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How to drive value from joint business planning

17 July 2015 | Phil Brown

In the last decade the rules of the game of technology sales and marketing have changed dramatically. Effective go-to-market collaboration between vendors and channel partners is more important than ever. But so-called ‘Joint Business Planning’ processes often leave much to be desired. In this article we look at some of the problems and suggest how the process can be improved.

When asked what he thought of British civilisation, Ghandi famously replied that he thought ‘it would be a good idea’.

Ghandi’s quote sometimes comes to mind when the subject of joint business planning is discussed with vendors. Everybody strongly believes in it, but it’s often debatable whether it actually exists.

That’s not to say that most vendors don’t have some sort of joint planning process for their partners, it’s just that in reality there’s often very little joint planning going on.

Value-creating or form-filling?

Joint Business Planning can and should be a value-creating process that strengthens relationships, generates new ideas, and drives action. But in reality it’s often nothing more than a form-filling exercise that adds minimal value to the parties involved.

One of the problems is that joint planning is often driven primarily by a vendor’s desire to feel in control – and to have certainty (however illusory) about future numbers. As long as there’s a plan with some numbers in it the box has been ticked. Unfortunately, this approach means that the potential to foster new thinking, identify new opportunities and build stronger engagement is wasted.

Fact or fiction?

Ironically this approach doesn’t even provide an effective control and forecasting mechanism, because the quality of information it produces is poor. The process is seen to add little value to the partner (or the vendor’s Partner Account Manager for that matter) so the completion of the Business Plan Template becomes an end in its own right. The prime objective is just to get the template filled in so everyone can get back to doing important stuff.

Any discussion around what goes into the form is cursory at best. Most of the ‘business planning’ is actually done by someone sitting in front of a screen filling in boxes. This isn’t business planning. At best its data capture. At worst its fiction writing.

Given all of this it’s hardly surprising that very little actually happens as a result of these ‘Business Plans’. A few key numbers are extracted and consolidated in a spreadsheet which is submitted to management, who may or may not make decisions based on them. The plans themselves are filed away and forgotten.

Challenge, create, engage, motivate

It doesn’t have to be like this. In fact, it’s not supposed to be like this. Joint Business Planning can be a process which builds mutual understanding, engages and motivates stakeholders, challenges current thinking, reveals new areas of opportunity, generates new initiatives, and drives action. However this only happens if it’s an interactive, collaborative process, involving knowledge transfer, debate, brainstorming, analysis and collective decision-making.

Tips for success

At OneGTM we’ve got a lot of experience of helping partners build and execute joint go-to-market plans. Here are a few suggestions based on what we’ve learned down the years about how to implement more effective joint planning with partners:

The process matters as much as the output – The value of joint planning is as much in the conversation as the form that gets filled out at the end. It’s through the conversation that knowledge is shared and processed, and new ideas emerge. Having a structured process, which encourages interaction, analysis and creative thinking, helps to ensure better plans, and a greater level of engagement and buy-in.

Find the 1+1=3 – At the heart of any joint go-to-market plan should be the joint value proposition. Why does Vendor X + Partner Y = A Good Thing for Customers. Not only is this important for customer communications. Working collaboratively with a partner to identify the joint value proposition means that that partner will be far more invested and committed to delivering sales than if they are expected to be a dumb conduit for the vendor’s message.

Engage a breadth of partner stakeholders – Business plan templates can be completed by individuals, but plans can only be executed successfully by multi-functional teams. The planning process should ensure that a broad stakeholder group is involved in creating the joint plan. So for example encourage inputs from a range of partner contacts, and use workshops rather than 1-2-1 meetings. The extra investment is likely to be rewarded with much higher levels of buy-in and greater commitment to action.

Quality in helps produce quality out – The strength of any plan will depend on the quality of the inputs. Vendors typically have access to more market intelligence resources than channel partners, and should also (presumably) have some good working assumptions about where the big opportunities are, what approaches will be most effective in unlocking them etc. By enabling partners to leverage their insights and their knowledge, vendors can add significant value to partners and ensure more successful outcomes.

Partner Managers are key – Partner Managers have a key role to play in making any joint planning process work successfully. At various points in the process Partner Managers may need to act as subject matter expert, business consultant, facilitator, advocate and project manager. Investing the time to ensure that Partner Managers have the right combination of skills, knowledge and motivation to perform the role expected of them is vital.

So how does partner business planning work for you? Is it a process that builds engagement, drives results and adds significant value for you and your partner? Or is it a task that must be completed to get the requisite tick in the box, but is widely perceived as an irrelevant pain in the backside? If it’s the latter, maybe it’s time for you to take a new look at how you can put the joint into Joint Business Planning.

Click here to take a look at our case study for Symantec’s Partner Engagement Programme