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Data Sharing Rests Upon Human Connection

July 21, 2021

Data sharing is essential to driving revenue with your partners. Channel and sales teams need visibility into global ecosystem overlap in order to refer, upsell, resell, co-sell, and target specific accounts with their various partners. Considering how necessary it is to drive revenue with partners, you would think data sharing would be more prevalent. However, anyone who works in channel and sales knows how difficult it can be to get essential data from their partners. That’s because data sharing is about human-to-human connection and requires a great deal of trust from your partner if sensitive data is going to be shared.

Are You Even Sharing Data Now?

The first question our CEO, Cassandra Gholston, always asks prospects and clients is: “are you currently sharing data with your partner?” If the answer is no, there are usually two reasons. First, your team has never asked to share data, and second; trust has yet to be built. The reality is that data sharing is happening within your partner’s ecosystem, it’s just not happening with you yet.  

There may be some resistance to sharing data at the beginning of a partnership as a foundation of trust has yet to be established. There isn’t a silver bullet to building trust with your partners. However, we discuss six techniques for building trust with partners in this blog. Trust-building takes time, effort, and continued positive business interactions. The best way for you to gain your partner’s trust is by building pipeline and closing business together. So, extend an olive branch and be the trusted partner that companies want to work with.

Start with One Spreadsheet

Once you build a strong relationship, getting data from your partner becomes the norm. Start small with a spreadsheet or two and work up from there. This will incentivize your partner to send you spreadsheets in return. This acts as a give and take and it builds trust with your partners.

You can then work to get more securely shared data at scale by connecting CRMs and instantly mapping through PartnerTap. Once partners connect on PartnerTap, pipeline is identified in 30-60 days. This is where our clients have the most success, but this can’t happen without building a personal and trusted relationship first.

Always Build Trust with Your Partners

If your teams are looking to drive more revenue from your partnerships, data sharing is a necessity. Remember this is about the personal connection you share with each other. You can have a great go-to-market strategy, but if you haven’t built trust, you won’t get the data you need to accelerate and reach the true potential of the partnership. If you aren’t sharing data with your partner yet, make sure you’re asking and begin building trust right away. 

For more detailed information on the importance of trust and data sharing, watch the full interview of Cassandra Gholston on the Channel Maven Podcast here.

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