How I Got Started in Partnerships

Once I got a little taste of partnerships, I was hooked

Author

Clinton Senkow
February 26, 2024

Thinking Back on How I Got Started in Partnerships

Every single person’s personal journey is unique. We travel to places at different times. We start jobs or get married at different times.

In today’s issue I wanted to shed a little bit of light on how I got started in the world of partnerships.

One of my first jobs after college was as a global account executive for a software company.

I was always fascinated with tech and knew I wanted to enter into the industry, so here I was jumping on demo calls after demo calls with people all over the world.

I stayed at the software company for about half a year or so and then actually got approached by one of my best friends in high school about joining his software company.

This time I wouldn’t just be a sales guy, I instead got the title and role, Director of Partnerships.

When I was with the company I pitched in front of public companies, sat in board rooms with C-suite exec’s and learned directly from the founding team of the company I worked for.

It was a great experience and something I cherish deeply.

The more I look back on it now, the more grateful I am that this first role for me in partnerships over ten years ago got me excited about this area of business I am so deeply passionate about.

Here I am today, eating, sleeping, breathing, and reading everything partnerships.

I hope you enjoy today’s issue!

(old picture of me)

Picture of me with a silly hat on at the Great Wall of China

What’s Happening in Partnerships Today

Kyndryl has established a partner ecosystem of over 30 partners since its spinoff from IBM.

Brands are trying to switch from short-term influencer engagements to longer-term affiliate partnerships that in turn turn the influencer into ambassadors. Read this article to learn why this could be right for your business.

Get an inside scoop into what large enterprise companies do in terms of brand activations during all-star weekend to drive growth and revenue. Read this article to uncover how they do it.

Partnership Nugget of the Day

One of the first things I work with clients on when I’m helping them with partnerships is to take stock of their current assets.

What I mean by this is that as a business or a brand you need to know what can you offer another brand or business in exchange for something else?

Why would they want to partner with you?

Do you have something of value to offer them?

If you don’t, good luck getting them to take you seriously, let alone actually agree to partner with you.

Some assets could be 1000+ repeat customers, 10,000 person email newsletter, or a partnership that you already have with a Fortune 500 company that you could look to leverage.

If you don’t know what your assets are, stop reading this email (kidding, please read it till the end) but seriously.

In order for the partnership strategy to be a win-win you need to offer something of value to your potential partner.

Knowing what assets you have in your holster to pull out when you are chatting with them, makes you look prepared, but also it shows you are serious.

This will help you land the deal I promise.

New Tools & Resources

Here’s a few tools & resources for you to check out:

Signwell - e-signature tool

Chatwoot - chat with your customers on this messaging platform

Smartwriter - Create AI-powered personalized cold emails that actually get read

Summary

If you feel you have a resource, video, tool, or tip that would be valuable to share with the community just reply to this email.

I love hearing from followers and readers and you guessed it, I love partnerships!

Thanks for reading,

Clinton

Little shot I took on my walk outside today after a fresh snowfall.

PS. Let’s stay connected.