The PartnerHacker Principles are a set of principles on which we base our every move. Today, we're diving into the PartnerHacker principle: Live-In-Market is better than Go-To-Market.
When you've built up trust in the market, you don't need to go to it. Individuals in it will come to you naturally within the course of their everyday lives.
We reached out to Ben Wright, founder of Partner Fuel, to learn more about how he uses lives-in-market on a day-to-day basis. Below are highlights from the interview.
This is the 6th article in our series exploring the PartnerHacker Principles. You can read more about the other principles here:
- Trust Is the New Data - with Jessie Shipman
- Never Market Alone - with Mark Kilens
- Make Them Famous - with Alex Glenn
- Build Radical Generosity Into Your Culture - with Rob Rebholz
- Show Me You Know Me - Samantha McKenna
How to live-in-market
Living-in-market is a way to increase your luck surface. By interacting, commenting, and reaching out to others in your industry, you show that you can provide value even before a monetary arrangement has begun.
Live-in-market > go-to-market
Living in the market isn't about targeting customers. It's about nurturing relationships. When you live-in-market, you build trust. As your trust grows, the byproduct is that customers will value your recommendations. Â
The value of living-in-market
When you live and breathe in the market, you build up the power of your ecosystem. You leverage the strength of an entire network. Rather than launching a go-to-market campaign, you focus on building relationships to get the virtuous flywheel in motion.
Full transcript:
Ella Richmond
Okay, so first. So you are a stellar example of living in market, you've always it seems as long as I've been in this industry, you, you're always in people's comments, you're always all over LinkedIn, you're always at events, you're always talking in and out with every single person that you meet. What have you seen is the value of living in market? And why did you start doing it?
Ben Wright
Yes, it's a good question. So I think, I think initially, and like maybe a little bit selfishly, it was, I just made a conscious effort at the start of this year to just being more active on LinkedIn. And specifically, like, trying to figure out what was my niche was the thing that people wanted to learn or, or things I could offer people I felt like on LinkedIn, obviously, partnerships been in my career, that seemed like a very obvious choice. But what it's kind of morphed into is probably more than I could have expected. And I think in market is a really good expression. And from a benefits perspective. I mean, even just being able to connect with some of the brightest minds in partnership, some of the people that have been there and done that it's been, it's been courage changing, really, because I think you can read all the books you want to read, you can listen to all the podcasts you want to listen to, ball, and really, like actually hearing stuff from people that have been there and done it is, is fundamentally probably the best way to learn. And so having the ability now, because I do live in market, because I do contribute and give back. People give back to me as well. And so I think if I had to narrow it down for what it's done, for me is mainly like, it's been like a crash course and partnerships through just being able to speak to people, I've been there and done it, I would say. And then I think online, the the more personal level being able to give back as well. So obviously, I've learned stuff, but then I've also got people that are either not in partnerships and want to get into partnerships or are in partnerships and want to reach director level or whatever it might be and be able to have conversations with those people, it kind of is that kind of reciprocal cycle right of people giving back to me, I give back to people and then it kind of floating around. So I think it's done, done. Both helped me out, but then allowed me to help other people as well.
Ella Richmond
I like that a lot. Um, okay, so from a company perspective, right, like, you always hear a company talking about customer centricity and we love our customers and, and yet, it seems as though and it feels as though they're not in market next to the customer. Like there's there's distance between the customer and, and the company, and Isaac and Jared have kept called this going to market Isaac, Jared and Alan Adler call this going to market like, you're you're away from them, and then all of a sudden you go to them. First off, what is the value of companies actually being really close to their partners? And how how do they actually do that? Like, how is that practical? How would they how they did that?
