June 3, 2024

minutes

Nearbound Daily #597: Robert Cialdini On How To Influence Partners To Give You More

Ella Richmond

Give first, it works

Robert Cialdini published his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion in 1984. In it, he explores the factors that go into buyers' purchases and breaks down the decisions people make.

One of his six principles, reciprocity is incredibly important for every partnership professional to master.

Here's what he explained in his book:

Humans value equality and balance (to an extent).
We don't like to feel like we owe people.

Because of this, you can influence a human's desire for reciprocity by being the first person to give.

Now that you've given first, they feel like they should give you something back.

The give-first principle isn't fluff, it's human psychology.

TACTICS

Do these two things that don't scale

I was reading Nelson Wang’s (Head of Worldwide Partnerships at Airtable) newsletter (it’s a great newsletter if you want to check it out!) and he shared a story that highlights the importance of doing things that don't scale.

Here's what he shared:

A partner and I had an urgent RFP we wanted to respond to with a tight timeline.

Instead of putting together standard slides, we decided to demonstrate the power of Airtable by building the app the customer wanted from ground zero.

The three of us were able to get it done in an hour over a Zoom call.

Now instead of just sending over slides, we have screenshots of the app and an MVP of the app demo we can build on.

Would slides have been easier? Of course.

But now we have:

1. A partner that is crystal clear on the value of Airtable in their solution offerings

2. A solution the partner can replicate with other clients

3. A stronger relationship because we put in the work to make them successful

As this image suggests, doing things that don't scale initially helps you build and learn the most important things. For example, you can build trust, find opportunities, and give every customer and partner a first-class experience. Then, once you've done the stuff that's hard to replicate, scale comes naturally.

So, what should you do today?

According to Nelson, here are two of the most important "not scalable" things any partner pro can do:

Join customer meetings.
Learn about their journey with your platform. Ask them directly about the challenges they've been running into. That way you'll be able to identify which partner types will make the biggest impact for them.
Anything you ask your partner team to do, do it first or do it with them.
- You want to roll out a new co-selling process? Work on a partner deal with a rep from beginning to end.
- That new joint partner plan you want to roll out? Fill it out with a partner.
- That partner recruitment pitch certification? Put one together yourself.

Things that don't scale aren't mandatory.

Which is exactly why the people who do them set themselves apart.

RESOURCE OF THE DAY

Real outcomes come from integrated data

Each company must have access to data on where its customer and prospect overlaps are with others in its ecosystem.

BUT access alone is not enough. While knowing which companies work with your partner orgs is better than not knowing, the real outcomes result from having that data integrated into your CRM and automation platform.

Read the full article from Arrows' Shauntle Barley.

And if you want the opportunity to learn hands-on strategies for driving outsized returns with the power of partnerships data, register for TODAY's event with Wistia Live, Arrows, HubSpot, and more! Register here.

FROM THE ECOSYSTEM

55 ecosystem books to add to your wish list 😍

Jay McBain (Chief Analyst of Channels, Partnerships, and Ecosystems at Canalys) and the Canalys team rounded up a list of 55 of the best ecosystem and channel books out there!

On that list were some familiar favorites including:

Nearbound and the Rise of the Who Economy by Jared Fuller
Ecosystem-Led Growth by Bob Moore
Partnernomics by Mark Brigman

Check out the full list here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

TODAY—June 4th—Happy Customers Festival—Join Arrows, HubSpot, Reveal, PandaDoc, Grain, Wistia, Aircall and thousands of GTM leaders to learn how to unlock the full potential of HubSpot. Register here.
June 5th—The Future of Integrations—The average company uses 130 SaaS products, and counting. Join Jan Arendtsz (CEO at Celigo) and Franz-Josef Schrepf (Strategic Partnerships at StreamYard) to discuss how customers will integrate their tool stack and workflows in the future. 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.

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