Mark Rogers, CRO at Impartner, how listening, understanding, and pivoting helped 2X revenue in one quarter
Impartner's SaaS-based Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solution brings insight and manageability to partner channels.
This PRM unlocks the potential of any company’s indirect sales by helping them manage and optimize every step of the partner journey.
They make channel marketing easy. In a single pane of glass, companies and their partners can access all the campaign elements they’ve created - emails, social posts, and other assets - and quickly launch new and effective campaigns.
Situation
In early March, Impartner immediately started to see deals slowing down and ASP go down, because of the uncertainty of COVID.
Their pipeline was focused on custom solutions for enterprise-sized clients. These clients were not interested in closing deals any time soon, so Impartner needed to find new opportunities.
Task
Create new opportunities to be able to hit their revenue target for 2020.
Action
1. Find thriving prospects during lockdown
For them, it was very clear that opportunities were brewing.
Peer companies were picking up steam because they were able to adapt very quickly to the fact that now customers were no longer travelling.
The Zooms of the world were taking advantage of the remote work situation and many of them were also potential customers for Impartner.
2. Tailor messaging to the needs of the new target market
Traditionally, Impartner would work with large companies, who needed on-site, custom partner management solutions. For those prospects, their messaging focused on the advantages of customizing their PRM offer.
But when that pipeline started to slow down, they targeted smaller businesses, who asked for a bundled solution they could deploy within a week.
3. Repackage core product
Their target customers were now smaller businesses that are frequently supported by partners.
They needed a PRM that offered a reliable pipeline stream that was cost-effective and easy to manage.
Impartner had to repackage their PRM in a way that any company could easily deploy within a week or two, without much assistance.
When reaching out to these prospects, they made emphasis on how clients could quickly build, scale and empower their partner channels to bring in more revenue.
4. Position repackaged product as a reliable pipeline generator
Sales reps could not travel abroad to meet prospects.
But partners were already located overseas, which meant they represented a unique revenue opportunity, especially for these smaller businesses.
On top of that, partners already had established relationships with customers and understood their needs.
This allowed Impartner to position their solution as a reliable pipeline generator from anywhere in the world. Their PRM maximized partners' contribution to revenue and helped their customers grow.
Results
They had the best Q4 in their history with almost double their previous record sales.
Mark’s advice for other sales leaders
Mark shares four main recommendations for other sales leaders:
- Listen, listen, listen, instead of thinking that you understand what your customers need and want better than they do.
- Be proactive and humble about what you learn: You can't do everything they say. But you've got to be able to show them that you really value what they say, and that has to be reflected in what you deliver to them and how you serve them.
- Be willing to immediately break the current model: If you're not able to pivot on a dime, to respond well before the crisis hits, then you may not be around in a year.
- Make sure you understand what it is that you're facing: Engage with current and prospective customers to find out what is necessary to put those deals back in play. Have the patience to learn and then act accordingly.