#01 - Barret King: Building a Successful Partner Program

In this kickoff episode, we are joined by Barrett King, an expert in building and optimizing partner programs for SaaS businesses.

In this episode

Join us as we explore the intricacies of partner programs with Barrett King, Sr. Director, Revenue at New Breed.

With over 10 years of experience in in building partnerships and executing go-to-market strategies for SaaS companies, Barret is the perfect guest speaker to launch the podcast and offer a full explanation of what makes a successful partner program.

The episode talks about the dynamics of partner relationships in SaaS and shares strategies for establishing a partner program from the ground up.

"You asked the question of how do you build a business model around that? How do you build a program around that? I think at its core, it needs to be about what helps the customer."

Key Takeaways

• Focusing on how to fully understand customer needs is the basis of every successful partner program. 
  
  
• Using customer feedback to pinpoint potential partners who can enhance your product/service.
  
  
• Maximizing the interactions between your business, your partners, and your customers.

The Value Triangle

The "value triangle" in B2B partnerships illustrates how businesses, partners, and customers create and share mutual benefits.

This model ensures that every interaction between these points maximizes value, enhancing customer satisfaction and driving revenue.

Barrett highlights that through effective collaboration, partners can pool their strengths to improve solutions, which in turn helps grow their market presence and impact.

Partner Market Fit

The episode also discusses the concept of "Partner Market Fit," akin to the well-established idea of Product-Market Fit.

While Product-Market Fit focuses on a product satisfying a strong market demand, Partner Market Fit focuses the alignment of collaborations that enhance a company's offerings (and customer satisfaction). Barrett underscores the importance of deeply understanding customer interactions and their existing business relationships.

This understanding helps identify potential partners who can amplify the value delivered to customers - extending the product's impact and reach within the market.

KPIs and Metrics

Barrett emphasizes the importance of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in monitoring the success of partnership programs. He points out, "You should have a marketing person who's KPI on both partner attract and convert acquisition, perhaps even partner engagement."

Barrett explains that carefully chosen KPIs allow businesses to track how well partnerships are performing and identify areas for improvement. These metrics serve as a compass, guiding strategic decisions and ensuring that partnerships align with overall business objectives.

Key takeaways from Barrett's insights on KPIs for partner programs include:

• Choose KPIs that directly reflect the success and health of partnerships.
• Use these metrics to inform strategic choices and enhance partnership outcomes.
• Ensure KPIs help maintain alignment between partnership activities and the company’s broader objectives.

Timestamps

• (00:01:00) Importance of Listening to Customers in Building a Partner Program
• (00:05:15) Identifying Early Partner Market Fit Through Customer Engagement
• (00:10:30) Understanding and Leveraging the Value Triangle
• (00:15:45) Structuring a Partner Program for Mutual Success
• (00:20:00) KPIs and Metrics: Assessing the Success of Your Partner Program
• (00:25:20) Overcoming Challenges of Maintaining Customer Feedback Channels

Connect with Barrett here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrettjking/

Connect with Andreas here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaskongstad/