Partner Training and Development

Your partners aren’t driving revenue because they don’t know how. It’s not a motivation problem. It’s an enablement problem. Most partner programs skip the hard part: teaching partners how to sell effectively. The assumption is that once the agreement is signed, partners will know what to do. But they are not inside your business. They don’t know your positioning. They don’t know the sales motion. They don’t know how to communicate your value to the customer. And without that, they are not going to prioritise you. At Hockey Stick Advisory, we work with companies to build structured partner enablement programs that remove the guesswork and equip partners to perform from day one. That includes: Training and certification to embed product knowledge Sales playbooks that clearly articulate value and positioning Performance tracking to measure what is working and what is not The outcome? ✅ More revenue per partner ✅ Stronger engagement and retention ✅ A repeatable system for partner success If you want partners to move the needle, give them a clear path to follow. Partnerships do not scale on goodwill. They scale on enablement. How are you enabling your partners to sell you?

This is the most underrated problem I've seen when trying to build or expand partnership GTM: Leadership is initially fully behind a new partnership, excited about its potential, but that enthusiasm never makes its way down to the sales teams who are expected to execute. Without alignment, even the best partnership can stall before it has a chance to succeed. Why does this happen? Sales teams are often focused on their core products, and if a partnership doesn’t clearly benefit them or fit into their day-to-day operations, it becomes an afterthought. To turn things around, you need to make sure your partnership incentives, compensation, and training are in lockstep with the teams that will be selling your product. Here’s how to align incentives and drive results: 1. Ensure your incentives are compelling enough for frontline teams. It’s not enough to excite leadership—sales teams need a clear, tangible reason to sell your product. - Introduce a financial incentive or bonus structure that’s competitive with what reps earn on their core products. This could be a one-time bonus for the first sale, or an ongoing commission that rewards consistent effort. -Tie the incentive to their existing sales goals. If your product helps them hit their targets more easily, they’ll naturally prioritize it. 2. Structure partner compensation to motivate co-selling. If your partner compensation doesn’t align with their core goals, they won’t push your product. - Design a compensation plan that aligns with both the partner’s and your business objectives. For instance, if your partner’s core offering is hardware, incentivize bundling your software as part of the sale to create a win-win situation. - Offer performance-based incentives that reward partners for hitting key milestones—whether that’s a certain number of units sold, a specific revenue target, or even customer engagement metrics. Keep it simple and measurable. 3. Provide consistent training and engagement so your product isn’t just another checkbox. Sales teams won’t advocate for your product if they don’t fully understand its value or how to sell it. - Develop ongoing, bite-sized training sessions that fit into their schedules. Instead of overwhelming them with lengthy sessions, focus on 15-minute, high-impact trainings that teach them how to identify the right opportunities. -Pair training with real-time support. Join sales calls, offer one-pagers, and provide direct assistance during key customer engagements. When they feel supported, they’re more likely to feel confident pushing your product. This kind of alignment can make the difference between a stalled partnership and a thriving one. When sales teams are motivated, equipped, and incentivized to sell your product, the partnership stops being just another checkbox—it becomes a key driver of growth.

Train the Trainer Sounds Great Until Your Core Team Is at 50% Capacity 📚 Your implementation partner offers train the trainer as standard. Your core team will learn the system, then train everyone else. Budget saved. Problem solved. Except your core team members are still doing half their regular job while attending design sessions, writing documentation, and testing the system. When exactly are they supposed to build training materials and deliver training to 200 end users across four locations? Elif Item, MCT, MVP trains F&O users after partners leave. She explained when train the trainer actually works, and when it's wishful thinking. 👍Train the trainer works when: You have 100% dedicated project resources pulled completely off their day jobs. They attend every design session, test thoroughly, AND have time to create training content and deliver it. Plus they're actually good at training, which is a completely different skill than being good at system design. 👎 Train the trainer fails when: Your core team is at 50% project allocation (the norm). They're juggling their regular responsibilities plus implementation tasks. By the time you hit UAT, they're underwater. Creating comprehensive training materials and delivering training to multiple locations isn't happening. You're scrambling to bring in external resources at the last minute. 🪤 The trap: Partners present train the trainer as the standard because it keeps their proposal costs down. Customers accept it because it sounds reasonable. Nobody wants to admit it won't work until you're eight months in and realize your SMEs don't have bandwidth to become instructional designers. 🔧 The fix: Be honest about resource capacity from day one. If your core team isn't 100% dedicated, plan for external training support early. Use low activity periods in the implementation to build training materials ahead of time instead of waiting until go-live pressure hits. Being a great functional expert doesn't automatically make you a great trainer. Plan accordingly. What percentage of time are your F&O core team members actually allocated to the project? Is train the trainer realistic for your situation? #D365FO #ERPImplementation #UserTraining #ChangeManagement #MicrosoftDynamics #ProjectManagement

