Introduction

Partnerships are on the rise, which means your best potential channel partners are in higher demand. As a result, they can be pickier about the brands they choose to represent.

That’s why you need a watertight, data-driven partnership proposition to keep you ahead of the competition and attract more partners. An effective partnership value proposition paints a picture of the future for your partners and convinces them to join your program to evolve your ecosystem to sustainable growth by showing how you can create net value for all involved parties.

In this article, we’ll discuss how joining forces to create a partnership value proposition can help you win more qualified partners.

A partnership value proposition is a positioning statement created when recruiting a potential partner that explains the problems your partnership could solve, how it would solve them, and what value it would add to both companies.

Think of the partnership value proposition as a data-driven road map. By examining overlapping customers and their pain points, you can paint a vivid picture of how your companies can work together to create value for end users.

Introducing the concept of net value is crucial, as it ensures that all partners benefit beyond just financial gains, fostering sustainable and successful collaborations.

Most importantly, a strong value proposition should show how your partnership will support the goals and operations that the potential partner already has in place. Aligning with a partner's mission can help identify opportunities for mutual benefit, ensuring that collaboration effectively contributes to each organization's mission and enhances overall value.

When Should I Present the Partnership Value Proposition?

The moment you decide a potential partner would be a good fit for your program, you should start writing the value proposition. Creating great value propositions requires you to do the groundwork needed to successfully recruit the partner and achieve business success.

You should communicate the partner value proposition in the first outreach with the potential partner, and then present your proposition more formally at the first meeting.

Effective communication is crucial in presenting the value proposition, as it helps align mutual goals and build strong relationships.

To ensure that you make a lasting impression, use the following best practices to create value proposition statements:

Be Clear About Your Unique Offering

You create a unique value proposition to showcase your special offerings and selling points. Your potential partners need to know what you do and how you do it differently, emphasizing the collaborative advantage that arises from combining diverse resources creatively. The proposition should be easy to understand, and the potential partner should see how it will bring value to their target customers.

Additionally, it is crucial to assess the overall costs and benefits of partnerships, including potential cost savings. This includes evaluating financial contributions alongside other tangible and intangible resources like staff time and in-kind contributions.

Without specifying your distinctive offering, you risk appearing to be just another business looking to make a quick buck.

Balance Creativity and Clarity

A compelling value proposition is best when it combines innovation and clarity. But that can be difficult, especially if you’re new to partnership design.

As long as the strategy's main message remains crystal clear, you have a shot. Creativity can be a lot of fun, but even if it’s entertaining and memorable, a witty or original value proposition is no good if it’s not clear and detailed. Clear communication is essential in building successful partnerships and navigating conflicting priorities.

Use The Right Language

The words you choose are important. They need to be in a format your audience understands and should reflect your brand.

It’s very important to use the language your potential partner uses about their own goals and company. Doing this breaks down barriers because it’s easier to do business with someone you like and trust. If they see that you’ve put effort into a deep understanding of their language, it’ll leave a lasting impression.

Effective communication is also crucial in fostering successful business partnerships. Clear communication helps align mutual goals and build strong relationships, ultimately leading to enduring partnerships and shared value.

How to Create a Strategic Partnership Value Proposition

Creating a strategic partnership value proposition doesn’t have to be rocket science—it just needs to answer the questions that your potential partner and their customers are asking about what you have to offer in terms of partnership value creation.

One key aspect to consider is the partnership difference, or delta, which highlights the distinct value and outcomes a partnership can generate compared to individual efforts.

With a few best practices in your pocket, you’ll be scoring new partnerships like a pro. Just keep the following considerations in mind:

How Does it Help Their Customers?

One of the first things your potential partners will be interested in is the direct or indirect impact the joint venture will have on their end users.

If you want them to keep listening to you, an important starting point for developing your partner value proposition is to be clear about what your benefit is to the customer and clearly articulate this to your potential partners.

Additionally, it is crucial to consider the intended beneficiaries of the partnership. Highlight how the collaboration will positively affect these groups, whether through direct programmatic goals or broader economic and sustainable practices.

What Leverage Does it Give Them in the Market?

It’s unusual for a single company to have power in all areas. Every company has weaknesses in its offerings to certain market segments.

The most important thing is to know the pros and cons of your target audience, but that’s not enough. You also need to understand their competitors’ business strategies and identify potential business opportunities. You can use this information in your value proposition to show your potential partners how a partnership will give them an advantage in the marketplace and give them a leg up on the competition.

Additionally, gaining commercial value through strategic partnerships can significantly enhance the sustainability of supply chains and drive organizational growth.

How Does it Help Them Reach Their Larger Goals?

