Independent software vendor (ISV)

Noun

[in-bound re-croot-mint]

Inbound recruitment, formerly referred to as passive recruitment, is the process of attracting new potential partners to your program that arrive as inbound traffic. This means they find your business and program on their own, rather than through you going out and pitching your program to them.

An essential part of inbound recruitment is an excellent landing page for your program, which is where potential new partners will learn about its benefits and see how they can apply. Partners found through inbound recruitment may not be a perfect fit for your program, but they come with an established level of interest. It's important to vet them through an application process to only establish partnerships with the right counterparts.

Example: Luna spent a lot of time refining her partner program landing page so that inbound partners could have a smooth, informative beginning to the recruitment process.

Noun

[eye-deel part-nur pro-fyl]

An ideal partner profile (sometimes called an ideal partner persona) is a research-based profile that describes the traits and characteristics of your best-fit partners. It can be a valuable tool for recruiting more high-value partners and catering to their needs to enable them to succeed.

An ideal partner profile is similar to an ideal customer profile. It involves a detailed description of a partner that would benefit most from your program and who would be the most engaged and successful. Attributes to consider include company size, industry, their customers, their culture and values, and their product. Once you have a sense of who your ideal partner is, you can tailor your program and its marketing to this kind of partner.

Example: Lulu created an ideal partner program for her channel partner program. She determined the ideal partner was a midmarket software company with a similar customer base and a siimlar work culture and value set.