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PLAYBOOK · MARKETING
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Build a partner channel that produces pipeline

Partnerships that stop at a signed agreement produce nothing. Recruit, activate, and co-sell.

[ SALES OPERATOR ]

Build a partner channel that produces pipeline

G / Groundthe problem that started all of it
Marketing

Partnerships that stop at a signed agreement produce nothing.

Recruit, activate, and co-sell.

A / Assignthe build, block by block, and who owns each one. Open a step to see it run.
HUMAN + AI, IN THE LOOP
The skills run the work. You stay in the loop on the calls that need judgment.
Salesforce01
Recruit a partner and actually activate them.
Details
Score the fit and pitch mutual value in their terms.
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AI
Salesforce02
Close with a partner, not just trade a lead.
Details
Map a named account across both companies and close together.
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AI
6sense03
Turn a target list into an account-based play, not a spray.
Details
Run it as a Tier 1, 1:1 play on the account you just picked, not a list-wide tiering pass.
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AI
Marketo04
Run an event that produces pipeline, not badges scanned.
Details
Run an event that produces pipeline, not badges.
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AI
T / Tie backthe result it drove, and how they know
RESULT · 01

The recruit-score-activate pattern

Not a partner-specific receipt, there is no dedicated partner-channel build yet: this is the same recruit-score-activate pattern that took product usage from nothing to our top channel, applied here to partner recruitment instead.

OUTPUT · 01

The right partners

OUTPUT · 02

A first joint motion

OUTPUT · 03

A named-account co-sell

OUTPUT · 04

Events that convert

The Sales Operator
01 / WHY RUN IT
RUN THIS AND YOU CAN
The right partners
A first joint motion
A named-account co-sell
Events that convert
02 / THE RUN, STEP BY STEP

The workflow that solves it, one step at a time.

Each step is the plain question you are already asking. The skills answer them in order, one handing its receipt to the next.

1✓ TESTED
Recruit a partner and actually activate them.

Score the fit, pitch mutual value in their terms, enable them, and ship a first joint motion instead of going dark after kickoff.

YOU GETThe fit score, the mutual-value pitch, the enablement, and a dated first motion.
OPEN THE SKILL →
2✓ TESTED
Close with a partner, not just trade a lead.

Map the account across both companies, set ownership, build the joint value story, and plan the shared path to close.

YOU GETThe joint account map, the ownership split, and the path to close.
OPEN THE SKILL →
3✓ TESTED
Turn a target list into an account-based play, not a spray.

Tier it, set the research angle, build the multi-thread across marketing and sales, and orchestrate touches so the account feels one motion.

YOU GETThe tiering, the research angle, the multi-thread, and the orchestration.
OPEN THE SKILL →
4✓ TESTED
Run an event that produces pipeline, not badges scanned.

The right guest list, a real draw, an on-site conversation plan, and follow-up that converts.

YOU GETThe guest list, the draw, the on-site plan, and the follow-up.
OPEN THE SKILL →
WHERE YOU LAND

The right partners, a first joint motion, a named-account co-sell, and events that convert.

EVERY STEP, TESTED AND PASSED
EVAL RESULTPASS4/4 dimensions
HOW WE EVAL →
Skills resolve
Structure + proof
Example chat
Quality judge
  • All 4 chained skills resolve to real, scored skills.
  • Has a problem, an outcome, 2+ steps, and proof from a real build.
  • Ships an example chat showing the play run in Claude.
  • Reads in plain operator voice, grounded in a real build.
Last eval run 2026-09-12
DEEP EVAL · PASS
THE STANDARD →

We did not just check the structure. A judge read this play against the full text of every skill it chains (composition), then ran it on a real scenario end to end (simulated). It passed both. Test scenario: Marcus, Head of Partnerships, has 40 agencies signed and nothing happening, needs to pick who to work and land a real joint motion.

03 / WHO ELSE HAS TO MOVE

This play runs across the org, not inside sales.

Every function below owns a piece of the play. Skip one and it stalls where most GTM plays stall: in the handoff.

SALES LEADERSHIP
Named accounts and rep time for every co-sell play

Without it: Partners map accounts nobody on your side works.

PRODUCT
An integration or joint story partners can actually sell

Without it: The pitch is two logos with nothing between them.

REVOPS
Partner-sourced tracking and routing in the CRM

Without it: Partner pipeline is invisible, so the channel gets cut.

FINANCE
Margin, incentives, and event budget for the channel

Without it: Partners promote whoever pays them, and it is not you.

04 / SEE IT RUN

Watch the skills answer in order.

Describe your situation in plain language. The right skill fires on its own and hands its receipt to the next.

