Enterprise software vendors have partner ecosystems with hundreds, sometimes thousands of partners–each competing for a share of the project work. But, when it comes to winning projects, the pareto principle applies. It turns out that the same top 20% of partners end up winning 80% of the work. What sets these top partners apart from the rest and gives them an unfair advantage? At Raven Intelligence, we ask software customers why they chose their services partner, and have over 2,000 perspectives about what led to their decision. The answers range from simple “our software vendor’s recommendation” or “because we used them in the past” to “we felt most comfortable with them.” But, as we synthesized the detailed feedback about “lessons learned” and “partner strengths”, we’ve found several key themes that make these top tier partners stand out and how they are able to secure the lion’s share of projects. Here are a few:

The before / after picture was clear.

” Our partner helped us to mold our processes to system design and maintain an adopt over adapt mentality. This helped us to implement a system that is now easier to maintain and cheaper to support.” – SAP customer

One key trait of top partners is their ability to clearly illustrate the before and after picture for their software customers. This means taking the time to understand the customer’s needs and present a scope of work that matches the business objectives they hope to meet. By clearly communicating the value that will be delivered, these partners are able to show the customer how their business will be impacted by the chosen software solution.

The expertise aligned with customer needs and inspired confidence that the team would make them successful.

“At the time of our partner selection we were looking for a partner who had several Workday payroll implementations under their belt in our industry, and {our partner} rose to the top.” – Workday customer

Another important trait is gaining the trust of the customer that the team assigned to the project will be capable and provide the expertise needed. This means assembling a team with the necessary skills and experience to deliver the project successfully. It also means being transparent about team members’ qualifications and providing references, project success benchmarks or case studies to back up capabilities. (Raven can help here!)

Help to sell the considered or chosen software competitively.

“We chose {our partner} because their consultants know what they are doing, bring value to all meetings and make sure we get best value from our ServiceNow system.” – ServiceNow customer

Top partners also help sell the attributes of the software competitively. This means having a deep understanding of the software’s features and benefits, and being able to effectively communicate these to the customer. Additionally, these partners are able to demonstrate how their software solution compares to competitors in the market, highlighting its unique selling points. (This also wins big points with the partnering software vendor as well!)

Tangible proof points.

“Check out a partner’s technical expertise thoroughly – not just that they are experienced with the software/vendor in question, but that they have completed projects that are the same/similar as you are proposing. Finding out that your partner has proposed a solution, based on their understanding of your requirements but a misunderstanding of the software’s capabilities can be a time-consuming and expensive path to travel.” – SAP customer

Top partners are able to prove their track record of success and can credibly point to projects and delivery metrics that show they’ve done it, and can do it better than their peers. This means collecting and sharing customer testimonials, case studies, and references to demonstrate the value they have delivered in the past. (This also means having a high rating on peer review sites such as Raven.)

Summary

The top 20% of software vendor partners are able to stand out by clearly illustrating the before and after picture for their customers, gaining their trust in their team’s capabilities, effectively communicating the software’s attributes competitively and having a verified track record of success through customer validation. By focusing on these traits, services partners can increase their chances of being selected for projects and building long-term, successful partnerships.