Building a Partner Network
Working overseas is always hard. Different cultures, languages, business etiquette, and of course different practicalities. Even if you share a language, without substantial working experience you’ll probably run in to difficulties pretty quick.
Which is why so many companies prefer to work through local partners. They’re your foreign doppelganger, with some (hopefully all) the same experience and required know-how.
I’ve built partner networks for product distribution, sales, and service delivery, but you can build a network for almost anything. If you want to expand your reach into overseas markets, or even just into new territories within your own country, this is one of the fastest ways to expand.
Many of the worlds largest companies operate extensive partner networks, including Cisco, Lenovo, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Yahoo.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be exploring some of the different elements involved in building & working through partner networks. I’ll be talking about everything from vetting, branding, training through to legal & accounts. If you have specific questions, please feel free to write in and ask.