Close with a partner, not just trade a lead.
“We keep trading leads with partners and nothing closes. Who actually owns this deal?”
Map the account across both companies, set ownership, build the joint value story, and plan the shared path to close.
What this skill does
Takes one named account and a partner and builds the co-sell: it maps who each side knows and covers inside the account, sets clear ownership so the deal does not fall into the gap between two companies, writes the joint value story neither of you can tell alone, and plans the path to close so both teams are pulling. A co-sell that is just a traded lead and a hope is not a co-sell. This makes the partner a force in the deal.
Inputs
- Works today with: what you paste about the account and the partner. Who you each know, where the deal stands, and what each company sells into it. A short account picture is enough to start.
- More powerful connected to a CRM: it reads your contacts, the open opportunity, and stage automatically, so the account map and the close plan match the real deal.
- Sharper with a meeting or email tool: shows who on your side is actually engaged and who has gone quiet, so the coverage map is real, not aspirational.
- Sharper with an enrichment source: fills in the roles and reporting lines so you can see the gaps only the partner can cover.
How it works
- 1Map the account across both companies
Lay the account out and mark who each side knows: your contacts, the partner's contacts, and the roles still uncovered by either of you. The whole reason to co-sell is coverage neither side has alone. Find the room the partner is already in that you are not, and the reverse. Name the overlap and the gaps.
- 2Set who owns what (so nothing falls between you)
The fastest way to lose a co-sell is both sides assuming the other has it. Assign it plainly: who leads the relationship, who runs the technical proof, who owns the commercial conversation, who drives the close. Write it down where both teams can see it. Ambiguity is where joint deals go to die.
- 3Build the joint value story (neither of you tells alone)
The point of the partnership is a story bigger than either product: the combined outcome for the customer, why the two together beat either alone or a point tool. Write the version the customer hears, in their terms, with the roles each company plays. If the pitch is two vendors taking turns, you have a bake-off, not a co-sell.
- 4Plan the path to close (both teams pulling)
Lay out the steps to signature and mark which company drives each: the joint discovery, the technical validation, the business case, the procurement path. Put dates on the near ones. Flag the risks only the partner can clear and the ones only you can. A shared close plan is what turns a traded lead into a won deal.
- 5Keep both sides accountable (before the deal drifts)
Set the checkpoint that proves the co-sell is live: a joint meeting held, a partner-driven thread opened, a step the other company owns and delivered. If a side goes quiet, the deal is quietly reverting to single-company, and you re-engage now, not at the next partner sync.
Output format
CO-SELL PLAY · Acme Corp x Partner (illustrative)
Account map
Role You Partner Status
Champion Dana - engaged (yours)
Econ buyer - CFO engaged (partner's) <- lean here
Tech evaluator Sam - engaged
Procurement - - UNCOVERED <- neither side
Ownership
Relationship lead Partner (owns the CFO)
Technical proof You
Close / commercial You lead, partner supports
Joint value story
Combined outcome the CFO buys, not two product pitches
Next moves:
1. Use the partner's CFO access to open the economic thread.
2. You own the technical proof; partner joins the readout.
3. Cover procurement now. Neither side has it yet.
Tips
- The account map names the roles uncovered by either side, not only the ones already known.
- Every deal step has one named owner, never "we will figure it out."
- The joint value story is the customer's outcome, never two vendor pitches stapled together.
- Engagement claims are grounded in real touches where that data exists, and flagged as assumption where it is not.
- Any name, role, or figure carried in is shown as given or sourced, never invented. Sample numbers are illustrative only.
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.
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.