Why partners
Opening an office in every market is slow and expensive. The right partners give you local relationships, language and credibility from day one — whether you're expanding into Germany, Texas, Ontario or New South Wales. The catch: most partner programs produce signatures, not revenue.
Partner types
- Distributors: stock, logistics and credit — essential for physical goods.
- Resellers & VARs: sell and support software and equipment.
- System integrators & agencies: bundle your product into projects.
- Marketplaces: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and vertical platforms.
- Referral partners: consultants, associations and chambers of commerce.
Selection criteria
- Existing customer base that matches your ICP.
- Sales capacity: named people who will own your product.
- Reach across neighbouring markets or states.
- References and payment track record.
Template: Partner scorecard
Terms & incentives
- Clear territories and deal registration to avoid channel conflict.
- Margins tied to targets, not just signatures.
- Co-marketing funds released against agreed activities.
- An exit clause for partners who don't perform.
Enablement
Most partner programs fail here. Give every partner a short training path, a demo flow, localized one-pagers and a named contact. Measure time-to-first-deal per partner.
Governance cadence
- Weekly: joint pipeline review for active deals.
- Monthly: partner performance report across all markets.
- Quarterly: QBRs, tiering and incentive adjustments.
Templates: QBR deck · Joint pipeline sheet
Planning international coverage? Let's map your first partners.
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