In today’s landscape, partnerships have become a crucial part of sales strategies for tech companies looking to expand their reach and drive revenue.

However, managing the entire life cycle of  partnerships requires both strategic planning and efficient execution. This is where partnership automation can make a world of difference, streamlining your efforts while ensuring maximum impact.

‍

1. Discovery: Find the Perfect Match

The first step in managing partnerships is identifying the right partners for your brand.  It's critical to narrow down your your target partners early on. Here's how to get it right:
‍

• Query the Landscape: Leverage tools that allow you to scan through a potential partner. You can search based on content, geography, reach, and even which partners your competitors are working with.
• Filter for Quality: To ensure your partnerships are meaningful, filter partners based on existing customer quality. Avoid partners that do not work work clients within your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
• Organize and Segment: Once you’ve filtered your options, assign partners attributions like location, demographics, business type, or software that they current offer services for. I.e Hawke Media attributions might be USA, Enterprise, Shopify Plus & Klaviyo
  ‍

2. Engagement: Build Lasting Relationships

Finding Partners is just the beginning. Building a relationship that translates into successful partnerships is the next key step. Here’s how to engage with partners effectively:
‍

• Personalized Outreach: Start by crafting personalized messages that refer to their clients, events, social media posts, case studies or website. I would recommend not using automation at this stage.‍
• Keep in Contact: Use automated drip campaigns & partner newsletter to stay top-of-mind. Encourage your partners to get certified in your solution. Offer to hold co-branded events.‍
• Partner Pipeline Management: Keep track of your partnership recruitment pipeline and understand which strategies are yielding the best responses.\

‍

3. Collaboration: Partner for Success

Once partner are on board, effective collaboration ensures both parties benefit from the partnership. Here’s how you can make collaboration seamless:
‍

• Set Achievable Goals: Work with partners to define clear goals for performance. Set out what success looks like for both parties.
• Give Referrals: Partnerships are a 2 way street. One way to build trust with your partners is to provide them with high quality referrals early in the relationship (Give before you receive).
• Keep Partners In The Loop: By sending offers, content, and product updates. Even go as far as consulting partners about your upcoming roadmap.

‍

4. Performance: Track and Optimize

Partnerships should be closely monitored to measure effectiveness and optimize future campaigns. Here’s how to measure and improve partner performance:
‍

• Measure Success: Use performance metrics like audience reach, engagement rates, and referral tracking  to track how well your partners are driving brand awareness and revenue.
• Assess Impact: Understand how partners contribute to consumer journeys. Are they bringing in new customers? Promoting specific products? Use these insights to refine your approach.
• Adapt Your Strategy: Offer bonuses or performance-based incentives to shift partners towards key performance goals. For example, if smb or enterprise partners are excelling at customer acquisition, focus your  efforts there.

‍

5. Optimization: Scale and Grow

The final stage of the partnership life cycle is about optimization—ensuring the relationship grows and aligns with your evolving business goals:
‍

• Streamlined Onboarding: Make it easy for partners to get started with your brand by sending them a sign-up link with single sign-on (SSO) options. Simplifying the onboarding process keeps partners engaged from the start.
• Lead Generations: Support your partners by making it as easy as possible to submit referrals no matter where they are.
• Be Transparent About Referral Progress: Remove friction and build trust by allowing partners to track the progress of the referrals they have provided.
• Automate Contracts and Payments: Create electronic contracts with clear payment terms. Set up payout structures that reward partner based on performance—whether it’s driving new customers or promoting high-margin products.