Your success in strategic partnerships depends in part on your willingness to invest in partnership education to ensure you have a thorough handle on the emerging industry. Whether you have a side hustle as an affiliate partner and are looking to take their knowledge and revenue to the next level or are already working full-time as a partner manager at a B2B SaaS company, there are tools of the trade that will help you climb the ladder to success faster.
And even if you are experienced in one area of partnerships — you still need to constantly refresh your knowledge to adapt to evolving trends.
To help you learn from the pros and level up your career, we’ve rounded up our top picks for the best courses and certifications — with suggestions from Tyler Calder, CMO at PartnerStack.
Related: Partnership marketing jobs thriving in 2024 (plus, the future of remote work).
Benefits of formal partnerships training
How can courses and certification programs help foster your partnership career? Here are some of the many benefits you can gain from formalized training.
Enhance business relationships
Enrolling in a strategic partnership course or program can help you foster relationships with current and potential partners. You’ll learn how to communicate well with partners and identify fruitful partnership opportunities, plus you might even make some connections that spark future partnerships.
Develop strategic skills
Partnership training empowers you with essential skills like effective communication, project management, cross-functional collaboration and strategic decision-making.
Read more: 10 skills every partnerships manager should have to succeed.
Gain a competitive advantage
Obtaining partnership certifications expands your potential for connecting with a broader network of partners who you may not have otherwise met. It equips you with specialized expertise (and in many cases, the certification) that distinguishes you, so remember to show it off by including it on your LinkedIn and CV.
Earn bigger bucks
Career training not only helps you gain an advantage but also enables you to earn more money, even for those already working in the industry. In general, workers who participate in upskill programs tend to earn an increase in salary by 8.6 per cent annually.
How to choose a partnerships course or certification
Not all programs have the ingredients to make you better at strategic partnerships. That's why choosing the right course to fill in the gaps of your knowledge and prepare you to level up your partner program — and career — is important.
Assess your career goals
Before choosing a course or certification, you should map out your career goals and objectives. Ask yourself — how will
this course help me address my challenges? Does this course align with my career goals for the next five years? Think about what your next role looks like. What about the one after that? How can you prepare for your long term growth by focusing on areas like people management, business development, AI or more?
Considering the course content and structure
Before you enroll in a course, go through the entire course content and structure — what you'll learn, how you'll learn it, the duration and pacing of learning. Be intentional about choosing courses that will help you learn best and that work with your schedule and budget.
Evaluating the institution's reputation
Find out if the course is taught by instructors who are versed in partnerships. Learn about their alum and where they’ve gone on to work. Most institutions will share alum stories on their websites, but you can also conduct your own research on LinkedIn.
Related: 10 partnership leaders to follow on LinkedIn.
Top courses and certifications for strategic partnerships
Now that we’ve prepared you with the criteria for selecting a course, here are our top 10 picks for the courses that will help you build your career as a partnership professional.
Partnering foundations course, Partnernomics
The partnering foundations course is one of their recommended four-course sequences to equip aspiring partner leaders with the skills they need to get a start in the industry.
What you'll learn: This course teaches the foundational components of building strategic partnerships programs. You'll explore the differences between indirect sales partnerships and solutions partnerships, which you can dive into further through dedicated courses on each.
Why we chose it: It offers the vital foundational concepts of strategic partnership that can help beginners. The sweetest part is that you’ll explore the five components of partnership success which they define as: results, esprit de corps, transparency, alignment and trust.
Cost: $495
Partner-led growth bootcamp, Firneo
Firneo is a professional development brand that offers resources for partnership leaders, among others.
What you'll learn:
The core value of this course is to teach you how to cultivate trust with executives and partners — the essential foundation for sustainable, successful partnership programs.
Additionally, you'll learn how to align with internal stakeholders to gain buy-in and secure resources — because without buy-in from your sales, marketing and leadership teams, you will struggle to get your program off the ground.
Why we chose it: You get access to two 1:1 coaching sessions with a seasoned partnership leader and access to “the partnering toolbox,” includes partnership resources and entry to an exclusive community of partner experts.
Cost: $550/month
B2B marketing: Fueling revenue growth, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies
Taught by PartnerStack CMO, Tyler Calder, this course is a slam dunk for B2B SaaS leaders who want to learn how to design a data-driven B2B marketing strategy that achieves revenue goals and drives business growth.
What you'll learn:
Partnerships, especially affiliate partnerships, involve many marketing motions — partnership leaders need to understand how to generate demand, target ideal buyers and drives revenue. ideal buyers.