Ben Wright
Yeah, it's it's an interesting point. And I think like, when I look at just companies more broadly, who are just tied to their customers really closely, I look at companies like Gong who have taken this approach with content strategy and thought leadership, where instead of them just pushing their product and their features and what their software actually does, they've, they've created this kind of thought leadership center, and they just post topics on sales, right? It could be cold email, it could be at no point are they pushing Gong the product, they're leading with Thought Leadership. And then the byproduct of that is people know about Gong and by Gong, in a similar way, I think, from a partnership perspective, being able to, in a partnership position, talks to the community about how you're building your program, what the benefits of your program are, and how you plan to create a best in class Partnership Program. Like for example, it helps Go ahead, people out will be reaching out to me asking to plan and rather than me having to do the recruitment of partners, and that's a rarity, I would say in the world of partnerships. Oftentimes, when you've got a new program, a lot of your effort is spent on defining your ideal partner variable and then recruiting partners and in actual fact, like, because of I felt like the thought leadership I was providing and the ability to explain how it was building the program. It made partners more inclined to partner with HelpScout the company right because of the thought leadership I was providing. And so kind of drawing that that tangent back to Gong is like as partner managers don't just talk about HelpScout don't just talk about whatever company you work for and why the prod That's good and why the features are good. But actually focus more on thought leadership. And I think the byproduct you'll find is, partners will come to you, so to speak.
Ella Richmond
So this is really interesting. So tell me if I'm, if I'm, like, if I'm understanding this correctly. So there are two, two different segments, there's the living in market on the person side, like the people in your company, individually, or living in market, weather, you know, you have different creators. So you, Daniel Lencioni, even will. And then you have companies and companies living in market and you gave the example of GM. So for a company to live in market, it's about understanding psychographics. It's about understanding, you know, where, what are the things that are missing? What are how do we actually serve these people, and then doing that, but it's like, you can't have one without the other, you can't have a an individual serving the community living in market without the company, and then it won't work together.
Ben Wright
I think it can work. But you're right, and what you're saying, like I, again, I'll go back to Golan just because they're the best example. But they have like their executives that live on LinkedIn and provide for leadership, they have people like Devin Reed, you now is at clarity, but is not like content. And so I think what happens is if you have both in market, which is the company that's providing for leadership, in addition to individuals at the company, who are kind of expanding that, and maybe even niching, down, right, like so a gong, Devon posted about content strategy. People new have gone because the devil and vice versa. So I would just say when you when you're able to have both the individuals and the company in market, it produces this amplification I think all companies should be aiming for if you have individuals do it, sure, it works, right. Like it can work like a HelpScout there's nobody else really that posts on LinkedIn. So it can work but I think you just have that Dublin occasion when you've got both the company and and visuals in market.
Ella Richmond
That makes sense. Okay, so Alan Adler has a lot of ideas about, you know, go to Ico and how, in business models and business structures and how things need to change. With the go to market of most companies, do you agree with that? Or are there? Or what aspects of it do you agree with?
Ben Wright
Are you able to give me like, I guess, because there's, there's a lot. Yeah. He kind of talks about? I don't know, like it is that one in particular. Because, again, we can maybe talk in a bit more depth about this is principles?
Ella Richmond
Definitely, um, I would say, let's start with the overarching like the idea that going to market how we used to using channels, instead of leveraging ecosystems. How does how does living in market allow us to leverage ecosystems better, like actually participate with the ecosystem, scale with the ecosystem? He offers, like an entirely different view about how you can both structure your business and scale it using ecosystems and with through the lens of an ecosystem? And I'm like, I think that there's a connection between that and you know, being an active participant in your market.
Ben Wright
Yeah. It's interesting, because like, the whole idea of ecosystems is, is like, well, well, there's different explanations of ecosystems. But for me, I look at tree ecosystems. They exist in the world of tech and you look at like HubSpot. You look at Microsoft, you look at Salesforce. And the reason that they have such large partner ecosystems is, in my opinion, the fact that like that partners, and we use HubSpot, they have 1000s of marketing agencies that are partners with HubSpot. The fact that each one of those are in market with customers talking about the benefit of HubSpot amplifies HubSpot brand and the and and the, the likelihood of customers choosing to purchase HubSpot over another CRM. If you think about like the network effect of having 2000 marketing agencies that are advocates for the HubSpot, HubSpot platform constantly on LinkedIn posts, talking about the benefits of HubSpot and the features of HubSpot. Well, that creates like 2000 more voices in market that that are preaching about the benefits the values and only goes back to like does it increase the likelihood of people purchasing HubSpot? I would argue yes. And so, in my opinion and in the way I look at ecosystem is how can you create this network this mass network of advocates is in market that are able to promote your product without you paying them to do so. So it's not paid advertising, right, but it's actually organic, organic mentions organic thoughts, etc. And so I think that's the real power is when you can, when you can have advocates 1000s of advocates potentially that are out there talking about your, your brand or your product.
