to

00:00:54: act on.

00:00:54: Okay, what are they?

00:00:55: First, how partnerships are really becoming these urgent ecosystems.

00:00:59: Second, the actual practical playbooks for co-selling that work.

00:01:03: Third, the impact AI is set on having on operations, it's not just talk anymore.

00:01:07: And finally, some really critical updates from cloud platforms and marketplaces that are, frankly, forcing people to get compliant.

00:01:16: So the goal is actionable steps.

00:01:18: What can you do today?

00:01:19: Oh,

00:01:19: Cicely.

00:01:19: Okay, let's start with theme one then.

00:01:22: Ecosystems and that strategic shift in mindset.

00:01:25: We saw this core idea again and again.

00:01:29: Growth is now partner-shaped.

00:01:31: Simon Hardy put it well, saying competition isn't just company versus company anymore.

00:01:35: It's really ecosystem versus ecosystem.

00:01:38: If your partners aren't integrated, you're basically falling behind.

00:01:41: And tied into that is the speed element.

00:01:43: Greg Portnoy, he was referencing Kevin Katie Dorsey.

00:01:47: brought up this maybe uncomfortable idea that partnerships have an expiration date.

00:01:51: An

00:01:51: expiration date?

00:01:52: Wow.

00:01:52: Sounds a bit harsh, right?

00:01:55: But the point is, the best partners, they commit early.

00:01:58: If they lock in deep with a competitor in a certain vertical, that competitor builds a serious moat.

00:02:03: And you're potentially locked out of that segment.

00:02:05: Exactly.

00:02:06: So speed to building that trust and commitment, it's everything now.

00:02:09: That makes sense, that urgency.

00:02:12: But what separates a real deep partnership from just, you know, of vendor relationship.

00:02:18: Will Crispin has some interesting thoughts on this?

00:02:20: Yeah, what did he say?

00:02:21: He argued, it's not just transactional.

00:02:23: A true partnership needs both sides working towards a shared solution.

00:02:28: It feels more like a... like a mini product launch, he said, not just reselling something.

00:02:34: That shared solution idea, that's the key operational differences in it.

00:02:37: We saw a really good practical example from Dwayne Robinson's team over at Salinas.

00:02:42: They made a conscious shift in how they talked to Salesforce.

00:02:46: It went from, okay, what can you sell us to something more like, how can we actually create value together?

00:02:51: That

00:02:51: changing conversation, that's what builds the strategic alliance.

00:02:56: Okay, so if that's the mindset, we need the right structure too.

00:02:59: Patrick Morley, sharing Tom Barsi's advice, really hammered home that you need commitment from the whole executive team, not just the channel chief.

00:03:08: Oh, absolutely critical.

00:03:09: Especially for startups or new initiatives, he laid out four pillars, essentially, for early stage companies, resellers, of course, services-led partners.

00:03:18: tech alliances, and crucially, the hyperscalers, you know, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud.

00:03:25: Got it.

00:03:26: But his main warning was that structure only works if the entire C-suite is bought in.

00:03:31: Otherwise, you just get a nice looking program on paper that doesn't actually go anywhere.

00:03:34: It lacks gravity.

00:03:36: Which leads us nicely into theme two, mastering the practical side of co-selling execution.

00:03:41: Because this seems to be where a lot of organizations, well, they hit a wall.

00:03:45: It's a massive dab.

00:03:46: Theresa Carragall's team found exactly this.

00:03:48: Organizations that managed to move from just planning to, like, real co-sell maturity.

00:03:53: They saw huge results.

00:03:54: Like

00:03:54: a kind of results.

00:03:55: Like a three hundred percent increase in deal velocity.

00:03:58: And double the growth in revenue source through partners.

00:04:00: So the difference isn't wanting to co-sell, it's lacking that precise, repeatable playbook.

00:04:05: And that precision seems especially vital when dealing with those hyperscalers, right?

00:04:09: Oh, absolutely non-negotiable.

00:04:11: Jessica Ceevo's pointed this out.

00:04:12: Cloud reps are busy.

00:04:13: They manage hundreds of accounts, vague exploratory chats.

00:04:17: Useless to them, they need surgical requests.

00:04:19: The surgical requests.

00:04:21: Okay, what does that look like in practice?

00:04:23: It means giving them

00:04:24: clear

00:04:25: specific context that helps them.

00:04:28: Don't just name a customer, tell them the deal size, the stage, and critically, the customer's cloud context.

00:04:35: Like this customer has a two million dollar AWS commitment, but they've only used eight hundred K. And then you need a very specific ass.

