Lead distribution is an important part of the sales cycle. It is the distribution of marketing qualified leads (whether collected through partners or otherwise) to a company's sales team or partner in order to close deals. Lead distribution typically follows a defined process, for example, assigning the lead to the most qualified sales team member or partner based on a defined set of criteria.

Lead generation is the process of attracting prospective customers and nurturing their interest in your business with the eventual goal of turning them into converted customers. In B2B SaaS, lead generation can be done through inbound marketing, SEO, re-targetting, partner referrals, free trials and more. Those potential customers (or warm leads) are then followed up with to show them the value of your service or product to convert them to purchase your product or service.

A lead is a potential customer, either an individual or a business who may become a purchaser or client. Leads express interest in your product (perhaps by signing up for a demo, reaching out to a salesperson, or adding themselves to an email list). Businesses can build leads through marketing efforts, advertisements, trade shows, third parties, parter programs, and other methods.

A learning management software (also called a learning management system or LMS) is an automated application that houses all of your educational content, including courses and partner certifications, to motivate partners to market and sell your product or service more efficiently. An LMS is a software application used to administer, document, report, and deliver educational content, so it serves an important role in partner onboarding and enablement.

Your partner program platform should offer or include access to an LMS. This is where you can create courses, certifications, documents, and reports that allow partners to enrich their knowledge of the program and market and sell your product more effectively. Some LMS resources can also be available on a self-service basis, so partners can access the information they need when they need it.

A licensing partnership is an official agreement between a vendor and their partner that allows the licensing partner the right to use the vendor's intellectual property, including logos, brand trademarks and marketing materials. Licensing agreements are typically limited to a short specified time period and they're most often non-exclusive agreements between the two parties.

Lifetime revenue is a metric that shows the total amount of money a customer or client spends on your products or services over the entirety of their relationship with your business. Lifetime revenue can also be referred to as customer lifetime value (CLTV) or customer lifetime revenue. Lifetime revenue can be used to determine which customer segments are most valuable to your business.

Long-tail partners are the roughly 80% of your partner who only drive about 20% of your revenue. The concept of long-tail partners is related to the Pareto principle, which states that 20% of a group of customers will generate 80% of your value. The other 80% of customers drive much less value — about 20% altogether. Your long-tail partners are not your high performers, but you should still develop a strategy to nurture them and realize as much value as possible.