How to build a partnership channel that produces revenue, not logos
Signed partnerships are easy. Producing partnerships are not. The difference is almost entirely in the first 60 days after signature.
Most partnership programmes die quietly. An agreement is signed, a press post goes out, both sides return to their own targets and nothing moves. The failure is rarely partner selection—it is what happens, or does not, after signature.
Choose partners by the moment, not the market
The best partner is not the biggest brand; it is whoever is already with your customer at the moment they need what you sell. Insurance sold at the point of buying a car. Delivery offered at the point of checkout. Legal help offered at the moment a dispute starts.
Write the commercial terms around their incentive
A partner's team will do what they are paid and measured on. If your product does not appear in their incentive structure, it does not exist. Fix that before you fix the integration.
Treat activation as its own project
The 60 days after signature decide the outcome. Someone must own it: training their front line, agreeing the first campaign, instrumenting the reporting and reviewing performance weekly until volume is real.
- One named owner on each side
- A first revenue milestone with a date on it
- Weekly numbers both sides can see
Kill the ones that do not move
A portfolio of dormant partnerships costs attention. Review quarterly, double down on what produces and close the rest without ceremony.
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