This part is very important. Although it may seem too obvious to mention, many vendors focus a lot on their product and how well it compares to their competitors, rather than aligning their value proposition with their partners’ strategic objectives.

Consider the following:

• What do the potential partners want to achieve?
• What new markets do they want to enter?
• How does your solution help partnership, marketing, and sales teams reach their specific goals?

Achieving business goals often requires recognizing the importance of partnerships. Collaborative efforts can lead to greater accomplishments compared to working alone. While you’re at it, make it clear how your offering will help them achieve those goals.

What Other Incentives Are You Offering?

This is another mistake that vendors often make: they believe that they should compete only on prices or percentages. While revenue percentages are undoubtedly important, they aren’t the only factor you can use to convince your partners to work with you. Highlighting potential financial gains can be a compelling incentive. You have to offer incentives that stand out.

Remember that anything that lowers their overall operating costs basically equates to higher profitability. A simple example would be offering an extensive library of marketing materials, especially components like videos that they may not be able to produce themselves. Such resources lower their own marketing expenses while increasing sales, making them particularly effective unique selling propositions. Make this content accessible and easily found.

In addition to financial gains, in-kind contributions such as goods, services, and volunteer support can significantly enhance the value and effectiveness of your partnerships.

As Charlene Strain from Pendo said in her Greatest Minds in Partnerships feature:

Pendo partner program

“We create no-nonsense assets and also organize existing materials to make it easy not only for our salespeople here at Pendo but also for our actual reseller, integration, or marketplace listing partners. We create templates for press releases, data sheets, and the like so they can be plug-and-play. If they’re looking for three to five sentences, we can deliver that to them in the format they need.”

What Co-marketing Support Will They Receive?

Partners want to know that you’re providing them with top-notch materials and resources, such as Marketing Development Funds, that they can use to promote your product confidently. This includes sharing services that can lead to both financial benefits and in-kind contributions.

Effective communication is also crucial in fostering successful business partnerships, ensuring that mutual goals are aligned and strong relationships are built.

Make sure they have access to clear, thorough product specifications appropriate for prospects, recommendations, customer examples, a comparative analysis of competing products, email templates, call guides, agendas, and cheat sheets for resolving objections. This will drive partner action immediately because they will feel more confident with this information.

What are Your Short- and Long-Term Goals?

You also have to determine your short—and long-term goals to ensure continued involvement. For it to succeed, everyone participating, including you, needs to have some stake in the outcome. One-way communication supported merely by a handshake isn’t going to work. You need to have individual and mutual goals right from the start.

Assessing the full cost of partnership involvement, including staff time, in-kind contributions, and financial inputs, is crucial to ensuring net benefits and maximizing the partnership's value.

It is essential to have a well-thought-out set of objectives and a strategy for monitoring progress toward those objectives. A collaborative business plan or MAP can help with this.

It’s also important not to limit your attention to sales revenue. You should have other goals, such as market share or brand awareness. Naturally, each of these objectives should be in line with the partnership’s overall goals for growth and sales.

After you’ve done that, think about your channel goals and how they might affect the bigger business objectives. Consider how your channel program may help these bigger objectives, and try to align them as much as you can. Start by examining your overarching business goals.

Among these, which can be sustained through channel sales? Are there any objectives that are specifically related to channel success? When this is done, clearly articulate your individual and partnership goals to your potential partners.

Prioritize Your Values

Developing a win-win situation isn’t the only factor to consider when evaluating a potential partner. A strong partnership requires a great deal of commitment, self-control, and respect. For a partnership to work, each partner must share their business ideals.

The primary driver for organizations to engage in multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) is the potential to combine resources creatively, enabling them to achieve greater outcomes than they could individually. Successful partnerships must deliver net value and reputational benefits to all involved parties, which drives sustained collaboration and partnership effectiveness.

Partnerships that share the same views on customer service, company ethics, and brand representation are more likely to form successful partnerships. Companies with similar cultures often achieve synergy more quickly thanks to an implicit code of trust that symbiotically extends resources and workflows.

To make sure you choose a partner with similar values, compare your company’s vision, goals, and philanthropic efforts. Ask yourself: Do the two companies have similar ideas about their brand promise and customer experience? If so, it’s likely you’re a good fit and you should continue working together.

Focusing on aspects of your potential partners’ business, such as how your offering meets their goals and helps their customers, can reinforce an effective value proposition. Many vendors focus too much on product features in their presentations, leaving partners in the dark about what they get out of the partnership.

Understanding your partner's business model can help you better address customer needs while helping them grow their own business. You should also help them see how they can connect their own products and services to your offering.