This is the second blog of the SCOPE: Partner Qualification Blog Series. All series content is powered by insights from our community experts.
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Identifying the right partners is crucial for building strategic alliances, but knowing when to disqualify a bad fit is just as important. A partnership that doesn’t align with your goals can drain resources, create friction, and ultimately stunt growth.
That’s where a solid disqualification process comes in.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through eight steps to recognize and disqualify a misaligned partner before it becomes a problem. These tips will help you streamline your approach and focus on forming partnerships that truly drive value.
1. Spot the Early Red Flags
Not all partnerships begin with obvious issues, but subtle red flags can signal potential long-term misalignment. Getting to know your partner’s objectives is key. If they don’t align with yours, you’re setting yourself up for a rocky relationship.
Here are some signs to look out for:
- Lack of enthusiasm from key stakeholders
- Slow or inconsistent communication
- Vague commitments
If their team seems disinterested or inconsistent in early interactions, it’s a strong indicator that their priorities may not match yours. Address these concerns immediately, or consider walking away.
2. Assess ICP Mismatch
A crucial aspect of forming strategic alliances is ensuring that both partners target the same customer base. If there’s a mismatch in your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), the partnership will struggle to produce meaningful results.
If your partner’s customers don’t align with your ICP, co-marketing and co-selling efforts will fall flat. It’s essential to assess whether the partner’s existing customer base and target market match your own.
“As a company, we already saw that 75% of our users were coming to us for Text to Video so it would make sense that would expand our partnership pool as well. We took this opportunity to allow our partner submissions to include Text to video workflows and we saw a 10x increase in the number of partner inquiries.” – Marc Gawith
Mismatched ICPs often lead to a disconnect in sales messaging, misaligned marketing campaigns, and inefficient resource allocation.
3. Evaluate Their Commitment to Co-Marketing and Co-Selling
If a partner isn’t willing to put in the effort to drive join initiatives, that’s a major red flag. Your partner program should always set clear expectations for mutual commitments from the start. To evaluate this, assess how enthusiastic the partner is about creating joint business plans, participating in marketing campaigns, or collaborating on sales efforts.
Are they offering resources like time, budget, and personnel to support these initiatives?
If they’re hesitant or non-committal, they may not have the bandwidth or interest to truly drive a strategic partnership forward.
A partner who lacks commitment to co-marketing and co-selling can drag down the partnership’s momentum. Make sure you’re both equally invested in driving growth, or consider disqualifying them before wasting valuable resources on an unbalanced effort.
4. Look for Operational Instability
Even if a partner seems like a good fit on paper, operational instability can be a dealbreaker for all strategic alliances.
Start by assessing how stable the partner’s organization is.
- Do they have high team turnover or frequent leadership changes?
- Is their internal structure chaotic or disorganized?
- Do they have the resources and processes to support joint efforts?
These factors can signal whether the partner cannot handle long-term collaboration, provide timely product development, or provide reliable customer support.
A partner that can’t maintain consistent operations will struggle to meet the demands of a fast-paced, collaborative relationship, ultimately affecting your ability to achieve shared goals.
5. Check for Communication Breakdowns
If there are frequent misunderstandings or poor communication between teams, it’s a strong indicator that the partnership may not be sustainable.
Monitor how teams interact across different departments – product with solutions, marketing with marketing, customer success with sales, and so on.
“Are they professional when we bring them on demos? Do they provide good intel on deals? How do they communicate in Slack DMs, shared channels, and with our customers? How do they approach co-selling when the budget is sensitive? How do they respond to constructive feedback or advice on their sales, products, demos, etc.?” – Maurits Pieper
Pay attention to these aspects:
- Professionalism in Meetings: Your partner should be prepared and actively engaged during demos or joint presentations, to respect your time, and to contribute valuable insights.
- Responsiveness and Transparency: They should provide timely updates and share crucial information openly while being proactive in addressing concerns or questions.
- Collaboration Tools Interaction: How communication occurs in shared channels such as Slack or email and whether the tone is respectful and constructive.
Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings, misaligned objectives, and, ultimately, a failed alliance. Prioritize partners who value open, honest, and efficient communication to ensure your strategic alliances are built on a solid foundation.
6. Identify Misaligned Objectives
Even if a partner seems ideal regarding market opportunity and cultural fit, misaligned goals can derail the partnership.
For example, you might prefer rapid scaling and quick adoption of integrations, but your partner wants a slower rollout, targeting just a few customers over several months. This could lead to frustration and hindered progress.
“As time went on and our platform expanded across CRM, Sales, Service/Help Desk, Operations, and Commerce, some partners evolved with us, but we still needed to attract/acquire and grow more partners who had expertise (and offered services) in the CRM Implementation, Integration, and Help Desk space. This led to a re-branding of our program from the Agency Partner Program to the Solutions Partner Program, making it more inclusive of all partner types, not just agencies.” – Justin Graci
If significant disparities emerge that can’t be reconciled, it may be wise to disqualify the partner. Aligning on mutual goals ensures that both parties in the strategic alliance are moving in the same direction, increasing the likelihood of a successful partnership.
7. Test the Relationship’s Scalability
Testing scalability ensures that your partner can support your long-term goals, not just immediate needs. If they lack the resources or ambition to scale, it might be time to disqualify them and focus on partnerships that can match your growth trajectory.
“I periodically revisit this framework to ensure that our partners remain aligned with our objectives or to determine if it’s time to reprioritize: Capacity, Capability, and Commitment.” – Kriti Chhaparwal
Without adequate resources and infrastructure, a partner may struggle to keep pace as your business evolves. Assess whether they can handle increased demand, adapt to new markets, and invest in joint initiatives. A partner unwilling or unable to scale can become a bottleneck, hindering both parties’ success.
In essence, sustainable strategic alliances require both alignment and the ability to grow together.
8. Know When to Walk Away
Sometimes, despite best efforts, a partnership doesn’t yield the expected results, and it’s crucial to know when to cut your losses.
“I think showing up and putting in the time and effort to the partnership, and setting clear SMART goals where both parties are taking action is key. If you don’t see that, you either need a new champion or need to focus your efforts elsewhere.” – Kelly Gindlesperger
By shifting focus to a more promising partner that demonstrated scalability and executive support, you can have far better alignment and success. This decision was guided by predictive models and data-driven insights, underscoring the importance of objective evaluation.
“We used a predictive model to assess the likelihood of executive support based on past interactions and decision patterns from similar partnerships. The model flagged a low engagement probability from the partner company’s executive stakeholders. This prediction was validated in subsequent meetings, where their lack of enthusiasm and commitment was confirmed.” – Hodman Murad
Walking away isn’t a sign of failure; it’s a strategic move to reallocate resources toward more promising opportunities. Ending a misaligned partnership frees up time and energy to invest in alliances that truly support your goals.
Remember, the aim is to build strategic alliances that propel both parties forward, and sometimes that means knowing when to part ways.
Conclusion
Knowing when to part ways with a not-so-great partner is just as crucial as finding the right one when building your strategic alliances.
You’ll save time and resources by following these eight steps. This way, you can focus on partnerships that really click with your goals and help both of you grow. A solid strategic alliance should lift everyone up. If it’s not doing that, it’s probably time to rethink things.
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