Alethea
September 25, 2025
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What this guide covers
- The Partner Leverage Ladder (Access β Assist β Attach β Anchor)
- Selection criteria and tooling for account mapping, PRM, and co-sell ops
- A 6-week rollout and metrics to hold partners accountable
The ladder (quick refresher)
- Access β marketplace listing + basic integration.
- Assist β co-content aligned to ICP problems
- Attach β co-sell motion, shared attribution, rules of engagement.
- Anchor β joint programs, roadmap sync, field enablement.
How to choose (selection criteria)
- Overlap detection: surface shared customers and prospects.
- Attribution clarity: sourced vs. influenced; attach definitions.
- Co-sell workflow: roles, SLA, and single source of truth.
- Enablement: content portability, certification, MDF tracking.
- Reporting: pipeline by rung, attach rate, cycle time deltas.
The partner tool stack
- A. Account Mapping & Signals
- Reveal / Crossbeam β overlap reports, intros, and co-sell lists.
- Pros: fast partner overlap visibility. Cons: relies on partner buy-in/data hygiene.
- Reveal / Crossbeam β overlap reports, intros, and co-sell lists.
- B. PRM (Program, Content, MDF)
- PartnerStack / Allbound β partner portals, MDF, onboarding content.
- Pros: scalable; channel-friendly. Cons: setup rigor required.
- PartnerStack / Allbound β partner portals, MDF, onboarding content.
- C. Co-Sell Execution
- CRM (SFDC/HubSpot) β partner objects, attribution, opportunities.
- Pros: teams already live here. Cons: needs custom fields/process.
- Mutual Action Plan tools (Notion/Accord) β shared plan with partner + prospect.
- Pros: clarity of steps. Cons: adoption risk if too heavy.
- CRM (SFDC/HubSpot) β partner objects, attribution, opportunities.
- D. Enablement & Content
- Guru/Notion/Highspot β partner playbooks, 1-pagers, proof packs.
- Pros: easy sharing. Cons: must be curated.
- Pros: easy sharing. Cons: must be curated.
- Guru/Notion/Highspot β partner playbooks, 1-pagers, proof packs.
Implementation steps (6 weeks)
- Weeks 1β2 β Foundations
- Pick 3β5 lighthouse partners with ICP overlap.
- Connect both CRMs to Reveal/Crossbeam; generate overlap and target lists.
- Define attribution, partner objects, and attach rules in CRM.
- Weeks 3β4 β Assist rung
- Publish one co-guide or webinar aligned to a single pain.
- Load enablement: 1-pager, objection map, email scripts.
- Weeks 5β6 β Attach rung
- Stand up a co-sell workflow: owners, SLA, mutual action plans.
- Enable weekly pipeline sync; track sourced/attached opportunities.
Metrics / proof hooks
- Sourced pipeline from partners (absolute + % of total).
- Attach rate on partner-touched deals: +15β25%.
- Cycle time delta vs. direct: β10β20%.
- Partner QBR: report ladder progression and exit under-performers.
FAQs
Do we need PRM from day one?
Noβstart with account mapping + CRM hygiene, add PRM when scale demands.
What kills co-sell?
Fuzzy attribution and no single owner. Fix both first.
How many partners is ideal?
Few lighthouse partners you can move up the ladder beat 50 logo swaps.
