Many companies have partnership strategies and even strong partner rosters. But when you ask how much revenue they generate or how often teams get excited about them, you’re often met with blank stares.
Why? Most partnerships suffer from three common issues:
🔹 No Clear Revenue Model – Are you co-selling? Are there referral fees? Is the integration driving demand? Too often, partnerships are treated as PR exercises instead of revenue engines.
🔹 Lack of Internal Buy-In – If leadership doesn’t prioritize partnerships, neither will sales, marketing, or customer success. Even successful partnerships feel unappreciated when leadership “doesn’t care.”
🔹 Failure to Operationalize – Signing an agreement is easy. Embedding a partnership into daily operations is hard. Without enablement and execution, partnerships remain a checkbox exercise instead of a growth driver.
The Fix? Focus on Four Pillars:
✅ Objectives – Define clear business goals and success metrics upfront.
✅ Commercials – Align on how revenue is generated and shared. No path to monetization = no prioritization.
✅ Enablement – Equip internal teams with the tools and messaging to activate the partnership.
✅ Management – Maintain momentum with ongoing accountability, check-ins, and performance tracking.
Companies that get this right don’t just build partnerships, they turn them into competitive advantages!
