How to Establish Trust with Partners

Sloan McCauley, Director of Channel Sales at Localytics, and Jen Spencer discuss educating clients, establishing trust and how nothing beats face-to-face time with partners on this episode of The Allbound Podcast.

What do you do in your role?

I came into this role about two years ago. The first year was about figuring out our strategy. From there it has really been a year of what we consider a full partnership production. At this point we are influencing a part of our overall pipeline here at Localytics. Ultimately my goal in running this business would be to have it be a 50 / 50 split between channel and direct sales.  And hopefully it will continue to grow from there.

What major initiatives are you implementing to develop those relationships?

We’re aiming to provide as much education and support as possible, and that comes in many different forms. With a product like Localytics, because we are focused on the total lifecycle of users as it relates to the mobile application, we present an opportunity to have partners push their customer to think beyond the download, beyond standard media metrics, and have them  think about retention. How do we turn these users into a lifetime customer and ultimately these producers of our brand? Fortunately we have a platform that allows and equips agencies to push customers to think that way.  

How do you support knowledge transfer between Localytics and your partners?

These are incredibly busy folks, so it’s about delivering consistency –– being in front of your partners and being on call for them when they need information. It can be phone calls or in the form of weekly or biweekly newsletters. But I don't think anything replaces being front and center in person with partners.

What is the biggest challenge with actually engaging your partners?

Trying to build up our numbers. This was trial and error because Localytics didn’t have a defined partnership strategy yet. We tried to see who we could get in front of and tried to understand a wide array of partners. Quite honestly we onboarded a considerable amount of those folks this way. Definitely, coming out of the gate, start small and make sure that you establish an ongoing communication strategy with those folks.

Do you have any tips for establishing trust with partners?

You never want to enter into a business relationship with someone when you don’t understand what their endgame is. The same goes for partners. It is really important to understand what the core of their business is so that you can use that information to turn it into a mutually beneficial relationship. It ultimately builds trust that we are taking the time to look at your client's business.

Speed Round Questions:

Favorite city? San Francisco.

Are you an animal lover? Yes, a big time animal lover.

Mac or PC? Mac.

Uber or Lyft? Uber. Ride or die Uber.

All expenses paid trip to? Croatia.