Key takeaways
- The best partners already serve your customers with something you do not sell.
- Search by the services a firm describes, since partners rarely share an industry label.
- Approach the partnerships or alliances owner, or the founder at a small firm.
- A few active partners beat a long list of signed agreements.
What kinds of partner companies should you look for
Look for partner companies whose work sits next to yours in the customer's week, so an introduction feels natural to everyone involved.
- Referral partners: advisers and consultancies who hear the problem first.
- Resellers and channel partners: firms that sell your product with their own services.
- Agencies and implementers: firms that set up the tools your customers use.
- Technology partners: products your customers use alongside yours.
How do you find channel partners and resellers
Find channel partners and resellers by searching for firms that describe the services your customers buy around your category, such as implementation, training or managed support. Their descriptions say what they do; industry labels usually do not.
Ask your customers too. The agency that set up their systems or the consultant who advised on the purchase is already trusted, and may be the easiest partner you will ever recruit.
Who do you contact in partner prospecting
In partner prospecting you contact the person who owns partnerships: a partnerships manager, head of alliances or channel manager at larger firms, and the founder or managing director at small agencies. A buyer at the same firm cannot agree a partnership, however keen.
How do you judge partner recruitment fit
Judge partner fit by three things: how much their customers overlap with yours, whether their reputation helps yours and whether they gain enough to make introductions. A partner with ideal customers and nothing to gain will sign and never refer.
Start small. Agree one joint customer or one introduction, see how it goes, and only then formalise the partnership.
How to find companies to partner with, step by step
Start from your customers, not from a list of firms.
- Write down who your customers already buy from alongside you, and what those firms do.
- Search for companies by the services they describe, such as implementation or training for the tools your customers use.
- Check each candidate's customers and size against your own ideal customer.
- Find the person who owns partnerships, or the founder at a small firm.
- Write to them about what their clients gain and what the partnership gives their business.
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsCompany search in chat finds firms by keyword, country or region, industry and headcount; Find fresh leads then looks for partnerships or alliances roles at up to ten of them.
- CapabilityResearch & analysisBefore you write, ask an assistant to summarise a candidate's services and the customers it names publicly, with numbered citations.
Common questions
What is the difference between a referral partner and a reseller?
A referral partner introduces customers and you sell to them. A reseller sells your product to its own customers, often with its own services around it.
How many partners should you recruit at first?
A few active ones. Start with the firms whose customers overlap most with yours, and add more once the first introductions work.
Should partnership outreach sound like sales outreach?
No. Lead with what their clients gain and what the partner earns or saves, and ask for a conversation about fit rather than a purchase.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
