The full version of this article was first published at: Wow, There Are a Lot of Partners Out There! Choosing, Engaging and Developing the Right Partners
This post is part two of a six-part series. Want to start at the beginning? Here you go. Much like Aziz Ansari questioned in his book Modern Romance, it can be challenging for channel sales and marketing leaders today to know how to engage partners, choose the right ones and develop relationships in a market full of potential partners. The Paradox of Choice, a book written by psychologist Barry Schwartz, offers a concept and an explanation of why humans often experience difficulty making and committing to decisions. Too Many Choices Cause Anxiety The average consumer is constantly flooded with options from menial decisions, like which brand of shampoo to buy, to major decisions, like deciding on a job option or romantic partner. Schwartz argues that the sheer number of choices available cause consumers anxiety because they struggle with the consequences of their decisions. This theory has been explored and experimented with many including Shankar Vedantam (Hidden Brain, NPR), Malcolm Gladwell, and countless universities. The relevance of this concept on navigating partner relationships is two-fold. The first being how an organization chooses how to engage with partners. An organization that is seeking a partner has endless options, although not all of them would be ideal fits for the organization to reach their goals. According to Vaughn Aust, Executive VP of Marketing and Product at MarketStar, an organization should funnel their partner prospects similarly to how they would a customer prospect. This narrows down the options and saves your organization from either…
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