Deepak sat down with Sonya J., a partnerships advisor to growing tech companies, to answer one question for 1 to 3 person partnership teams: how do you get a partner to bring a real deal in weeks, not quarters? They covered what “activated” actually means, the early signs a partner will or won’t produce, who to spend your limited time on, how to get both your sales team and the partner’s sellers to bring each other up, and where AI helps and where it backfires. The last third was rapid fire plus audience questions.
Key Takeaways
- Define “activated” before you chase itAccording to Sonya, a partner is activated when they’ve generated real revenue (a closed deal, a live conversation they brought you into, or an upsell) and someone can explain how it happened. Not when they signed, finished onboarding, or sat through training. Quick check: can you name a customer who bought, adopted or expanded last quarter because of this partner? If not, they’re busy, not activated.
- For small teams, the first customer conversation is the early proof.Revenue takes 12 to 18 months to compound. A partner bringing you into a real customer conversation, or a customer adopting your product, shows up in weeks.
- Four early signals to watchDoes the partner actually want to work with you? Are they thinking about the customer journey? Are they thinking about the customer’s problem? Can they tell your story? If you trust only one, trust the partner who brings up a specific customer and a specific problem. The stall signal is “warm and vague” with lots of enthusiasm, no accounts, and “let’s circle back.”
- When partners stall, it’s usually usCommon causes: no go-to-market plan, a focus on partners signed instead of revenue, no named owner, and sales, product and marketing with no goals tied to it. If you’ve set an owner, shared goals, a metric and a named first account and still nothing moves, then it’s the partner.
- Pick 3 partners a month, give the rest a light touchSort by customer overlap and how easy it is to start (named sponsor, clear first job). The rest get a short monthly note and a one-pager they can forward. Skip the impressive logo with no owner, partners you can’t support yet, and anyone who can’t fit you into their roadmap this year.
- What to hand to AI, and what to keepHand over partner and market research, first drafts of one-pagers and intros, follow-ups (who committed to what, by when), and reporting that looks for trends and compares partners. Research and follow-ups save the most hours. Never let it speak for you, commit to terms, pricing, exclusivity or rev share, decide credit or payouts, or send anything a human hasn’t read. AI speeds up a process that already works. It can’t fix a partner with no sponsor or a sales team with no incentive.
Rapid fire
- Send us leads firstDon’t promise it. Send a few as a test, and agree on what coming back looks like.
- No MDF or incentivesOffer warm intros to your customers, visibility (joint webinars, a customer story, a newsletter spot) and real wins for their sellers.
- Partner goes quietRe-engage. Ask directly and make it easy to say no: “Is this a priority this quarter? Totally fine if not.”
- Ending a partnershipTalk, don’t email. Be specific about expectations, say “for now” not “never,” offer a path (light touch, or revisit in six months), and thank them.
- CEO wants results before revenueShow one page of leading indicators: activated partners by your definition, how many reached early proof, time from signing to first customer, and your top 3 partners with a next step and date each.
