Not the Jackson 5, or even Maroon 5...it's Beers with Max 5! Depending on your point of view, the issue we discuss today is either one of the smartest or laziest questions you can ask: How do I get other companies to sell my offering for me?
Want to join us for the next beers with Max? Click here to signup for this week's show.
We brought in John Panaccione, CEO of partner relationship management company LogicBay, and a superstar lineup of marketing personalities to discuss. Here's what happened next:
Before kicking off today's episode, I introduce a new segment called #inboundgolfclap, where I'll be taking just a bit of time to give a shout-out to another company who is crushing it with inbound marketing. Today's #inboundgolfclap goes to Google, in honor of a sleek blog post that blends video and text together smoother than butter.
How can we greatly reduce the cost of customer acquisition by getting other companies to sell for us? Note that this isn't an internal model - we're not talking about reducing acquisition costs by improving conversion rate, generating more leads, etc. Just good ol' fashioned partner channel marketing.
I answer a viewer question: (spoiler alert) the reason IPAs are so hoppy and delicious is they used to be shipped by the East India Company all over the world, so they needed extra hops to stay good for the journey at sea.
Inbound has been around for a while, so it takes a much longer and more focused effort to get leads. Salespeople are expensive! Leads are expensive! To put it in simpler terms: the inbound ship has sailed. People are already creating content that attracts leads and answers common questions, and they have been for a while.
To paraphrase Big Daddy Kane: marketin' ain't easy.
Instead of worrying about generating our own leads, why don't we just get other people to pay for leads and a sales team and take the business ourselves?
A partner sales model is NOT a pass to sit on the beach with a fruity drink while other people sell for you. In fact, lots of times your partners will be too busy to sell your stuff because they are trying to manage their own business - and then you have to sell your own stuff anyway!
One word folks: profitability. How long does it take them to deliver the service? How high are the margins? Better than what they're selling now?
Those are the table stakes. Even if your service checks all of these boxes, there's another obstacle: no one has time to research and create content around your offering. If you want to get them to sell, they need:
I discuss these points and briefly talk about how many companies don't even realize that they're necessary. Now that you are among the enlightened, you can see for yourself by trying...
Identify one company that would be a good fit to sell your product/services. Ask them:
If the i's dot and the t's cross, you just might find a brand spankin' new source of revenue...
From here on out we have a discussion with our jedi marketing council about today's topic. Our resident indirect sales expert John Panaccione discusses the three most important elements of partner channel sales, and Jason Diller of The DSM Group talks about how much effort it would take for some clients who are hesitant about indirect selling to catch up with their competitors.
Feedback? Always welcome. Drop me a line at max@maxtraylor.com. And if you want to join the fun next week, click below:
You might also enjoy:
[Beers with Max 4] Why paid advertising will save your inbound marketing job
[Beers with Max 3] Improving sales productivity with content
[Beers with Max 2] Scalable video for marketing and sales
[Beers with Max 1] Digital, Scalable, Residual revenue for B2B companies