A Collaborative Approach to Sales

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Imagine a sales team composed of individuals from multiple companies, working together to close a deal. This is co-selling. It's like adding a trusted third party to your sales team to provide expertise and credibility. For instance, a database software vendor might partner with a systems integrator to sell their product to a government organisation. The integrator, with experience in both the industry and the software, can validate the solution's suitability and ease the customer's concerns.

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You might think, why not go directly to the customer? Well, what we see is that buyers often distrust salespeople. They may suspect biassed information or overselling (selling focused on short term gains in B2B SaaS might have earned a bad reputation). As a result, co-selling brought a solution - by introducing a trusted partner who can reach and influence the customer before the vendor, you can gain a lot more credibility.

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While ad-hoc co-selling can be effective, structured partnerships offer even greater benefits. Pre-existing relationships between companies can streamline the sales process, ensuring that customers receive the right solution and expert implementation support.

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To facilitate these partnerships, many companies employ partner managers. These individuals play a key role in coordinating efforts, ensuring that all parties are aligned and working towards a common goal.

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Why is Co-Selling on the Rise?

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We might even take a step further and say that co-selling is the future of sales. Various technological advancements such as account mapping and PRM software have made it possible and easier than ever before. Technology companies can now easily collaborate with partners to close deals faster, fill product gaps, and grow deal sizes.

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Co-selling is on the rise for technology companies due to several key factors:

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Market complexity

The technology SaaS industry has become increasingly complex, with a wide range of products and services available. Co-selling allows companies to offer more comprehensive solutions to their customers, addressing their diverse needs.

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Technological advancements

The pace of technological innovation is accelerating, making it challenging for individual companies to keep up with all the latest trends. By partnering with other technology companies, businesses can access complementary expertise and resources.

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Customer expectations

Customers today demand more personalised and integrated solutions. Co-selling allows companies to provide tailored offerings that meet the specific needs of their customers, improving customer loyalty and retention.

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Economic pressures

Companies are under constant pressure to reduce costs and increase revenue. Co-selling can be a cost-effective strategy, as it allows companies to share resources and reduce overhead expenses (e.g. benefit from partner’s sales network, without hiring more in-house sales managers).

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Ongoing digital transformation

As businesses increasingly embrace digital transformation, there is a growing need for specialised expertise and technology solutions. Co-selling enables companies to combine their strengths and offer comprehensive digital transformation services to their customers.

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Access to new markets 

By partnering with other technology companies, businesses can expand their reach and access new markets. This can help them increase revenue and diversify their customer base.

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As the B2B technology industry continues to evolve, co-selling is likely to become an even more important strategy for businesses seeking to succeed.

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Common scenarios for co-selling in the technology industry include:

• Hardware and software vendors: A hardware manufacturer partnering with a software developer to offer integrated solutions.
• Cloud service providers and application vendors: A cloud provider partnering with an application vendor to offer their application as a service on their platform.
• Technology consulting firms and software vendors: A consulting firm partnering with a software vendor to offer implementation and support services.

Top 10 Tactics to Boost your Co-selling Strategy

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Here's a step-by-step guide to help you get started on your co-selling journey (or adapt your existing strategy for improvements):

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Tip 1. Invest Before You Dive In

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Co-selling isn't a one-person job. Don't overload your existing team – dedicate resources from the get-go. "Throwing someone at it" creates an impression that you don’t take your partners seriously. We often see that companies assign one dedicated sales or account manager who is already engaged in existing client relationships and cannot put additional time towards co-selling.

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Why it matters: Partners value time and effort. Don't be reactive and wait for things to "break" before committing resources. By then, you might have burned bridges with valuable partners.

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Solution

• Assign someone to focus on co-selling and partner engagement.
• Look for existing relationships within your company. Often, people are already influencing customers on your behalf. Identify these "shadow partners" and leverage them.

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Tip 2. Identify Your Ideal Partner

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Who would make the perfect co-selling partner? Go beyond standard profiles and analyse your own organisation. It’s important that you self-reflect on your strengths and especially weaknesses that need to be filled by the partner. 

• What are you great at? (Identify key strengths you can bring to the table).
• Areas for improvement in implementation or support (which partners can help you with that?)
• How can you tap into new markets? (Which partners can open the doors to desired markets or customer segments?)
• What are the potential competitors offering better experience (Are your competitors providing the same product or service on a large scale through partners or direct sales?)

Why it matters: If you have a great product but a weak implementation process, co-selling with a systems integrator strengthens your offering.

