We’ve been doing a number of yearly partner reviews in the past month. For obvious reasons those details aren’t public, but there is one thing I can talk about – the strategic value of partnerships in 2021.
Many of my partners expressed an interest not only in the transactional – referrals, commissions, and isolated co-marketing events – but in the strategic. They are identifying a select group of vendors who will, in a sense, help shape their agency’s direction. By becoming part of their core service offering, as well as working together continually on marketing and sales efforts.
It’s a little bit different approach to the way most companies think. But it’s nothing new. Back in my business school days I looked at case studies about how manufacturing companies integrate their suppliers into their supply chain and forge something greater than the sum of its parts. In theory it ought to be even easier and more effective in the world of delivering software and services.