Platform providers can play a key role in growth for your tech services companies. In fact you need to develop key strategic partners aligned with your expertise. This is part 1 of our article explaining the value to each party in building a partner relationship. In part 2 we will describe how as the founder of a services company can deepen this relationship by talking about different tactics and putting them in the context of the size and structure of the partner.
Benefits for Tech Services Companies
These partnerships can be extremely time consuming so it is important for you to have an understanding of the value you are trying to achieve.
Co-Marketing and Lead Generation
Getting leads is one of the biggest incentives for forming a partnership. Leads from partners are extremely valuable since they are usually ready to solve the problem and are only blocked on implementation But it doesn't end there. Platform partners will sponsor many co-marketing activities. This includes funding marketing efforts, and co-hosted events.
Credibility
A partnership with platform providers enhances your company's credibility not just on the platform but also about your capability in the industry itself. This will serve as a proof point to your customers of your competence. This is also why leads coming from partners are so valuable because you enter the discussion with the credibility of someone that has the trust of the partner.
Guidance
Platform partners can offer guidance and insights to help navigate their ecosystem and maximize the value of their offerings. Access to partner resources, training, and support can help you better serve your clients and stay ahead of industry trends. But strong partners extend that to gaining an understanding of product roadmaps. Which make you an irreplaceable resource to your customers.
Benefits For Platform Partner
The partner is of course interested in the relationship for mutual benefit. So you must make sure to create that mutual benefit for the relationship to thrive.
Revenue Unlock
Platform partners have their revenue bound by implementation constraints. By partnering with you the primary goal they are looking for is to unlock this revenue. They are expecting customers to spend more on their platform because you are enabling them to use more of their platform features. In addition, they are expecting you to bring in revenue from your customers. So it is important to build your own lead generation engine to return the favor to the partner.
Intimate Customer Relationships
Your relationship as a services company will inevitably be more intimate than that of the platform partner. You are interacting with them on a daily basis and understand their needs. The partner needs this understanding of the customer's needs from you in multiple ways. You can help them by not only providing them information on the needs of multiple customers but also help in penetrating the account better and creating customer implementation case studies.
Co-marketing And Lead Generation
The Co-marketing capabilities of partners extend beyond developing case studies. As an independent brand you provide more credibility and neutrality to the conversation. Sio they are interested in having you represent the value of their products.
This post helps you understanding the value created by forming a strategic partnership with a partner. Next week we will continue the conversation by discussing the specific tactics to use to deepen this relationship. To learn how to build a deep partnership please check out our next post on this topic. Also subscribe to this blog or follow us on LinkedIn to learn from Vixul about how to grow your tech services business.