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Tip 3. Define Your Partnership Value

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What does your co-selling program offer partners? Be transparent to avoid unrealistic expectations. Here's what partners look for:

• Dedicated Partner Management: A dedicated point of contact for guidance and support.
• Ecosystem Management Platform: A platform for deal tracking, information sharing, and collaboration.
• Learning Management Portal: Resources for product knowledge and training.
• Unified Partner Portal: Ideally one place for all partner management and collaboration.

Why it matters: Partners have options, and they're aware of bad co-selling programs. Invest in your partners' success to attract and retain them.

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Tip 4. Map Opportunities and Create Account Plans

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Collaborate with your ideal partner to identify potential co-sell accounts. Include sales, marketing, and product teams for a well-rounded perspective.

Here's what to focus on:

• Identify Potential Accounts: List customers who would benefit from your co-created solution.
• Relationship Mapping: Assess who already has strong relationships with these customers.
• Develop Account Plans: Tailor plans for each account, including pain points, proposed solutions, introductions at the right time, and KPIs to track success.

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Tip 5. Co-Marketing for Increased Awareness

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Your amazing co-created solution won't sell itself. Invest in partner marketing initiatives long-term to reach your target audience.

Here’s what to focus on:

• Co-branded website or landing pages
• Digital marketing campaigns (paid ads, social media)
• Guest blogging on each other's sites
• Webinars or Linkedin live sessions
• Podcast interviews
• Press releases
• Embrace social selling: leverage social media to build deeper customer relationships.
• Showcase your expertise and position your brand as the go-to solution.
• Co-selling brings in the power of team selling – multiple perspectives to close deals.
• Sales reps, product specialists, and engineers can all contribute unique expertise.

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Tip 6: Measure and Refine

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Track your co-selling efforts with key metrics like:

• Qualified Leads generated by co-sell partnerships.
• Dollar Value of each qualified lead.
• Pre-qualified Leads introduced by partners.
• Revenue from partner-sourced deals.
• Contribution Levels of different partners to deals.
• Average Deal Size brought in by each partner.

Use data to refine your partner program:

• Identify top-performing partners and adjust compensation accordingly.
• Based on partner feedback, improve your technical support or training resources.
• Consider a co-selling ecosystem management platform to streamline operations.

Remember: Co-selling is an ongoing process. Continuous improvement based on data will make your program a success

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Tip 7: Align Incentives

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Having a clear and well communicated compensation structure ensures that incentives are aligned across both companies to prevent conflicts of interest and promote collaboration.

To take your partner program to the next level and bring in more engagement, you can consider joint rewards or commissions based on overall sales performance to promote a sense of shared ownership.

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Here are a few compensation structures to consider:

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Revenue-Based Commissions

Both companies agree on a revenue-sharing model, where a portion of the joint sales revenue is allocated to each company based on their contribution to the deal.

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Tiered Commission Structure 

A tiered commission structure can be implemented to incentivize higher-value deals or specific product bundles. For example, a higher commission rate could be offered for deals that involve multiple products or services from both companies.

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Quota-Based Incentives 

Each company sets its own sales quotas, and both companies receive incentives when their respective quotas are met. This can help to ensure that both companies are motivated to achieve their goals.

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Examples of Shared Rewards

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A joint bonus program can be established where both companies contribute to a pool of funds based on overall sales performance. The bonus pool is then distributed to employees from both companies who contributed to the success of the co-selling initiative. Incentives can be tied to team performance (team based incentives), rather than individual performance. This can encourage collaboration and teamwork between employees from both companies. Bonuses can be also awarded based on customer satisfaction ratings or feedback. This helps to ensure that both companies are focused on providing excellent customer service and building long-term relationships.

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Tip 8: Continuous Communication and Collaboration

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To keep everyone aligned and informed, organise regular check-ins. This includes weekly status meetings to discuss progress, address any issues, and share updates. 

Every quarter, hosting planning sessions to set new goals and review performance will be helpful. And if something urgent comes up, you can always schedule a quick meeting to tackle it head-on. To make things even smoother, promoting using shared tools like calendars, project management software, and communication platforms is a great way to keep everyone in the loop.

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Shared Tools

• Partner Management Software: Use tools like Journeybee to track progress, assign tasks, and manage deadlines.
• CRM Software: Implement a shared CRM system to manage leads, track opportunities, and share customer information.
• Communication Platforms: Utilise platforms like Slack, Teams, or Zoom for real-time communication (look for PRM software with already integrated messaging apps)
• Shared Calendars: Use shared calendars to schedule meetings, coordinate activities, and avoid scheduling conflicts.
• Document Sharing Platforms: Employ platforms like Google Drive or Dropbox for sharing documents, presentations, and other relevant materials.

