HubSpot Launches Solutions Partner Program, a Sign of the Times

… on the ‘long-tail’ list may actually find a home somewhere else in the program that has, up till now, only pushed them to resell. Tweaking channel data management, automation, insights, onboarding, incentives, co-selling, and co-marketing will determine winners and losers here.

“Because almost every company in every industry is thinking about or actively converting to a recurring, subscription-based model, a new ‘retention channel’ is starting to take hold,” McBain scribed. “Knowing that the customer journey never ends in a subscription scenario and that brands will need to re-earn a customer’s business every 30 days, partners that can drive adoption, ongoing customer experience, and the ability to upsell and cross-sell become critically important. These partners appear as consultants, integrators, adjacent ISVs, accountants, digital agencies, etc. The prediction from a few years ago about millions of shadow channels entering the market came true. When looking through this trifurcated lens, more than 80% of these (potential) partners will show up before or after the sale, and channel leaders need to break the transactional channel mold.”

As HubSpot expanded, Ng-Mak recognized the changing needs of the company’s customers as being more diverse and sophisticated.

“That also made us realize that in order to serve our customers more successfully we needed to build a partner ecosystem that’s more diverse than digital agencies alone.” she said.

The more sophisticated and diverse skills in demand by HubSpot customers include integration skills around HubSpot and legacy ERP systems and integration with other SaaS solutions in order to access additional data sets.

HubSpot’s journey has taught Ng-Mak a thing or two about the channel.

“We’re learning that we can have partners with the right skill sets, but we also have to make sure that we can help customers find the right partner,” she said. “The more diverse the community, the bigger the challenge.”

This evolution in its channel has driven HubSpot to rethink how it invests in certifications in a way that reflects the process and service opportunities available to partners and allows them to differentiate based on their expertise.

HubSpot also relaunched its Agency Partner Directory to its Solution Partner Directory.

“This allows our partners show up and also provides a way for our customers to find them,” said Ng-Mak.