Most partner enablement programs are still optimizing for certifications. Meanwhile, the smartest ecosystems are optimizing for revenue behavior. That gap came up loud and clear when I joined a podcast with Jeff Ballard and the team at BuyerForesight back in December. We dug into how modern education journeys; sales, technical, and post-sale actually map to business outcomes instead of check-the-box learning. The core shift? Continuous engagement, activation, and empowerment over certifications and transactional training. Here’s what that looks like in practice and where many SaaS ecosystems still fall behind: → Attendance is not equal to impact. - Training is noise unless it changes what partners do in deals. → Role-based enablement wins. - Sellers need talk tracks. - SEs need demos and labs. - Services teams need packaged offers they can monetize. - Generic product decks don’t survive first contact with the field. → Certifications are being redefined. Leading programs now: - Gate deal registration and co-sell access - Tie discounts to verified proficiency - Link lead flow to certified individuals - Force re-engagement with expiring certs → The real advantage is data, not content. - Who learned → what they executed → what pipeline they touched. - Most teams still stitch this together with duct tape and spreadsheets. When enablement helps partners build their own practice (industry POVs, service blueprints, pricing frameworks).. → Your product becomes embedded in their revenue model. When it doesn’t? → Training becomes theater, and partners disengage quietly. 🚨 Partnership Leaders if you stripped away completions and certifications tomorrow, could you still prove your partner education drives pipeline? 📺 Watch Here: https://lnkd.in/ebKvpqig #Enablement #Partnerships #SaaS #Revenue #GoToMarket #Channel

Let’s be honest: partners want to get selling as fast as possible and don’t have time to jump through hoops. If we’re not making enablement simple and useful, we’re not doing our job correctly.    One thing I’ve learned building our partner programs at Wasabi Technologies is that self-service is a requirement, not a nice-to-have. And the fastest way to get to mutual revenue is to make training self-service, simple and memorable, so that it actually helps partners sell more and earn more.     If you’re looking to strengthen your channel enablement strategy in an automated self-service world, here are the dos and don’ts that I always keep in mind:    ✔ DO invest in a partner portal that’s simple and easy to use. Make enablement simple and engaging with self-service learning tracks so partners can find what they need when they need it.     ❌ DON’T assume partners will just find your portal and use it on their own. You need to drive them there by promoting the content to them proactively, pushing communications to them regularly via newsletters, social media, and your channel-facing teams.      ✔ DO create a sales certification path that equips partner reps with the confidence to start selling quickly.    ❌ DON'T overcomplicate your sales certification path. If it’s too long or too complicated, no one will finish it. Keep your content intentional, and most importantly, focused on what the partner sales reps truly need to succeed.    ✔ DO run incentive programs that drive partners to your portal! At Wasabi, our incentives encourage partners to use our portal to get sales certified, register deals, and ultimately close business. It’s helped us stay top of mind with our partners and involves them through all the steps the selling process. This way, partners stay engaged while selling more and selling faster.    ❌ DON'T forget that enablement is a team sport. It takes cross-functional alignment across company teams to create impactful content and programs. Keep other teams in the loop!    ✔ DO invest in a strong partner enablement team who can think like a partner and anticipate what partners need. I’m grateful for our team: Mary-Kate DiMartino, Madison McDaniel, and Chelsea Rodgers, who bring so much enthusiasm to our Wasabi Partner Network programs and execute brilliant ideas working cross functionally with Sales, Product, Finance, and the full Marketing team. They make sure our partners always have the right tools and resources at the right time.    While enablement strategy isn't a one-size-fits-all solution, it is always partner-first.     If you're already a partner, visit the Wasabi Partner Portal to explore how these tips come to life: https://lnkd.in/erDXkAfq    If you wish to be a partner, it’s easy to sign up: https://lnkd.in/e3yWBbTF    #ITChannel | #ChannelMarketing | #SalesEnablement | Wasabi Partner Network