B2B and SaaS companies are increasingly turning to sales partners for steady, long-term revenue growth.
As markets become more competitive and buying journeys get more complex, partnerships provide a proven way to reach buyers beyond outbound volume or rising ad spend. Sales partners open doors and accelerate conversations that would otherwise take months to start.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to build, structure and run a sales partner program that effectively drives pipeline and growth.
Key takeaways from sales partners
Sales partnerships only generate real growth when you treat them as a core revenue model.
The quality of your partners matters more than the quantity, so finding the right fit and vetting them carefully will determine your success.
Strong onboarding turns partners into active producers, while weak onboarding turns them into an obstacle.
Pipedrive’s visual dashboards and strong reporting help you build solid structures to support sales partner sourcing and management – sign up for a free 14-day trial.
What a sales partner actually is (and what it’s not)
A sales partner actively works on your behalf to generate, influence or close deals.
In return, you compensate them financially or with something of strategic value.
There’s a big difference between a true sales partner and someone who simply passes your name along and leaves it at that.
Partners spend the time necessary to understand your product, ideal customer and sales process. They then bring you opportunities that align well with your product, customer base and processes. A sales partner often introduces you to key decision-makers and stays involved throughout the entire deal.
It’s important to note that a sales partner is not:
An affiliate who focuses on links and traffic
A channel partner who owns distribution
An integration partner who only connects to your products
A reseller who buys and resells your products
Rather, a sales partner works alongside your sales reps to bring credibility and relationships to the deal in question.
However, don’t expect partners to generate a sales pipeline with no support. Sales partners are vendors, not collaborators. For your partner program to thrive, treat your partners as an extension of your sales team rather than a side channel.
The main types of sales partners and when to use each
Different partner models enable different growth goals, and your partners need to reflect your specific market and business needs.
The table below shows the most common sales partner relationship models and how the partner participates in the sales process.
Sales partner model | Partner actions |
Referral partner | Introduces you to qualified prospects and makes warm connections, then lets your team run the sales process |
Reseller partner | Bundles your product with their product or services and sell it as part of a broader offering |
Co-selling partner | Collaborates with your team throughout the deal by joining discovery calls, shaping the solution and influencing the buying decision |
Strategic partner | Aligns with you at the company level to pursue shared markets |
If your sales process is driven by trust and relationships, referral partners are your best option. If your buyers only want to work with one vendor or pay one invoice, reseller partners make the most sense.
When your product works well alongside another product or service to solve the same pain points, partner with co-sellers. If you’re looking to target the same customer base and create more value together, look for strategic partners.
Why companies use sales partners to drive growth
Sales partnerships unlock opportunities to grow your market reach in ways your sales team couldn’t on its own.
The right partner can jumpstart relationships that normal business development would take months or even years to nurture. Sales partners invite you into buying conversations you couldn’t reach through cold outreach.
Example: If you provide SaaS HR software, payroll providers would make excellent sales partners. They already have access to key HR decision-makers and have had conversations about HR needs like payroll. You can be a part of this conversation and have a natural starting point for introducing your SaaS platform.
You couldn’t reach this new market or get this far into the sales process on your own. But thanks to your sales partner, a deal may soon be in the works.
By partners introducing you to prospects who have already expressed buying intent, you shorten your sales cycle. Additionally, you reduce your customer acquisition cost by not relying on paid channels.
Signs you are ready for a sales partner program
You need a strong foundation before you introduce a sales partner program, including:
A clear product-market fit
A well-defined ideal customer profile (ICP)
A repeatable sales process
Effective customer onboarding
Strong customer retention
When your brand positioning is clear and your ideal customer is well-defined, sales partners know exactly who to recommend and why. A stable, repeatable sales process gives them a structure they can trust and build on for successful introductions.
Strong onboarding and retention make the foundation even stronger. When customers quickly see value, partners will want to stay engaged and keep sending opportunities your way.
Only move forward with a sales partner program when you have these fundamentals in place and can optimize them to benefit your business relationships.
How to find the right sales partners
The right partners should align with your buyers, values and sales strategy.
Mass untargeted outreach won’t help you find these partners. You need to act strategically.
Start by identifying companies that sell to the same ICP as you but solve different problems. Your existing customers, integration providers and power users already understand your product or service. These relationships are a great place to begin your search for partners.
Additionally, strong sales partner networks often come from industry communities, in-person events and performing a customer overlap analysis. These channels connect you with companies that already know your market and align with your ICP.
Focus on partners who are genuinely interested in learning your product and understanding your ideal customer. The strongest partners will invest time in your offering and look for ways to create real value together.
A customer relationship management (CRM) tool like Pipedrive helps B2B teams manage relationships, track deals and stay on top of every opportunity.
With Pipedrive’s activity reporting feature, it’s easy to track partner conversations, notes and follow-ups with potential partners.
These reports help you ensure that no partnering opportunities disappear into inboxes and individual reps’ memories.
How to structure a sales partnership
Creating a clear structure for your sales partnership efforts prevents confusion and conflict later.
It’s essential to define partnership expectations early. That includes:
Who owns the lead
Who runs the sales demo
Who follows up
How deal registration works
How compensation flows
Design your compensation model carefully. Your partners will respond differently depending on the model, so ensure you align incentives with the outcomes you want them to achieve.
There are several ways you can structure your revenue model:
Revenue model | Best for |
Referral fees | Partners who make introductions and step back without joining the sales process |
Revenue share | Partners who stay involved throughout the deal and influence the outcome |
Performance bonuses | Driving specific behaviors and short-term focus without changing your base compensation structure |
Margin-based adjustments | Businesses with enough margin to offer more aggressive partner incentives |
Your revenue model will shape which partners are willing to work with you and form long-term relationships. The more you offer, the more likely it is that strong, trustworthy companies will become your sales partners.
