This article is based on a conversation with Ed Rigsbee, author of PartnerShift: How to Profit from the Partnering Trend (Wiley, 2000), Developing Strategic Alliances (Crisp Publishers, 1999), and The Art of Partnering (Kendall/Hunt, 1994). He has more than 1,500 published articles to his credit and is a regular keynote presenter at corporate and trade association conferences across North America. He can be reached at 3595 Old Conejo Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320.  Tel: 1-800-839-1520.  Web: www.rigsbee.com.

What Is Sales Partnering?

In the past, there were essentially two sales methods: direct, in which a company-employed sales rep interfaced with customers; and indirect, in which the employee of a company interfaced with another company’s customers. Most B2B sales were direct, while most B2C sales were indirect, although it was not unusual for either type of sales scenario to employ both methods.

While those sales models still exist, a massive infusion of technology into the business environment has muddied the waters, particularly when it comes to complex sales in the B2B segment. Buying cycles have become more complex, as have the solutions that customers demand. As a result, many B2B sales now involve multiple sales organizations inside a single vendor, and even multiple vendors inside multiple industries.

For example, many software firms have both technology-focused (aka “horizontal”) sales reps and industry-focused (aka “vertical”) sales reps, both of whom must frequently work together in order to develop a customer opportunity. Similarly, many B2B opportunities are so complex that a single vendor can’t supply everything that’s needed. For example, a company selling printing services may need to involve a graphic design company and a paper supplier in order to clinch the deal. It’s not unusual today to see opportunities in which completing the sales cycle requires partnering among half a dozen sales reps.

Sales Management’s Challenge

Sales partnering presents significant challenges for sales management. Sales managers must set up an environment in which the partnering can take place without creating conflict between the reps working each opportunity. This involves forging compensation plans that reflect the work done by each rep, regardless of how the product is purchased. 

When the partnering involves two companies, potential problems must be hashed out and a formal contract written and signed. Sales managers must have substantive discussions with their peers in the other companies in order to reveal potential problems, the nature of the relationship, the scope of the cooperation, and the logistics of the partnering effort. Failure to do this adequately can result in expensive lawsuits and lost opportunity costs resulting from false starts.

In most cases, sales management must also purchase CRM technologies that can allow multiple sales reps, even from different companies, to collaborate and record activity at a customer or prospect site. Without such a system, it can become impossible to keep sales partnering from degenerating into battles over account control, with only the last rep standing getting the commission.

The Sales Rep’s Challenge

Even when sales management has laid the organizational and legal groundwork necessary to make sales partnerships possible, sales reps face their own thorny challenges, most of which are psychological in nature.

For example, it’s a natural tendency for individuals to want to maintain control and influence an outcome; therefore, many reps feel uncomfortable giving up a certain amount of control over a customer account. Similarly, when it comes to selling, the undeniable fact that knowledge is power leads many a rep to horde information that, if shared with a team, might result in a quicker sale.

Ultimately, successful partnerships between reps in different organizations and companies require the development of trust as the foundation for a long-term relationship. Unfortunately, many sales reps, while trained to develop such relationships with customers, are often at a loss when it comes to partnering with their peers, particularly when those peers are also, in a sense, their competitors, as well. A good analogy might be drawn from baseball. The all-star games can often be relatively uninteresting because the players have little or no idea how to work together as a team. The same can be true of reps from multiple divisions or different vendors who are involved in a complex sale.

The Foundation of Sales Partnership

The best way to encourage sales partnerships is to create a code of conduct that reinforces the partnership behavior and helps to eliminate conflict. Such a code helps create a corporate culture in which partnership seems normal. Here is a sample code:

Be the kind of partner with whom you’d like to partner. This is the sales partnering version of the golden rule.

Ethics and morals are vitally important. Remember, it’s not enough to be honest; you’ve got to avoid the appearance of dishonesty.

Respect others and their beliefs, customs, and policies. Every company has a slightly different corporate culture. Don’t assume yours is better or smarter.

Think as a member of both your alliance and your industry. As Ben Franklin once said, “We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

When in doubt, don’t! You’ll probably come across opportunities in which you can use the partnership against your partner. That’s like cheating in a marriage. Don’t do it.

How to Build Productive Sales Partnerships

Once you’ve created a culture that encourages partnership and the establishment of mechanisms that make partnership into a business reality, the following seven-step process can help your reps forge effective sales partnerships on the one-to-one level:

Step #1: Perform a self-assessment. Understand what you bring to the table. Use the traditional SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) method to determine what you and your organization have to offer – and where you need help from outside. Example: If you’re a product expert, you may need more experience in a specific industry in order to make a sale in that industry.

Step #2: Perform due diligence. Understand your potential partners, not just in terms of their ability to contribute to the sales process, but also their willingness and psychological readiness to partner. Just because others have core competencies you need, there is no guarantee that they will willingly share them. If something feels wrong, better to bail out or go it alone.

Step #3: Build a relationship consensus. Conduct a preopportunity meeting with your potential partner. Hash out a working agreement on who is going to do what and when. Build a plan of action to address the opportunity, spreading the work appropriately among the partners who will be contributing and benefiting from the successful sale. Formalize your agreement with a written outline describing the commitment that each partner has made.

Step #4: Execute your commitments religiously. Any partnership between competing reps is likely to be fragile at first, while the individuals involved learn to trust. The only way to guarantee that the trust will grow is to make sure that you ALWAYS deliver exactly what you say you will deliver – and then a little more.

Step #5: Measure, measure, measure. As with any other business situation, great results require ongoing measurement and management. The best ways to do this is through a single CRM system, in which all the partners communicate plans, log activities, request help, and report results. The CRM system tracks what’s happened and generates an audit trail that determines appropriate compensation when the sale is finally made.

Step #6: Reinforce and celebrate. Getting your partnership from initial handshake to a done deal with the customer requires plenty of emotional fuel. The partners will need to allocate and expend resources, time, mindshare, and energy to turn the opportunity into a sale. As the sales cycle progresses, you’ll need to invest in building and strengthening the relationship and the level of rapport. Most importantly, when the sale is won, celebrate – and make sure that the celebration includes appropriate compensation for everyone involved.