We’ve all been in those meetings — the ones where we’ve pulled an all-nighter editing our presentation, practicing it to perfection and visualizing the CRO approving our budget. But three slides in, we’re interrupted by a hardball question. A question that makes it plainly obvious that your dreams are not coming true.
To avoid a situation like this, you really have to get granular with your plan. But what, exactly, should you be preparing? How do you know when you’re ready to make your ask?
In this article, with the help of PartnerStack’s Chief Revenue Officer, Mike Head, we’ll walk you through how and when to ask for partnership budget, step by step.
Steps to scoring partnership budget
When you’re strapped for budget, it’s tempting to ask for more money as soon as you get the chance. But in most cases, doing your due diligence upfront dramatically increases the likelihood of getting more budget. Here’s how.
Understand what the org cares about
If you’ve been at your company for a while, you probably have an inkling, but it might be worth a refresh. Confirm with your boss in your next one-on-one. If you’re new, figuring this out can be harder. Start by:
- Really listen in All Hands meetings. What areas of the business does leadership double down on?
- Read recent press releases. What are the key messaging points your company is trying to get across to the public?
- Review your OKRs. What are your org’s goals at the highest level?
Your partnership program plans should relate to at least one of these key ideas. “Is your ask associated with new product announcements? A cross-selling strategy? A need for bigger pipeline? Make it make sense by tying it to a strategic initiative,” Head advises.
Get a pulse on channel performance
Don’t skip that bi-weekly GTM standup — it’s the perfect place to get a grasp on what channels are performing well, which ones are falling short and how partnerships stack up. This is foreshadowing, but making your ask at a time when other channels are suffering could get you to a yes.
Not only that, attending these meetings is going to give you the language you need to get your ask across the finish line. “Pay special attention to the way your colleagues are demonstrating efficiency —or not,” Head suggests. “This is what partnerships is going to be evaluated against, and you want it to be an apples-to-apples comparison, so make sure you’re tracking the right KPIs.”
See more: Partner program KPIs you should measure and optimize.
Formalize your case
If you’re asking for an incremental five per cent in budget, you need to be able to explain what that money is for.
If you’re using it to test out a theory:
- What are the boundaries of that test?
- In what timeframe do you expect to see significant results?
- What do you predict those results will be?
If you’re using it for headcount:
- What are the roles and responsibilities of those new hires?
- How will they improve productivity? (leadership will want some numbers behind this one)
- Have you thought about outsourcing to an agency or third party?
“As a CRO, I don’t want to hear, ‘This is the ecosystem we want to work.’” Head explains. “I want to hear, ‘Here’s the ecosystem we want to work. Here’s the breakdown of how we’re going to do it. And here is the ROI we’ll get out of it.’”
As much of a GTM plan you can put together is ideal — and that includes cross-departmental resources, something you’ll need to get buy-in for.
Sell your ideas cross-functionally
The worst thing you can do is walk into annual planning and say, ‘With the help of sales and marketing, we’ll be able to hit XYZ goal’ — and not have already talked to sales and marketing. Per Head, “Go to marketing, go to sales and say, ‘Here’s what I need. Will you be able to support me?’ Get some collective buy-in to strengthen the power of your ask.”
Be sure to refine your plan based on their feedback so everyone feels comfortable going into a budget conversation. Getting these folks on board may not only improve your relationship with those peers, but it can also increase the chances that your ask will go through — you have that much more oomph behind it. “We are a multi-touch world now, and things need to be working together in harmony,” Head highlights. “Show your leaders that you can collaborate together.”
Articulate the counter-argument
Once you’ve documented a plan to the best of your ability, put yourself in an executive’s shoes. Then, list out all the reasons they wouldn’t want to invest in your plan. “People who are well-balanced tend to be not only more informed but more confident in their ask,” Head points out. This exercise forces you to foresee lines of questioning and think critically about answering those inevitable questions — potentially with an alternative.
Make a backup plan (or two)
In any planning cycle, there will be more asks than your leadership team has the ability to fulfill. For that reason, Head emphasizes, “It would behoove you to think through different levels of your ask and have those in your back pocket. Getting a flavor of your original plan approved is better than getting no budget at all.” Present your “all-in” plan first, but have at least two other options you’d be okay with ready to share. These could differ in expectations, capital deployment or resources.
Related: The key ingredients for a win-win affiliate partnership.
Make your ask
When you feel your plan is solid, choose when you’ll make the ask. According to Head, there are three ideal times.
During annual planning
If it sounds obvious, that’s because it is. The C-suite expects department leads to ask for budget in an annual planning meeting, so it won’t come as a surprise. Come with a few short-term wins under your belt. “We all know some great partnerships take a while to solidify. But don’t go into a planning cycle only prioritizing long-horizon opportunities,” says Head.
When your partnerships program is doing measurably well
If you can show leading indicators that a hunch from last year is turning into reality or that your partner managers are knocking it out of the park (particularly if they’re outperforming sales and marketing channels), that’s another great time to ask. Compare your results to a benchmark for extra FOMO. “Benchmarks can reveal untapped opportunities — especially the ones your competitors are investing in that you’re not,” Head says.
When your company is thinking about expansion
Partnerships are a natural way of inserting your company into a new vertical or geo. And they come with way less risk. Positioning affiliates, co-sellers or other types of partnerships as the vehicle for expansion can help justify more spend. Set go/no-go milestones. “This shows leaders that you know when to cut something and move on or double down and ask for more investment.”
Make making your case easy
Critical thought, context and concrete evidence make your case come together. But compiling that evidence isn’t going to come easy if you aren’t storing your partnerships data in an accessible, unified place.
A PRM like PartnerStack automatically tracks key KPIs like training completion, referrals, leads and closed deals for you, so you can pull that data in a few clicks. Plus, you have the freedom to design your own customized dashboards and reports — whether you need them for budget proposal prep or your next touchpoint with a major partner.
If a PRM is something you’re going to be asking for during annual planning, let us do some of the due diligence for you. Schedule a demo with one of our partnership experts today.