EXAMPLE CHATMarcus, Head of Partnerships, running the loop in one sitting
M
I have a list of 40 agencies and consultancies that could resell us. I keep signing them and then nothing happens. Where do I even start picking who to actually work?
S
Step 1· Partner Recruit
Let's score the 40 on fit before you spend a minute pitching. I ranked them on overlap of customer base, whether they already sell into our buyer, and whether they need us to close their own deals. Then I wrote a pitch for the top tier that leads with what they get, not what we want.
scored40 partners
tier A7
Receipt
7 partners scored tier A on shared ICP and services fit, each with a one-paragraph mutual-value pitch ready to send.
M
First one said yes. There's an account we both already sell into, a mid-market logistics company. How do we actually run a deal together instead of just swapping a name?
S
Step 2· Co Sell Play
I mapped the account across both companies, so we know who each side already knows and where the gaps are. Then I split ownership so nobody steps on the other's contact, and laid out a joint value story plus a shared path to close.
Receipt
Joint account map on the logistics deal: partner owns 3 buying-committee relationships, we own 2, one shared exec target and a 6-week path to signature.
M
Good. I want to build a real motion around that account, not just react. Can we orchestrate the outreach so it feels like one thing?
S
Step 3· Abm Play
I set this up as a Tier 1, 1:1 play since it is one named account, not a wider list to tier: a research angle tied to their real trigger, and the multi-thread so marketing and both sales sides hit the same message. The touches are sequenced so the account sees one coordinated motion instead of two vendors emailing.
Receipt
Account-based play with 5 threads across marketing and both sales teams, sequenced over 3 weeks so every touch reinforces the same value story.
M
The partner wants to do a dinner with 15 of their clients next month. How do I make sure it actually produces pipeline and not just a nice meal?
S
Step 4· Field Event Plan
I built the guest list from accounts that fit our ICP, set a draw that gives them a reason to show, and wrote an on-site conversation plan so your reps leave with next steps, not business cards. The follow-up splits by who engaged and who went quiet.
Receipt
Dinner plan for 15 targeted guests with a named draw, per-table conversation goals, and a follow-up that projects 4 to 5 qualified opportunities.
05 / SEE IT IN PRODUCTION

Before you run it, I ran it for real.

This workflow is genericized from a real build. Here is the number it moved, and what I actually did.

THE BUILD · PRODUCT-LED MOTION
The Product Channel
~47%
qualified win rate, the highest of any channel
$1M+
in sales-qualified pipeline, built from zero
#1
channel for retention and expansion, the strongest of any
4x plan
the pipeline the channel actually delivered
WHAT I DID
01
Map the events first. I mapped what users actually did in the product to what it meant for a sale. Not every event, the ones that predicted buying.
02
Centralize the signal. I centralized our Snowflake product data with enrichment and signal data by implementing Common Room and Deepline, so a usage spike at an account arrived already enriched, already scored, already routed.
03
Build the motion on top. The signals worth acting on, the play that worked them, and the routing that put a real user in front of a real rep with a real reason to talk.

If you sell a product people can use before they buy, you already have a product-led channel. The question is never whether it exists. It is whether your usage data has been turned into context a rep can act on. Map the events first. The motion comes after.

Dig into the full build
06 / ROLL IT OUT AND INSPECT IT · THE OTHER HALF

The partner list is only as good as the first co-sell

Partner-recruit and the co-sell play hand the team scored partners and a mapped account; the pipeline comes from the first joint deal both sides actually work. Here is how a marketing or partnerships leader turns a signed agreement into a working motion instead of a logo on a slide.

THE FRAMEWORK BEHIND IT
The first-deal drill

Every new partner gets one named account, one joint owner on each side, and a dated first move inside the first month. The team rehearses the mutual-value pitch and the co-sell handoff before kickoff, and no partner counts as active until the first deal is in motion.

  1. 01
    Teach the fit score, not the logo

    Walk the team through what partner-recruit's criteria actually predict: overlapping customers, a seller who gains from the intro, and a reason to move now. A famous logo with no shared accounts fails the read.

  2. 02
    Put a clock on activation

    A signed agreement starts a 30-day clock to the first mapped account and joint call. The weekly partner review opens with the agreements still sitting at zero motion.

  3. 03
    Rehearse the mutual-value pitch

    Roleplay the recruit conversation in the partner's terms: what their sellers earn, what their customers gain. If the pitch only explains what you get, it is not ready.

  4. 04
    Inspect sourced pipeline, not signed logos

    Once a month, count which partners produced mapped accounts, meetings, and pipeline, then move the co-sell and field-event effort toward the ones that did.

07 / INSTALL THE WHOLE PLAYBOOK

One plugin. 4 skills, bundled.

The whole playbook installs as a single plugin in Claude Code, no copy-pasting 4 times. Or grab any single step above. It runs on what you paste; connect your stack to go live.

OR KICK IT OFF IN CHAT
Here is my situation: [describe your workflow or account in a sentence or two]. Walk me through Build a partner channel that produces pipeline step by step, and run each skill as we go.
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