In this featured play, expert McBain breaks down exactly how to win in the Decade of the Ecosystem using the smart principles, the right tools and effective daily tactics — selling not just to customers alone, but through ecosystems.
Jay McBain, Chief Analyst at Canalys.
Jay McBain, Chief Analyst at Canalys, is a strong advocate for partnerships through the entire funnel. In a world where 89% of sales reps rely on partners and 96% plan to, your GTM strategy must shift from siloed channels to orchestrated influence. In this expert playbook, McBain shares his modern view of how to build a partner ecosystem in B2B SaaS.
Watch and listen to Jay McBain on Get It, Together, powered by PartnerStack.
Here's a step-by-step breakdown of how McBain scales through ecosystem, from insight to execution:
At the heart of a successful partner strategy is understanding influence. As McBain puts it, "You can’t win deals with zero influence. You need at least three to four trusted voices around every buyer." This principle guides how you define your strategic posture and build your entire ecosystem.
To set your ecosystem up for success, McBain suggests starting with a tactical and strategic audit. Use these questions to assess your go-to-market readiness by analyzing with the following lens:
This analysis will allow you to map around how your customers truly buy, rather than simply focusing on how you sell.
As the saying goes, “You lose most deals in the moments you never even knew existed.”
This means adopting a surround strategy, where your focus expands to encompass the key people who shape decisions across the key moments of the buyer journey. It's about understanding the entire ecosystem of influence around your potential customers.
To truly optimize your revenue and partner operations, you need a clear understanding of every touchpoint that shapes a deal, from initial awareness through purchase, renewal and even into advocacy.
To achieve this, you'll be leveraging a suite of powerful tools:
According to Canalys insights, “The modern buyer experiences 28 moments (on average) that lead them to a purchase decision and vendor selection. Many of those moments are with or through third-party partners, marketplaces, thought leaders or influencers with specialized knowledge and expertise.”
With your tools in place, you're ready to conduct a moment mapping workshop of your buyer. This crucial step involves aligning your RevOps and PartnerOps and other GTM teams to collaboratively identify the key signals that influence a deal, especially concerning partner involvement, to optimize the entire revenue generation process.
This can include activities like:
Next, it's all about tagging and tracking. Implement PartnerStack tracking and map it directly to your CRM fields. This allows you to meticulously tag and track every partner-influenced touch. Finally, to take your insights to the next level, incorporate an AI layer. Use agentic AI to suggest the next best actions based on the stacked moments, proactively guiding your teams towards successful outcomes.
Design a scalable partner program architecture
When building out your partner program, remember: “There’s 3.2 roles per partner — treat them accordingly.” This means moving beyond a one-size-fits-all approach and designing a partnerships framework that acknowledges the diverse ways partners can contribute to your success.
Don't fall into the trap of boxing in your partners with rigid labels. Today's partners often wear three or more hats, acting in various capacities. Instead, design your programs around specific moments in the buyer's journey, not around predefined partner types. This flexibility allows for a more dynamic and effective partner engagement.
To achieve this, consider a robust framework that categorizes partners by their engagement and funding motions:
Next, build a robust strategy to engage with the communities and influencers who are already shaping your target audience's conversations. Focus on identifying and activating the key hubs and individuals who hold sway in your industry:
To ensure your partner program runs like a well-oiled machine and consistently drives revenue, establishing a clear, tactical weekly cadence is essential. This routine helps both your RevOps and PartnerOps teams stay aligned, proactive and focused on maximizing partner-influenced opportunities.
Here's a breakdown of how you can structure your week of partnerships activities for optimal results:
By adhering to this structured weekly cadence, your teams will maintain momentum, proactively address challenges and consistently drive greater value from your partnerships programs.
You’re not just building a channel. You’re building an ecosystem offense. The difference? One’s optional — the other is inevitable
Meet Get It, Together expert guest Jay McBain:
This partnerships expert is a strong advocate for partnerships through the entire funnel and is currently the chief analyst at Canalys.
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