In today's competitive SaaS landscape, having a strong partner ecosystem is crucial for growth. But how do you identify and attract the right partners?

The answer lies in developing an ideal partner persona (IPP).

What is a partner persona?

A partner persona is a research-driven profile that represents the type of partners you work with. It is a representation of the attributes and qualities a partner has to enhance your business growth.

Creating a partner persona requires comprehensive market research and data analysis, understanding their needs, preferences, and pain points. With this information, you will have a blueprint with which you can recruit partners who align perfectly with your business objectives.

With your partner program, you can choose to focus on a single persona or co-sell with multiple personas depending on the nature of your business and target audience. For example, FundFluent, a platform that helps small businesses to access funding, runs a partner program with at least two partner personas: company registration agencies and startup mentors within Expando®'s partner network.

Why should you develop a partner persona?

Developing a partner persona is valuable and strategic for your SaaS company in the following ways:

1. Identifying the right partners

When you define your partner persona, you create a framework for your partner recruitment strategy. It helps you select partners with precision, allowing you to recruit partners who make for an ideal collaborator for your business. This approach ensures that you put your time and resources into working with the most suitable partners.

2. Understanding partners' goals

Each type of partner has different goals and needs to be successful. Partner personas serve as a guiding reference to give each group the support they need to actively participate in your program.

3. Increasing partner engagement

When partners share similar values and working methods, collaboration becomes more natural and effective. Well-defined partner personas help establish clear expectations from the start, reducing misunderstandings and conflicts. Partners who fit your ideal profile are more likely to create mutual and lasting value.

4. Scaling your partnership strategy

Defining your partner persona also creates a strong foundation for scaling your partner ecosystem later. Your partner persona allows you to structure your partner program to recruit ideal partners and support them at scale, increasing their motivation to collaborate and attracting more partners to join your program.

Examples of partner personas

To build a high-performing partner ecosystem, it’s important to understand what personas can make up your potential partners. These personas represent your ideal collaborators and show the compatibility needed to work well together.

Let's look at some examples of ideal partner personas for an HR management company:

Example: HR Management Company

Partner types: Affiliates, Agencies, Consultants, Value-Added Resellers, System Integrators, Integration Partners

An HR management company has four partner programs: an affiliate program, a referral program, a solutions partner program, and an integration partner program.

Their affiliates consist of LinkedIn influencers in the HR industry who provide detailed product reviews, bringing awareness to the HRM platform.

The company's referral program is suited for recruiting firms, HR consultants, tax and accounting firms, and law firms. These agencies and consultants may refer the HRM platform to their clients who are looking for a solution to solve their global hiring needs. In exchange, not only do the agencies and consultants earn rewards, but they also build trust among their clients by empowering them to hire globally, increasing retention.

Value-added resellers and systems integrators support the HRM company to reach mid-market and enterprise customers and work with them to help them get started on the platform. These partners can bundle the HRM platform with complementary platforms to create seamless connections between platforms, increasing adoption among large enterprises.

Finally, other SaaS companies in the same field or adjacent fields act as integration partners by connecting their solutions with the HR management platform.

How do you create a partner persona?

Curating your partner persona takes only a few simple steps:

1. Identify who surrounds your customers

The biggest mistake you can make in building your partner persona is defining what you want your partners to be. Partnerships are decisions that put your customers first, not you. That means looking for other companies that service your customers.

So the first step to creating your partner persona is asking your customers who they already work with. Ask:

• What solutions are they using now?

• Where do they get their consulting, coaching, and training from?

• Who do they listen to, engage with, and watch regularly?

Uncovering these touchpoints will allow you to identify the individuals and companies that are already in touch with your customers, and by inserting yourself into these touchpoints, you'll be able to unlock a goldmine of business opportunities.

Your customer is the one who’s going to tell you who to partner with because it's who they already work with. - Jared Fuller, author of Nearbound

2. Categorize them into partner personas

Once you have identified the individuals and companies that surround your customers, you will need to distinguish them into different partner personas based on shared characteristics. This will help you to understand their shared needs, pain points, and preferences.

Here are some common ways you can distinguish partner personas:

• Jobs (B2B influencers and content creators, consultants, etc.)

• Organization types (agencies, SaaS companies, etc.)

• Location

3. Study each persona

Now that you have segmentized your partner personas, the next step is to understand the individuals and companies that make up each group: their goals, their needs, and their motivations. This process will help you empathize with your partner personas and structure your partner program in a way that adds value to them and their customers (who can potentially be your customers).

One effective method to do your research is having 1-on-1 conversations with the individuals and companies that represent your partner personas. As you talk with them, ask the following questions:

• What product/service do you offer?

• What is the value proposition of your product/service?

• What is your business goal?

• What other partners do you work with?

• If you are working with other partners, what incentives do they give?

Also try and understand how your customer wins through working with both of your businesses. Remember partnerships are customer-first decisions, so it's important to assess the partner personas' strengths and weaknesses by asking how your customer benefits from both offerings. Ask yourself:

• What needs do my customers have that my product does not cover?

• How can the partner personas' products/services add value to my offerings?

Do this process with a handful of individuals and companies. Once you have a picture of the value proposition of both your offerings, proceed to the next step.

4. Consolidate your research

Next, you'll want to turn your discoveries into a clear, concise, persona-based summary. Create a simple, readable document will make it easier to remember key insights for structuring your partner program. Also, the document will help you present your findings in a straightforward manner across your company.

Some key information to include:

• Their offerings

• Their key goals and motivations

• Their and their customers' needs

5. Iterate

Your partner personas are not static, and so is your partner program. It's important to periodically update the document by repeating the first 4 steps over and over again so that you can identify what is and isn't working for your partners.

How Expando® can help

Finding partners who match your ideal persona can be challenging. This is where Expando® comes in. We specialize in connecting SaaS companies with qualified referral partners who align with your partner persona and are already working with your target clients.

Our platform offers streamlined partner discovery, advanced matching algorithms, and access to pre-vetted partners, reducing recruitment time and increasing partnership success rates. Through our strategic matching process, we help ensure that your partnerships are built on a foundation of mutual benefit and long-term success.

Building a successful partner program starts with a well-defined partner persona. By taking the time to develop your IPP and leveraging platforms like Expando®, you can create partnerships that drive sustainable growth for your SaaS business.

Ready to find your ideal partners? Contact Expando® today to learn how we can help match you with partners who fit your perfect persona and are already connected to your target market.