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Cross-team collaboration is not novel. It's one of those management concepts highly recommended in the business world because of its potential to drive innovation, increase efficiency and improve overall business performance.
When internal departments work together, they can leverage each other’s strengths, share knowledge and achieve more than they could individually. This is especially true for sales and partnership teams. Over 57% of sales leaders report that partnerships influence the entire revenue funnel — from boosting brand equity to managing and implementing products — according to a HubSpot report.
Yet, despite these clear benefits, many sales and partnership teams still struggle to collaborate effectively. To learn more about this problem and how to resolve it, we spoke with Nikita Zhitkevich, VP of Sales at PartnerStack.
In this article, we share:
- How sales and partnerships can work together to drive revenue
- The common challenges that often hinder collaboration between these cross-functional teams
- Practical solutions to break down barriers and foster stronger teamwork
How sales and partnerships collaborate to generate more revenue
One area where sales and partnerships differ is their approach to relationship building. Both teams form relationships with their prospects, but sales focus on one-to-one relationships with individual clients, while partnerships build strong one-to-many relationships with their partners. This is evident in their outbound efforts.
For instance, a recent survey showed that the average response rate for cold emails is five per cent. But partnerships can help improve those rates by leveraging their indirect access to customers through partners who already have trusted relationships with these prospects.
“They’d work with you to onboard or bring you into conversations with those customers based on the trust they’ve already developed with them,” Zhitkevich explains. And because of the trust and existing relationship, there’s a higher chance the customer will convert. “It’s an opportunity to really drive more revenue together, leveraging the trust of the partners to break into those accounts to drive mutually beneficial solutions,” he adds.
You might also like: Critical points of trust within your ecosystem.
Common challenges sales and partnership teams face during collaboration
Sales and partnership teams encounter several issues when they try to work together. Three of the biggest ones are:
Poor incentive structure
The company’s incentive structure plays a huge role in the success of the collaboration. “Some organizations have set up their incentive structures to have partnerships and sales fighting against each other for the same business,” says Zhitkevich. Instead of team-based incentives or shared revenue pools, they reward teams individually, which can create competition between the teams.
Competition isn’t all bad. It’s good sometimes, but with poor leadership or unrealistic performance expectations, it can become toxic and affect cross-functional collaboration. “When it comes to partnerships, it is also important that you work with each other to drive success from a collaboration standpoint than from a competition standpoint,” Zhitkevich adds.
Breakdown in communication
Great communication is essential for sales and partnerships to collaborate effectively. However, they often don’t communicate as consistently and openly as they should, which can cause important details to slip through the cracks or delay projects or deals.
Poor communication can also lead to tension. One team might feel left out of the loop or the other isn’t sharing critical updates. This can build resentment and affect their collaboration.
Lack of defined processes
Without structure or enablement materials, cross-functional teams may struggle to work together well. “There’s often a lack of clear and structured playbooks that enable sales teams to work with partnerships and vice versa,” Zhitkevich says. “Without these resources, teams may not fully understand how to collaborate effectively or recognize why it’s important.” As a result of this lack of direction, they may be working at cross-purposes, ultimately preventing them from achieving their objectives.
See more: Partner enablement tips to drive success through strategic empowerment.
How to improve cross-team collaboration between sales and partnerships
After identifying the major problems affecting cross-functional collaboration, here are some ways to resolve them.
Set clear goals, roles and expectations for each team
Effective collaboration begins with the two teams aligning on their responsibilities and shared goals. This ensures clarity, prevents confusion and reduces potential conflicts. “The best way to collaborate is for both teams to come to the table and say, ‘Hey, ultimately, we have the same goal here — to bring value to this customer, whether by doing it ourselves or working with a partner on the other side,’” explains Zhitkevich.
Sales and partnerships have the common goal of driving revenue for their business. However, they have different roles. “For a salesperson, their primary responsibility is net-new revenue — bringing in a set amount of business each year,” explains Zhitkevich. “For a partnerships manager, it’s also about revenue, but it includes managing a portfolio of partners. It’s about the depth of business they’re doing with those partners, how much pipeline they’re driving and the total value they deliver.”
If both teams know their objectives and responsibilities, they’ll work better together.
Create a joint strategy for shared success
Develop a joint strategy that aligns with the company’s overall objectives. This strategy should outline how both teams will work together to achieve their shared goals and drive revenue.
“The team you’re working with shapes your joint strategy,” Zhitkevich says. “Depending on the deal, create a strategy outlining what’s important to the other team, their relationship with their clients and how to have a successful go-to-market.”
Establish consistent communication channels
Break down the communication silo by setting up an open flow of communication between both teams. Implement weekly or bi-weekly check-ins where everyone can share updates and challenges.
Also, use collaborative or project management tools like Slack, Asana or Microsoft Teams for day-to-day communication. Set up specific channels for joint projects or accounts so both teams can ask quick questions, share documents or give updates without waiting for formal meetings.
Use centralized tech to track shared opportunities
Use a shared customer relationship management (CRM) and partner relationship management (PRM) system so both teams can track leads, deals and partnership opportunities in one place. This way, everyone has a clear view of the pipeline, knows who owns which accounts, and can monitor progress without duplicate efforts.
A modern PRM like PartnerStack can support B2B companies' partnership efforts and help them manage relationships with their partners. This, in turn, benefits the sales team, as it means there are more opportunities to collaborate and close more leads.
Prioritize collaboration over competition
For sales and partnerships to work together effectively, they must collaborate, not compete unhealthily. For example, if a partner-sourced lead closes, sales and partnerships should be proud of the achievement. Sales should acknowledge the groundwork that partnerships did to nurture the lead, while partnerships should appreciate sales’ role in closing the deal. This mutual respect boosts morale and builds trust between them.
Educating both teams is key to building collaboration. “Teach the sales team that partnerships aren’t looking to take deals away from them. They’re only trying to help accelerate what they can do with their existing book of business,” Zhitkevich advises.
Use shared KPIs to measure collaboration success
Finally, establish shared metrics that show the true value of your partnership. This includes revenue and other metrics like the number of co-managed opportunities, conversion rates of joint leads and more.
"Revenue matters most, but we also care about customer retention, happiness, pipeline growth and how partners activate opportunities. When you see the full potential of partnerships, you can get better buy-in from the whole company," says Zhitkevich.
The sales and partnership collaboration is mutually beneficial
Getting sales and partnership teams to work together might take effort, but it’s well worth it. Sales can close more deals, partnerships can build stronger relationships and together, they can generate revenue for the company. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Team leaders play an important role in fostering successful cross-team collaboration. They can help both teams work together better by designing effective incentive structures, investing in the right tools and encouraging a positive team culture.
If you need a platform to manage your partner relationships efficiently, try PartnerStack. Schedule a demo to get started.