Ways to effectively onboard and enable sales partners
Your onboarding process sets the tone for the entire relationship and should give partners the knowledge they need to promote your product effectively.
During the onboarding process, the following actions are critical.
Provide product training that builds confidence
Product training gives partners the confidence to speak clearly and accurately about your solution. When partners understand what you sell, who it’s for and how it solves real customer problems, they can spot opportunities faster and make stronger introductions.
Clarify messaging and positioning
Clear messaging helps partners explain your value in a way that connects with buyers. Ensure your partners understand your product positioning, competitive differentiators and ICP focus from the outset.
Equip partners with sales assets
Practical assets make it easier for partners to sell your product. One-pagers, pitch decks and demo access give them the tools they can immediately use in sales conversations. Ready-to-use materials help them communicate your value clearly without having to figure out a sales tactic on the spot.
Set expectations early and clearly
Early expectations create alignment and accountability among partners. Make sure to define activity levels, engagement standards and communication processes from the start so partners know what they’ll get out of the relationship.
You can use Pipedrive to assign onboarding tasks and track progress so nothing falls through the cracks.
Clear assignments ensure everyone on your team knows who is responsible for driving the next action.
Managing sales partners day to day
A strong, consistent partner management process builds trust and drives better performance from your sales partners.
Create a structured process that keeps you and your sales partners connected without feeling like micromanagement. Your process should include:
Regular check-ins
Quarterly business reviews
Deal-specific syncs
Shared planning sessions
Pipedrive centralizes partner activity, emails and deals so your team always knows what’s happening.
You can see how many times you’ve contacted your partners, ensuring you stay on top of things without micromanaging.
5 free project plan templates
Tracking and measuring partner performance
Measuring and tracking partner performance metrics lets you identify your best-performing partners and which relationships need improvement.
You need to know how effective their lead generation process is, how many deals they influence, how much revenue they generate and their conversion rates.
You must also measure attribution data to ensure you appropriately reward your partners for the deals they influence. (More on how to do this with Pipedrive below.)
Real-world examples of sales partnerships
Here are three real-world examples to help you envision what the sales process can look like.
1. Marketing automation
A SaaS marketing automation platform is the perfect partner for a digital marketing agency.
The agency’s sales manager and sales representatives recommend the platform during client meetings. The SaaS company behind the tool tracks agency-sourced deals, shares sales and marketing materials and runs monthly pipeline reviews.
2. Project management
A project management tool is a natural fit with a time-tracking platform as both sell into operations teams. They co-host webinars, share leads and collaborate on deals. Also, both teams can track joint opportunities and automatically assign tasks to the right team members.
3. IT consultancy
An IT consultancy startup and a cybersecurity service provider share the same sales targets and would work well as a partnership. The consultancy identifies risks during audits and introduces the software. The vendor upsells the IT consultancy, closes the deal and shares revenue and customer success metrics.
The cybersecurity service provider closely tracks deal ownership and attribution to ensure the IT consultancy receives appropriate compensation for its work.a
How to run sales partnerships with Pipedrive
Pipedrive’s sales-focused CRM enables you to scale partnerships without chaos.
Trying to keep track of all your partnerships in a spreadsheet is difficult, to say the least. A manual system doesn’t update automatically, isn’t visually connected to partner sales and cannot display activity.
Here’s how you can keep your sales partnerships running smoothly from Pipedrive’s central platform.
Track partner-sourced leads
Pipeline’s visual dashboards give you a clean way to see which leads come from which partners.
You can tag, filter and segment partner-sourced leads to easily manage attribution. When a partner brings in a new opportunity, your team can log it immediately, assign ownership and move it into the correct pipeline.
Manage deal ownership and deal registration
Pipedrive’s automatic assignment feature removes confusion around who owns what. You can clearly assign deal ownership and track partner involvement.
When your salespeople know who owns the relationship, they move faster and avoid internal friction.
Report on partner performance by channel, segment and partner
With Pipedrive’s reporting features, you can break down performance by individual partner, partner type, industry segment or channel.
You can see which partners drive sales, which convert best and who needs more assistance. This data enables you to make decisions, such as which partners could benefit from additional training, based on real data rather than guesswork.
Support partner workflows without adding complexity
Pipedrive’s activity tracking makes it easy to monitor sales actions, set reminders and log communication so no partner interaction slips through the cracks.
Every call, meeting, email and follow-up lives in one place, giving your team a complete view of partner engagement at a glance.
Pipedrive in action: Carolyn’s Model & Talent Agency replaced scattered tools with Pipedrive to centralize communication, manage follow-ups and stay organized. With clear pipelines and task reminders, the team saved time and reduced missed touchpoints, gaining greater visibility across clients and talent.
This visibility helps you stay consistent with check-ins and respond quickly when sales opportunities arise.
With Pipedrive visibility, your team can stay organized and your partners can continue to focus on selling.
Final thoughts
Sales partnerships thrive on clarity to drive revenue effectively.
Your partnerships succeed when you’re clear about who you serve and what you expect from partners.
When you create a transparent partnership-building and management structure, it’s a win for everyone. You remove friction for your team and set up your partners for the best possible results.
If you’re ready to move beyond spreadsheets and ad-hoc referrals, try Pipedrive free for 14 days to run your sales partner program and your entire pipeline with clarity and control.