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Tip 9: Cultivate a Culture of Co-selling

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To ensure our sales teams are equipped with the necessary skills for successful co-selling, offer comprehensive training. This can include joint sessions where sales teams from both companies can learn about each other's products and services. To make things even more efficient, try to engage both marketing teams to understand product and service offerings in order to create more successful join marketing campaigns. 

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Additionally, to foster a positive and motivating culture, recognise and reward outstanding co-selling collaborations. This includes quarterly awards, public recognition, and incentive programs. Implementing a peer recognition program to encourage sales teams to acknowledge their colleagues' contributions to co-selling success. A lot of these aspects can be done through social media applications, such as LinkedIn, where users tend to promote their personal brands.

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Lastly, jumping into a partnership without a solid plan and contract is a recipe for disaster. But even the best-laid plans aren’t enough. It’s just as important to figure out how the partners and sales teams will actually work together—not just what they’ll do.

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We’ve seen countless alliances fail because of trust issues, poor communication, and constant disagreements. Better planning and contracts rarely would have saved these partnerships

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Tip 10: Foster a Culture of Innovation

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Create a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous learning to foster innovation and collaboration. The best way to do it is get your leadership on board! Leaders should be the one who champion innovation and demonstrate their own beliefs in its importance. This initiative will require allocating necessary resources including budget, time and personnel to support it. 

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In order to create a culture of innovation, it’s important to focus your efforts on creating a safe environment where employees feel comfortable expressing their ideas without fear of judgement or failure. It sounds easier than it is, but encouraging a mindset where failures are seen as learning opportunities, not as setbacks is the only way to get desired outcomes. Recognising and rewarding teams for innovative contributions (whether or not they lead to successful results or not) is another way to promote innovation. 

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Foster Collaboration and Diversity

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• Cross-Functional Teams: Create diverse teams with members from different departments to encourage cross-pollination of ideas.
• Open Communication: Promote open communication channels to facilitate idea sharing and collaboration.
• Diverse Perspectives: Embrace diversity of thought and background to stimulate creativity and innovation.

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3 Common Mistakes to Avoid with Co-Selling

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1. Failing to address a joint target market or customer segment

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Trying to sell to everyone is like shooting in the dark. Identify your ideal customer and tailor your sales efforts accordingly. Targeting a broad audience requires more time, money, and effort for marketing and sales activities. These resources could be better spent on a specific target market.

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From a demand generation perspective, generic messaging may not resonate with potential customers, leading to lower conversion rates. What’s more, a broad audience can make it challenging to scale your business efficiently, as you'll need to constantly adapt your strategies to meet the diverse needs of different customer segments. By not focusing on a specific target market, you may miss out on opportunities to build strong relationships and generate repeat business.

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2. Throwing away potential leads 

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What I often see interacting with sales people is that they quickly lose interest when they hear a ‘Not right now’ without realising that it might be turned into a ‘yes’ after a few months in the sales cycle. Keep in mind that people's lives and situations change. A lead who wasn't ready to buy today might be in a different financial position or have a new need that aligns with your product or service in the future. Even if a lead isn't ready to purchase immediately, maintaining a connection can pay off. Consistent nurturing increases the likelihood of a sale in the future (if you’re looking into any specific software or tools for lead nurturing, make sure to check out this article on B2B lead generation).

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By staying in touch and keeping the dialogue going with leads, you increase the chances of them eventually becoming customers. 

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While I was unable to find the right percentage to support this argument, research suggests that many B2B sales professionals report that a significant portion of their sales come from leads who initially said "not right now." This highlights the importance of persistence and building relationships with potential customers.

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3. Not having a process in place

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This one happens more often than you think. A lot of companies partner up and want to jump start to co-selling without having a single process in place. It’s obvious that when starting out, it's tempting to fly by the seat of your pants when it comes to sales. However, as you bring in ‘outsiders’ into your organisation, a structured sales process becomes essential. What’s more, a well-defined process makes a great first impression and helps you close more deals in the long-run. 

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I recommend investing in a robust PRM (on top of your CRM) from the beginning. As your company expands, managing leads and attribution using spreadsheets and other workarounds  becomes increasingly inefficient and error-prone. A PRM provides a centralised system to organise your processes, streamline communication, and scale without bottlenecks.

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