INTRODUCTION
For growing technology companies looking to accelerate their sales and keep up in the digital age and beyond, a robust network of channel partners is an essential part of the equation. Companies know they need to implement tools to better manage their teams, increase productivity, and assist with marketing, to name a few. But this is no easy feat, and the tools have not historically been available.
With millions of potential partner options out there and no clear search criteria or automated tool to help organize them, the searching and scoring process can feel like, and actually is, a shot in the dark. As a result, companies have historically had to waste valuable time and expensive resources searching for and reaching out to partner prospects that are far from ideal. They need an organized and time-saving tool to help them find channel partners that are, in fact, a match.
THE CHALLENGE
LogMeIn is a mid-sized SaaS portfolio company specializing in remote desktop access with 16 different products. Their fastest-growing product currently on the market is LastPass, a password management and identity solution with SSO and MFA. They recently launched an MSP solution that offers multi-tenancy to LastPass partners, allowing them to manage their partners’ accounts on their own. With aggressive partner recruitment and sales goals laid out, the LastPass Channel Team needed a better, faster, more efficient way to identify the best-aligned MSPs to recruit for the new LastPass MSP solution.
THE SOLUTION
By using the PartnerOptimizer platform and service to first build a data-driven Ideal Partner Profile, the LastPass Channel Team was able to streamline their search criteria to identify good matches, better segment their leads to increase conversion rates, and improve overall efficiency and productivity. Additionally, they were able to leverage the massive PartnerOptimizer partner database to find the very best lookalike partners.
THE PROCESS: Ideal Partner Profile development. Exploration to discover look-alikes.
With the PartnerOptimizer platform, LogMeIn built a data-driven Ideal Partner Profile for LastPass MSP to discover best-fit partner matches for recruitment. Creating their own Ideal Partner Profile was a game-changer for their channel recruitment and conversion rates.
“We had several different channel types and channel models within the 16 products. But we didn’t really have an MSP or partner profile,” said Randy Fahrbach, Director of the North America Channel at LogMeIn. “We wanted to target the MSPs, but everything changed with COVID-19. We were unable to attend trade shows, or meet with them in-person. And, we also didn’t want to buy lists, because in our experience, it wasn’t effective or efficient. Given these factors, we quickly initiated the process with PartnerOptimizer to utilize their partner optimizer platform,which helped create and perfect our ideal partner profile.”
With the PartnerOptimizer platform, the team filled out a questionnaire to help them envision exactly what they needed. From there, they were able to identify other criteria they needed to include. Many of these companies had competitors listed previously. With this information, the LogMeIn team then crafted a pitch for potential partners to explain how LastPass fit into their security needs.
For example, many companies offering a single sign-on don’t have a Password Manager, which is a key component of the LastPass MSP. With the help of the PartnerOptimizer platform, the LogMeIn team was able to tell potential partners about their unique product offerings to fill in any gaps the platform identified. Part of their discovery was also looking through some of the sample websites to weed out the good from the bad.
“You can tell really quickly, just from their web presence, who’s going to be a good fit and who’s not. Just that little bit of work saved the team hundreds of hours of online surfing…because they can now go into the partner optimizer portal and pull up that profile,” said Fahrbach.
THE RESULTS: Increased channel team productivity and partner conversion rates
In addition to the countless hours they saved, the PartnerOptimizer platform also enabled LogMeIn to convert 40% of the MSPs that expressed interest into actual partners. They were also able to activate them faster because they already have the background information about them and know how to “speak their language.” As a result, they have been able to create more targeted segmentation groups and effective marketing collateral to better engage their current and potential partners. Creating an Ideal Partner Profile has greatly improved their overall productivity, efficiency, and satisfaction.
Watch the interview with the LastPass Director of the North America Channel here.