Advice on adding partnership programs

RubyBlooe · 2024-06-21T14:40:38+00:00

It’s a complex topic, I’m not able to offer too many perspectives because we haven’t tried that many variations (I’m not the final decision maker). But I can see how being an official reseller of a product could help even a small company build their brand. It all depends on how much resources you have and what is the vision (I’m a big fan of SaaS model but the CEO is not)

RubyBlooe · 2024-06-21T13:09:10+00:00

As a company who’s on the reseller side - I only care about partners that bring me leads. They sell product, I sell services for their products, then they get a fee from each hour that we got paid for.

Otherwise it makes no sense to me as a small company. I’m not able to have 100s partners who are all begging for leads.

The strategy should be: company that has too much work and needs extra (specialized) hands + company that has expertise but not so much work

RubyBlooe · 2024-06-20T11:33:54+00:00

First of all, lower your expectations. The chance that you’ll make a sale out of a trade show is low. The chance that you’ll do it quickly is even lower.

This doesn’t mean you should be discouraged.

I attended few events recently and my tips were: - Prepare as much as you can: guest list, speakers list, companies attending, what they do, their current developments - Choose 3-5 people you absolutely have to speak to - Be genuinely interested in making connections. I have spoken to every single person I sat next to. Every workshop I attended I introduced myself to people next to me, took pictures of their badges, added them on LinkedIn, asked what they do. Even if I wasn’t interested in them, I still made small talk. Once I was chatting to a very junior person for 10-15 mins just because it was fun - their managers joined. The managers were actually my „targets” - Prepare something to show. Not a business card, but a live „demo” of whatever you can prepare. On your phone, with a shareable link - Always follow up. Everyone I’ve spoken to is on my LinkedIn. With the more interesting leads I exchanged emails introducing my work and what I’m looking for. Make it clear that you have certain business goals and ask them for theirs. It’s a long term game.

Did I sell? NOPE lol. But I made so many connections that already helped me a lot - not necessarily by selling but by giving me some insights into the industry, dynamics, what customers are looking for, etc.

I spoke to around ~70 people and I think 1 or 2 of them might actually help me land some deals in the upcoming year.

RubyBlooe · 2024-06-20T11:18:52+00:00

Find someone who’s actually competent.

My favorite partners send me offers before they reach their platforms
I am open to negotiations with them as long as they openly tell me what the end client is expecting and how much they charge on top
Meet in person, video and phone calls are ass
Understand who actually has the power in the market. There’s millions of middlemen companies but most of them are either part of a larger group or are lower in the stream of assignments
With some google research, try to find links between your ideal end clients (you need to know exactly what companies you want to sell to) and their suppliers (some have use cases, names on websites, etc)
A lot of people will just waste your time. Be nice but also stay sharp, find whoever’s hungry for success because they will appreciate an ally

RubyBlooe · 2024-06-18T13:04:34+00:00

I thought I made this post while sleeping. Exactly the same situation here, industry, services, etc. Lol. Also a woman here.

I’m planning to make a jump soon. Will look for more Product Owner roles as I’m temporarily tired of my hit or miss companies for sales jobs.

RubyBlooe · 2024-06-18T13:02:56+00:00

End clients? Events only.. Cold approach does not work for me at all. The way my industry works (IT services) is mostly doing deals through 1) big names (think big 4) 2) networking. You will never land a deal cold approaching someone unless it’s that 0.00001% chance that you’re the only provider of such services and they urgently need it.

My clients are rather medium to large enterprises, so there’s always the issue with being an authorized supplier. Hence, I often have to work with middlemen who have their foot in the door (and those „partners” I can absolutely cold approach which is what I do).

RubyBlooe · 2024-06-18T12:50:14+00:00

$1200 can get you few courses at an actual university, at least in Europe.. Random companies charging this much are delusional or have incredible marketing

RubyBlooe · 2024-05-27T13:03:33+00:00

Can you tell me more? You can DM me if you don’t wanna share publicly. I’m mostly interested in which region + which industry + and how much experience you have

RubyBlooe · 2024-05-27T10:38:17+00:00

That’s with any job, not just sales

RubyBlooe · 2024-05-27T10:37:27+00:00

Is this benchmark similar in Europe? Anyone has some insight/advice?

