One of my top priorities is to ensure everyone on my team is completely partner-focused, from understanding each partner’s key growth goals to learning what their target markets are, so we can help deliver business outcomes for their customers. We want to “think like a partner.” It’s a process we are working to hone, and we heavily invest in training, partner listening, and time to maximize growth for both partners and Cox Business.

With this focus, I particularly enjoy when new partners ask how they can best work with us and get more attention and mindshare from my channel team. I’m always happy to answer this question because at the core of any effective strategic partnership is a two-way street. I tell partners the same thing I tell my team. I want my team members to think like a partner, and I tell partners, “Think like us. Think like a vendor. What do we want? What key goals are we trying to achieve? And always feel free to ask us and ask all of your vendors what their goals are. If we as vendors are doing our jobs correctly, we’re reaching out to you and asking these questions. We’d love for you to ask us the same.”

Answers to those questions and what specifically you do once you have the answers are at the heart of how partners can maximize vendor relationships. It is all about understanding what the other side is trying to achieve.

Of course, growth in the form of higher sales volume is an easy answer. But that is not the entire picture. What must happen upstream as a leading indicator of future revenue? Depending on your vendor, these are possible reasons:

In the end, if the partner or the vendor is really interested in maximizing the relationship and enjoying the benefits of what that means, each side must be committed to understanding what is important to the other and adjusting their approach to focus on those outcomes.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.