You want to consistently top your revenue targets as a partner, right? You can turn it any way you want: No market or client success as a partner means no partner career.
It’s tough, but that’s precisely how it is. And it’s been the case for all of us partners.
How to top your revenue targets?
The generic answer is: Just sell work, lots of it!
Not too useful advice.
There are three building blocks to top your revenue targets and set you up for market success:
- Your partner profile
- Ideal clients
- A go-to-market system
To establish yourself as a market maker or client developer, you need to work on these three areas.
1. Build your partner profile
Unfortunately, Big 4 partners like to present themselves with jargon only peers understand:
“I do FAAS.”
“VDD is my specialty.”
Ever imagined a COO client saying, “Find me someone who does VDD!” to her staff?
You need to be better than that.
What is it you do, and who do you do it for? Articulate it, write it down, share it internally and externally.
Make sure people get it.
Become the one name Alexa will shout back if asked!
2. Identify your ideal clients
I don’t share a secret here: There are awful clients out there—clients you just hate.
We all have experienced it.
With them, you can’t get it right.
So, why do you keep working for them? Sorry, “But I need to hit my scorecard goals!” is not allowed!
It’s not sustainable, and it’s your life!
You need to be clear on who you want to work for.
Start by asking yourself:
- What type of client?
- In what industry?
- At what stage of development they are?
And ask the same questions to develop a detector for no-go clients.
3. Develop your go-to-market system
Sales success in any firm is about diligent execution of repeatable sales activities: client calls, presentations – internally and externally, meetings, LinkedIn posts, etc.
So mundane, but without it, you will fail. And to be successful, you need to get your system in place.
Identify what activities do you need to execute as planned, consistently, and track not to miss your revenue number?
How can you make these happen like clockwork? With minimum effort and maximum effect?
It takes work but to consistently top your revenue targets you need all three building blocks.
Your partner profile, ideal clients, and go-to-market system need to go in sync.
If you can manage, you’ll leave the partner hamster wheel and start having a life.
And here’s my bonus tip for you:
Track the number of contacts you’ve got now (real people outside of friends and family!) and up the number next year.
Set your goal!
Want to find out where you are at with your partner powers? And get some tips on getting there? Perhaps my PartnerPowers Scorecard is for you. It will take you 2 minutes to find out where you stand with the market, your team, as a leader.