SaaS (software-as-a-service) partner programs are a systematic way that software companies form mutually beneficial relationships with agencies, influencers, and other companies to drive business results. Partner programs can take many forms, including affiliate marketing programs, referral marketing programs, reseller partnerships, technology partnerships, customer ambassador programs, and distributor partnerships.

Companies rely on partners to help them drive a wide variety of sales and marketing initiatives, including driving traffic to corporate websites, referring qualified leads, and even closing new business deals directly on a company’s behalf. In technology partnerships, many software companies build integrations that allow data and workflows to pass from one system to the next. For example, Vidyard (a video marketing platform) integrates into Marketo (a marketing automation platform). The two companies also engage in co-marketing efforts to help drive qualified leads to one another. 

See also: Channel sales

Sales enablement tools provide go-to-market teams with the high level strategy. tools and resources needed to effectively engage prospective customers and close deals to increase sales results.The goal of sales enablement is to increase sales by providing sales teams or partners with the education, training and strategy to sell a product through knowledge-based interactions.

Sales enablement differs from sales training because it is the strategic organization and implementation of resources (both technology and teams) to align on the common goal of increasing sales. Sales training is processes used to teach sales skills in order to close deals and is one part of the larger sales enablement strategy.

A sales funnel is a marketing model that illustrates the journey of a consumer leading up to the point of purchase. It serves as a visual representation of the steps a consumer takes before buying something.

The sales funnel usually consists of a top, middle, and bottom, but may be broken down into as many as six stages. The top of the funnel represents the awareness stage in which a consumer becomes aware of the product or service. The middle of the funnel is the interest stage wherein consumers learn about the product or service and how it can help them. The bottom of the funnel represents the decision stage wherein a consumer is actively making the decision of whether or not to purchase.

A sales pipeline is a marketing model for understanding the steps and opportunities in a sales process. It is represented visually as a a vertical bar broken into the various different stages of the sales cycle. It is used to summarize through an easy to understand visual representation, all the deal opportunities available to a sales or partnerships manager. The sales pipeline is an important tool used to project revenue and determine leaks or bottlenecks in the sales process.

There are seven widely accepted steps in a sales pipeline: prospecting, lead qualification, meeting and demo, proposal, negotiations, closing the deal and retention.

Not to be confused with a sales funnel, the sales pipeline tracks data around deals, while the sales funnel focuses more specifically on leads. The two terms are often used interchangeably, though they represent distinct sets of data.

A sales spiff is a sales performance incentive fund (often written with an extra "f"), which is a short-term incentive used to motivate sales representatives. Sales spiffs can incentivize sales rep engagement and help to meet immediate sales goals.

A sales spiff requires a set sales goal and an incentive, often a financial incentive or another kind of reward like prizes, recognition, or time off. A successful sales spiff requires a clear objective, a clear articulation of how reps will achieve the goal, a timeframe, a budget, and an incentive. When planning a sales spiff, consider the risk of sandbagging (when reps know a spiff is coming so they wait to close deals they could close earlier) and creating an overly competitive work environment (team spiffs rather than individual spiffs can help avoid this).

Segmentation is a useful tool for categorizing partners within your partnership program. Segments are based on one or a combination of many tags. You can provide various segments with personalized attention in the form of specific engagement campaigns, educational resources, enablement events, or reward schemes.

Common ways to segment your partners include: By type of organization (e.g. universities, agencies, SaaS companies), job role (e.g. consultants, students, influencers), by loocation (e.g. North America, LatAm, and EMEA), by partnership tier (silver, gold, and platinum tiers — where higher sellers get a larger revenue cut).

Sell-through, or sell-through rate (STR), is the amount or percentage of goods that have been sold to an end customer relative to the total available quantity of goods. A high sell-through demonstrates the effectiveness of a SaaS company's marketing efforts and sales strategies.

‍A service delivery partner typically refers to a third-party organization or entity that collaborates with a SaaS provider to assist in delivering or implementing the SaaS solution for the end customers. These SaaS partners play a crucial role in ensuring that the SaaS application is effectively integrated, deployed, and maintained for clients.

Overall, service delivery partners are essential for SaaS providers to expand their reach and offer a more comprehensive solution to their clients. These partnerships often lead to mutually beneficial relationships, where the SaaS provider can focus on software development and innovation while the service delivery partner handles the implementation and ongoing support aspects.

A strategic alliance is a formal business agreement between two or more entities that involves cooperation in the development, creation, marketing, and sale of products or services or other objectives. There are several key typed of strategic alliances: joint ventures, equity strategic alliances, or non-equity strategic alliances. In every case alliance partners align on core competencies and business strategy and pool resources to reach shared goals.

See more: Why strategic alliances are essential parts of your ecosystem.

Strategic partnerships are relationships between two entities (most commonly two companies) with overlapping or complementary products or services that aim to achieve a mutually beneficial result. Strategic partnerships are also commonly referred to as an alliance or joint venture.

A SubID"(short for Sub-Partner Identifier) refers to a unique identifier assigned to sub-partners, affiliates, or other entities within a partnership ecosystem. This identifier helps track and attribute sales, leads, or other performance metrics to specific sub-partners, enabling accurate commission calculations and performance analysis. For instance, if a SaaS company collaborates with multiple affiliates to promote their software, each affiliate would have a distinct SubID to distinguish their contributions to the partnership's success.

Success management is the process of ensuring successful enablement of a software or program. In B2B SaaS, success management is concerned with end customers achieve their desired outcomes using the software. This customer-centric approach goes beyond basic support, involving proactive measures like onboarding, training, goal setting and regular check-ins.

In partnerships, this also includes partner success through similar enablement support. By understanding customer and partner needs and proactively addressing challenges, success management fosters long-term user satisfaction, reduces churn, and ultimately drives recurring revenue for the SaaS company.  

Super affiliates are the exceptionally influential and high-performing affiliates partners who play a strategic role in driving sales and revenue for a B2B SaaS company. These whale partners typically have a large and engaged audience, extensive industry expertise, and a track record of consistently delivering results.

Super affiliates often have specialized knowledge in the software's niche, enabling them to effectively market and endorse the product to their network, leading to significant growth and brand recognition for the SaaS vendor. Building strong relationships with super affiliates is a key component of a successful partnership ecosystem, as they can significantly amplify the reach and impact of the software within the target market.

A supplier partnership is a strategic ongoing business relationship between a company and its suppliers. It goes beyond the traditional transactional buyer-seller dynamic as it involves mutual benefits, shared risks and rewards and a long-term collaboration plan.

Supplier partnerships are particularly important in B2B SaaS when the supplier plays a critical role in the development, delivery or support of the SaaS product. For instance, a partnership with a data center provider would be crucial for a SaaS company offering cloud storage solutions.