Partner enablement

Noun

[part-nur jur-nee]

The partner journey describes each step a partner goes through when learning about, joining, and earning value through a partner program. It can be likened to the buyer journey. The steps of the partner journey can be defined differently depending on the business, as can the order of certain steps. However, most partner journeys generally follow this structure:

Interest > Recruitment > Activation > Investment > Devotion

The interest stage is where a vendor gains the interest of potential partners. Recruitment involves informing potential partners of your product and offering a partnership. Activation represents the first value earned by the partner. Investment is when the partner recognizes vendor value and invests further time and capital in the relationship. Devotion occurs when partners are ready to scale with you.

Example: Jenn found that only a small percentage of partner were making it to the investment phase of her partner journey, so she decided to spend more time and energy ensuring partners hit their activation targets within their first two months of joining the program.

It’s helpful to understand partners as a part of how a company can choose to scale. The standard way a company does this is to hire talent internally, growing its go to market teams. Alternatively, a company can look to partners, third party entities, to grow its reach, similar to your sales and marketing team without increasing headcount. These partners can be individuals, consultants, or companies. There are many different kinds of partners each of whom provide different types of values, including affiliate partners, referral partners, and reseller partners.
‍

Also see: Affiliate partner, Referral partner, Reseller partner, Technology partnerships, Strategic partnerships