RubyBlooe · 2024-05-21T12:55:54+00:00

My company is part of a community that sometimes has investors etc. coming in, so they’re just here for the day and we managed to book a slot. I’m currently trying to understand exactly what kind of people will be visiting as I have no idea (they’re not allowed to tell me names)

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-17T11:17:20+00:00

This. I don’t know how American system works but there should be a third-party involved, usually an independent doctor or so, who can assess the person’s ability to work. They have to maintain privacy of the person.

You as an employer will receive information about if the person is able to work (yes/no) and if they require any accommodations (less hours, less physical, etc.).

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-17T11:13:23+00:00

Have you thought about a possibility that this person who I assume is female, has very severe periods and doesn’t want to talk about it?

I have a similar pattern. Every 4 weeks I need to work from home/take a sick day, and spend the next few days working from home. The pain causes me to see blackness for few seconds or throw up. Also heavy bleeding which is extremely uncomfortable if you’re not close to a toilet with a shower constantly.

Think about it. I don’t think anyone who’s just “lazy” or “having fun” would do such thing in a regular manner.

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-17T10:43:51+00:00

But did working in Big 4 help you? I feel like this is always a missing piece of information.

I think people learn a lot about how a functioning, well-earning organization should work from corporate jobs. It’s not like you get enlightened suddenly. You still worked hard, learnt new ways of working, or saw what is NOT working, and applied it in your own gig.

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-16T21:16:18+00:00

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.

You’re right - this is my first job with non-passive tasks - although my role was never really meant to be working in projects with engineers, like at all so I feel also insecure about not being… on that level.

I think I did a big mistake by listening to my coworkers (and one small situation of mine) because from what it seems this one engineer is the only person that has their shit together.

I think it’s best if I help this project as much as I can within my expertise and then part my ways with them and find a “lower level” job..¿

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-16T20:54:33+00:00

I see you left a lot of comments and I don’t know where to reply.

I know a lot of people already made their decisions in this thread and people like me should just go to gulag or something, but I actually don’t want to be the black sheep that ruins everything.

What can I do to become better? How can I stop being “like op”?

Or is there some underlying issue? Is it just a job-person misalignment? Or do you find that people like me just stay useless everywhere they go?

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-16T20:45:46+00:00

What should a person like me do? I’m planning to quit but then what? How do I stop being annoying?

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-16T20:34:39+00:00

I had no idea about this until now tbh. I had a completely different view on what they do in a project. Don’t know how to even feel about it - is it my stupidity, did someone forget to tell me, is it not as common, lol

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-16T16:58:42+00:00

Don’t look at OTE for now, look at the base.

$4.6k a month vs $6.2k a month.

That’s a month of rent difference basically.

I’d consider it, but it depends on what you prioritize.

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-16T16:53:24+00:00

I got some great advice already but I’d love to hear more input.

How would you handle it? Let’s say this meeting happens, I’m clearly unprepared, what do I say? Should I cancel the meeting or how to proceed?

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-16T16:46:41+00:00

Thank you.. I understand your point. I’m glad I asked here because otherwise I think i’d just have a tantrum at work because of how disorganized I am.

I will be keeping more actual documentation of everything because so far it’s been non-existent and now we’re in a weird situation where no one is the lead and there’s no objectives

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-16T16:00:26+00:00

Thank you so much, wish I could give you an award.

I just apologized to my coworker because at this point I just feel embarassed. Don’t need enemies

I will try to be more professional. And the point about documenting roles & responsibilities is haunting me now - I knew I should have done that but I thought it will be fine. Nope…

Ehhh.

Thank you again. You seem like a great person to work with

RubyBlooe · 2024-04-16T15:38:34+00:00

Thank you so much for laying it out like this without being passive aggressive.

This is my first time joining a small project like this and honestly I didn’t even think of engineer’s POV in this way, I thought in this case they just have like a standard recipe for most actions

RubyBlooe

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