00:04:44: Something they can actually act on.

00:04:45: Exactly.

00:04:46: Like, can you help us speed up procurement through the AWS marketplace?

00:04:50: Make it easy for them.

00:04:51: Show them what's in it for them, too.

00:04:53: Make it almost impossible to say no.

00:04:55: That's

00:04:55: smart.

00:04:56: Very tactical.

00:04:57: Now, shifting focus internally.

00:04:59: Nate Nisralla had a great playbook for building champions within your own sales team.

00:05:04: Ah,

00:05:04: yes.

00:05:05: This is often overlooked.

00:05:06: We forget sales teams spend something like eighty percent of their effort on live calls.

00:05:11: But that's only maybe ten percent of the whole buying process.

00:05:13: Right.

00:05:14: So what's the key?

00:05:14: It's about co-selling.

00:05:15: the problem first.

00:05:16: Yeah.

00:05:17: Build the business case together with that internal champion.

00:05:19: And he had that phrase, renting their track record.

00:05:22: Exactly.

00:05:23: Make sure their name is clearly on the recap docs.

00:05:25: The outcome summaries.

00:05:26: It gives them internal visibility, political capital.

00:05:28: Yeah.

00:05:29: Makes them invested in the partnership actually succeeding.

00:05:32: It's a smart way to frame it.

00:05:33: Yeah, it is.

00:05:34: And that focus on neutral wins has to extend to partner managers too.

00:05:38: Sevi Pablet made a similar point.

00:05:40: How so?

00:05:40: Partners remember the people who genuinely help them win deals, not just the ones sending endless company updates.

00:05:47: Right.

00:05:48: Less noise, more signal.

00:05:50: Precisely.

00:05:51: Partner management needs to be about sharing truly sellable use cases, real co-sell opportunities that drive revenue for both sides.

00:05:59: We'll tailor back this up too, just emphasizing the basics.

00:06:01: The

00:06:01: basics like

00:06:02: using clear agendas for meetings, having specific asks, and actually holding partners accountable for the next steps you agree on.

00:06:10: It sounds simple, but it compresses the sales cycle.

00:06:13: But doing all that, the precision, the accountability, especially when you scale from, say, ten partners to hundreds, that requires automation.

00:06:20: It requires intelligent signal processing.

00:06:23: Which brings us right to theme three,

00:06:26: AI.

00:06:27: It's not just a buzzword anymore.

00:06:29: It's becoming the actual operational architecture for partner programs.

00:06:34: Yeah, we're definitely past just talking about it.

00:06:37: SS&C Technologies, for instance, launched... totally reimagined partner program for twenty twenty

00:06:42: six.

00:06:42: Now what's the focus?

00:06:43: Heavily focused on supporting the development and deployment of AI agents.

00:06:47: That's a huge signal.

00:06:48: AI is the blueprint now, not just some add-on feature.

00:06:51: And the immediate value operationally is solving that signal problem we were just discussing.

00:06:56: Rob Moyer ran a poll recently.

00:06:57: What

00:06:57: did it show?

00:06:58: Almost half, forty-nine percent of partner teams said their top priority is predictive coastal matching.

00:07:05: They're desperate to use AI to figure out who to work with, on what, and when.

00:07:09: Because humans just can't process all those potential signals effectively.

00:07:12: Makes sense, and AI is also creeping into enablement, right?

00:07:15: Yeah, Josh Kamrath mentioned Christine Stewart's work here, using AI to really scale partner certification.

00:07:21: The old way, just ticking a box saying training complete, it's becoming obsolete.

00:07:26: So what's replacing it?

00:07:27: AI

00:07:27: allows for more performance-based testing.

00:07:30: Partners have to actually prove they can do it in real-world scenarios.

00:07:34: Certification based on competence, on execution ability, not just memorization.

00:07:38: And if you zoom out, connect this to the bigger B to B picture.

00:07:42: PJ Nisbet cited Forrester Research talking about a seventh wave.

00:07:46: The seventh wave.

00:07:47: What does that entail?

00:07:48: The idea is we'll see smart AI agents actively co-selling alongside human reps.

00:07:55: speeding up cycles, maybe even merging roles.

00:07:57: Imagine like a sales engineer paired with an AI agent handling all the admin.

00:08:02: Wow, that's a significant shift.

00:08:04: And Marco Depp pointed out how specialized tools are using AI to simplify the partner tech stack overall.

00:08:09: The things like

00:08:10: smarter partner outreach, better discovery, finding those timing signals.

00:08:13: You mentioned platforms like Instantly.ai and Trigify.io.

