When Jared Fuller was a Director of Partnerships, he was notorious for getting meetings with execs at GIANT companies. He did that by using both the nearbound surround play mentioned above, and what he calls “the circle back play.”
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PRINCIPLES
Influence when you’re not in the room
Recently, Jared Fuller was on Franz-Josef Schrepf’s Partner Ship Live Show talking about nearbound and sharing his partnerships war stories.
In disbelief, Franz-Josef asked,
You mentioned the CMO of Marketo, Sarah, that you worked her for nine months. Like, how do you even start that conversation? How do you even get on her radar?
Jared’s response was two words: nearbound surround.
You have to not be the only person talking to the person you’re trying to influence. It’s much better if the people that are around them are influencing them whenever you’re not in the room.
He explained how he worked his way up from the partner program manager to the VP of partnerships to the SVP of partnerships to the Chief Growth Officer to the CMO.
The secret is that you have to earn trust throughout.
Jared finished his thought saying,
Everyone should be thinking this way.
TACTICS
The circle-back play: how to get meetings with execs
When Jared Fuller was a Director of Partnerships, he was notorious for getting meetings with execs at GIANT companies.
He did that by using both the nearbound surround play mentioned above, and what he calls “the circle back play.”
Here’s how it works:
- You identify the key executives or decision-makers you want to get in contact with.
- You define relevant information you can share with them—what are their key KPIs, what do they prioritize in their ecosystem, and how does your company influence those key metrics?
- You send them updates every month.
The key with updates is you have to approach them like this:
Hey, just FYI, here’s what happened—1,2,3. No need to respond. Just letting you know.
Jared wouldn’t ask for a meeting until he was sure he had proven a ton of value and had something worth their time, a black swan.
Most of the time this meant he was sending updates for 6+ months straight. But when he’d finally ask for a meeting (and he ran this play at least 3x times), these decision-makers would respond within 5 minutes.
Reminder: This play only works if you’re in it for the long term, provide relevant information in every email, and are working to find your black swan.
Check out the full recording here.
TRENDS
Free GTM benchmark report
GTM Partners released their GTM Benchmark Report (2024 Winter Edition).
Get the latest stats:
- 57% of companies failed to build sufficient pipeline as they cut back hard on marketing spend (without a counter strategy).
- 72% of companies are still experiencing longer sales cycles than in 2022.
- 54% of companies with a partner program rely on partners for more than 25% of their revenue.
And read why they’re bullish on the statement → Partner-Led Growth is on the rise!
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RESOURCE OF THE DAY
Audiobook out now
Nearbound and the Rise of the Who Economy audiobook is out now!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stuff you don’t want to miss!
- April 10th—Setting up Partnerships Amongst Mission-Aligned Companies— Join Nicolas Alexander (Head of Partnerships & Policy at Thallo) and Scott Pollack (CEO at Firneo) where they will dive deep into aligning commercial terms with your company’s values for sustainable partnerships. Register here.
- April 24th—Partnerships Secrets: Cory Snyder Teaches Partner Recruitment—Teamwork.com’s Head of Partnerships, Cory Snyder, spills the tea on how he’s growing his partner program in 2024. Powered by PartnerStack. Register here.
- Nearbound Summit 2023 Recordings—The future of GTM is Nearbound. Watch the recordings to hear how B2B leaders across departments unite with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Listen here.
You’re all caught up.
RECENTLY PUBLISHED ON NEARBOUND.COM
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- Mastering Nearbound Customer Success: Key Takeaways from the Nearbound Book
- The Role of Nearbound Partnerships for Customer Success by Alper Yuder
- How Nearbound Can Help Keep and Win Back Customers by Delphine Le Person and Isaac Morehouse
- Howdy Partners #69: Why Fractional Partner Management? with Pat Ferdig
- Nearbound Podcast #158: Why Agency Programs are the HARDEST. The Pirate Island Problem, with Max Traylor
- Partner Up or Perish: A Review of the Nearbound Book by Antonio Caridad
See you tomorrow
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