Why we chose it:
Calder describes it best: “I think partnership leaders need to think about B2B revenue holistically, not just through a partnerships lens. And this [course] does that at a pretty tactical level."
Cost: CAD $795
Strengthening business relationships: Creating strategic alliances and building trust, Harvard University Division of Continuing Education
A well thought-out alliance can take you further than you could go alone, so it’s worth learning how to strengthen your relationship with alliances and at a prestigious Ivy league school, to boot.
What you'll learn: How to work with strategic alliances and manage collaborations.
With the curriculum in this interactive course, you will hone in on new techniques to encourage productive friction in your organizations, methodologies to enhance your leadership presence, and insights on the true impact of perception on your leadership
Why we chose it:
Recommended for mid to C-suite leaders at MM to enterprise organization, this course will empower you with leadership skills to make interactions with internal stakeholders and network partners all the more effective — plusyou’ll build a personal network of strong alliance partners.
Cost: $2,700
See more: Why strategic alliances are essential parts of your ecosystem.
CRO school, Pavilion
While this course is for CROs, it’s a great learning for any partnership leader — because tracking revenue numbers is one of the most fundamental tasks when running a partner program.
What you'll learn: You will be equipped crucial CRO skills like revenue forecasting, strategic account planner, pipeline management, performance metrics analysis and customer success. Most importantly — since partnerships essentially act as an extension of the sales team — you'll learn how to create a winning sales process, bringing new customers through the door and selling them on the value of a product or service.
Why we chose it: You will get access to the Pavilion membership community — a well-revered community for marketing experts.
Cost: Free with a Pavilion membership
Strategic partner leadership professional (SPLP) certification, PARTNERNOMICS
PARTNERNOMICS in collaboration with the University of Central Missouri offers the world’s only university-backed partnerships methodology certification.
What you'll learn:
This certification program comes with a four course sequence which includes learnings on: partnering foundations, indirect sales, solution partnerships, strategic partner leadership models and co-selling.
Why we chose it :
It offers a systematic framework of executing and managing partnership programs. Plus, you'll get a lifetime pro membership if you opt in.
Note: To get certified after this program, you must earn a 75 per cent or greater score on the SPLP Certification exam.
Cost: $100
Certified strategic alliance professional (CSAP), Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals
Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) created a course to help experienced partner managers create better alliance strategies.
What you'll learn:
This course offers thought leadership workshops to help you create better go-to-market strategies, improve partner selection and develop organizational alliance skills.
Why we chose it :
It offers a well-rounded approach to strategic alliance management and success in the CSAP exam can help you stand out in the marketplace.
Cost: From $1,099
Developing strategic partnerships, joint ventures and consortia, Oxford Management Center
This online program will offer you the formations and rationales you need to execute world-class strategic partnerships and joint ventures.
What you'll learn: This course helps you hone your prospecting tactics. You'll learn how to identify strategic markets for potential partnerships opportunities, develop proposals and design compelling value propositions to effectively capture the attention of these prospects.
Why we chose it: It’s a master class in prospecting that dives into niche subjects like intellectual property considerations in partnerships.
Cost: $3,950
Strategic partnerships online course, IMD
International Institute for Management Development (IMD), is a leading business school for global business leaders. They have an online course for partnership leaders who want to stay ahead in the industry especially in the area of strategy.
What you'll learn:
This course has eight modules that gives you a solid foundation: learn how to strategize for partnership programs, scout for ideal partners, structure partnerships effectively and steer partnership for success.
Why we chose it:
You'll get a professional learning coach for eight weeks to consolidate your learning. This helps you learn faster and get answers to troubling questions that may arise.
Cost: CHF $2900
You might also like: What partnerships can learn from marketing leaders.
Alternative learning channels to level up your career
If you are already working in partnerships — and you want to sharpen your skills through peer learning and stay up to date with trends — then these alternative learning channels are for you.
Partnership Leaders
Calder recommends the Partnership Leaders community as a go-to resource. This global community of 1,700+ partnership leaders offers you access to unparalleled networking opportunities and access to industry expertise — helping accelerate your professional growth.
You can access resources like playbooks, templates and courses tailored for career advancement in partnership roles.
Partner strategy deck, Nelson Wang
If independent, self-paced learning is your thing, there’s plenty of wisdom to glean from the partnership principles by Nelson Wang, Head of Worldwide Partnerships at Airtable and author of partner principles’ newsletter. He's got about 18 years of experience as a sales, marketing and partnership leader. This 100-slide partner strategy deck guides you through how to build a clear, effective partner strategy. You'll get access to frameworks learned from 30+ SaaS partner leaders and learn how to build an ideal partner profile with helpful templates.