00:08:17: AI is basically tackling the complexity that used to just drown partner managers.

00:08:22: Okay, that feels like a good pivot point.

00:08:23: Theme four.

00:08:24: Platform shifts and marketplace operations.

00:08:27: Because the rise of cloud marketplaces isn't just a trend anymore, is it?

00:08:30: It's like a foundational mandate forcing some serious operational rigor.

00:08:34: Absolutely critical.

00:08:35: Michael C. made the point that just being listed isn't enough.

00:08:39: It's almost non-optional now because customers are demanding to buy through marketplaces.

00:08:43: And why is that demand so strong?

00:08:46: It's specific.

00:08:47: They need that spend to count towards their committed use discounts, their private pricing agreements with the cloud provider.

00:08:54: To hit their annual spend goals and get the best discounts, they have to spend through the marketplace.

00:08:59: Customer demand is driving this overhaul.

00:09:02: And the platforms themselves are raising the bar on how partners operate within them.

00:09:07: Harry Blake, more detailed, a big AWS update coming.

00:09:10: Yo,

00:09:10: yeah.

00:09:11: What's changing?

00:09:11: They're

00:09:12: phasing out.

00:09:12: bulk file uploads for ACE opportunities.

00:09:16: By twenty twenty six, full CRM integration is going to be mandatory for all partners.

00:09:20: moving to the new partner central experience.

00:09:22: Wow.

00:09:23: OK, that's going to force some changes.

00:09:24: No more spreadsheets or manual workarounds.

00:09:26: The era

00:09:26: of we'll clutch it together is definitely ending there.

00:09:29: So it's forcing compliance.

00:09:30: Yes.

00:09:31: But it also signals massive opportunity.

00:09:33: Dr.

00:09:33: Nicole Weber Knight analyzed Microsoft's recent Q one F Y twenty six results as your growth up forty percent.

00:09:41: And the absolutely staggering amount, like, thirty-four point nine billion dollars they're spending on AI capacity, she framed that as a guaranteed pipeline promise for partners who specialize there.

00:09:52: A pipeline promise.

00:09:53: I like that.

00:09:54: And similarly, Pete West noted Google Cloud's order backlog jumped eighty-two percent.

00:09:58: Just huge future partner opportunities sitting there.

00:10:01: But even with all that opportunity, the operational reality on the ground can be tough.

00:10:07: Lindsay Bregman from Office of Surveillance Consulting observed this.

00:10:09: What

00:10:10: did she see?

00:10:10: That many teams really struggle to manage marketplace motions effectively.

00:10:14: Why?

00:10:15: Why it spread data fragmentation is one reason.

00:10:17: But also, critically, unclear rules of engagement between their own sales teams and their partner teams.

00:10:23: Ah,

00:10:23: the internal alignment challenge.

00:10:25: Classic.

00:10:26: Chip Rogers kind of summed up the solution, didn't he?

00:10:28: Yeah, he stressed that partnerships only scale if they're fully instrumented.

00:10:31: You can't rely on partners logging into ten different portals.

00:10:34: that just doesn't scale.

00:10:35: Right.

00:10:36: You need to capture the signals where people actually do their work.

00:10:39: Exactly.

00:10:39: In Slack, in email threads, in CRM notes, you have to instrument that activity to prove the ROI of partnering.

00:10:47: Because if you can't measure it and show it's success,

00:10:49: then eventually that executive investment will dry up.

00:10:52: Makes perfect sense.

00:10:53: OK, great insights.

00:10:54: If you enjoyed this deep dive, new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:10:58: Also, check out our other editions on account-based marketing, field marketing, AI and BDB marketing, MarTech, go-to-market, and social selling.

00:11:07: So we've touched on ecosystems, coselling, AI, and marketplaces.

00:11:13: And they all seem to point towards this absolute need for discipline, automated, operational execution.

00:11:19: Scott Sherman put it bluntly, didn't he?

00:11:21: What was his take?

00:11:22: The uncomfortable truth is that most companies are pretty good at building partner ecosystems, but they fail when it comes to truly operationalizing them.

00:11:29: They end up with awareness, maybe, but not consistent revenue activation.

00:11:33: So these are final thought, a challenge for you listening.

00:11:35: Which of your current partner initiatives is most likely to become obsolete in the next, say, twelve months, maybe because of these marketplace mandates or the rise of AI?

00:11:45: And more importantly, what are you actively doing today to replace it with something truly operationalized and future proof?

00:11:51: That's a powerful challenge indeed.

00:11:53: Thanks for joining us for this deep dive into the B to B channel marketing landscape.

00:11:57: We'll see you next time.