Ella Richmond
I actually I love that. I also liked the idea of how, how many different I guess intersex there are, if you're, if you're in market, if you're talking to all of you know, your customers, your partners, the people that surround you, if you're actually talking to them, there are so many intersects and this kind of goes back to, to your original point, like, there are so many ways that you being on LinkedIn and building your personal brand and engaging with the community changed everything. Whether it was it sparked a new conversation, it opened up new opportunities, like the intersects create. Almost it's almost, I heard this concept, it increases your luck surface area. Like it increases the potential of something interesting or big or whatever. And if you're just going to the market, whenever it's time, like those intercepts don't happen, which is another interesting thing.
Ben Wright
Yeah, the locks upstairs. That's an interesting statement. But I definitely agree. Like I think even if you just take what's happening in the in the macro environment, at the moment, when there's a lot of people getting laid off, right, like, Sure, you can go out and apply for 50 partnership for all that you just go on indeed. And wherever find wherever you find your jobs, right and apply for them. I would argue that the likelihood of you getting one of these roles is minimal against somebody that actually has pre existing relationships with those organizations, you're able to talk to the hiring manager, you know, the hiring manager. And I'm not saying it's like nepotism, but actually if if they've heard of you and you've posted content, or you've contributed to the community, I would argue that that gives you a better chance because you only have that, that recognition and that validity behind your name. So like surface area is a great way of describing it. But I just think living in market will just unlock a lot more doors because you already have, you know, a Rolodex of contacts that you can that you can hit up. And conversely, like, even if you're enroll, and you join a partner program, and you need contacts, x and y industry, like there's a likelihood that you know those people now because you've lived in market, you've had those conversations. And so either way, like, I think it does exponentially increase that that luck surface area that you that you mentioned.
Ella Richmond
Yeah, I love that. I love that a lot. Um, so the last question that I had was around advice. So what do you think is something that people either mistake, misconception something that they get wrong about living in market or about participating with your industry?
Ben Wright
So I think there's a there's a couple of things, I think, first of all, is like the in market concept of like, have those conversations, share thoughts go on podcasts, like, I know, it's hard to put yourself out there for a lot of people and people don't like either writing content or, you know, speaking publicly. But I would just, I would say just go for it, give it a go. Because like I said, there's been so many cases of people picking up new jobs because of thought leadership, etc. But then the second probably biggest underpinning statement, and I think people like Justin Zimmerman do this really well as they give back a lot more than they take. And so the whole concept of partnerships and reciprocity applies to living in market as well. So if you're in partnership partners, partnership leaders, Slack group, contribute to those conversations, give back, don't just ask questions and accept unexpected take information. You know, I think there's, there's a real need to give more than you take. And as and as long as you kind of have that as an underpinning, I think you'll be you'll be good. There's a lot of people and like, you probably got a ton on LinkedIn as people that will just connect and pitch you right? It's like, Well, why don't you to have a conversation with you. It's the same type of principle where it's like, I'm not just going to reach out to everybody and be like, Hey, can you jump on a call because I need you to do X. When I see somebody's posts, I'll reach out I'm like, hey, you know, I'm happy to help. I'll jump on a call. Do that first. And I think you'll get a lot back in return. So those would be my couple of principles is is you know, give more than you take and then just start right like to start letting the market start having those conversations. It's not enough just to write posts, but if people write interesting comments, connect with them, call them you know, and put in some effort, I would say
Ella Richmond
that was perfect. I do think that's, um, that's something that I've been learning. There's a whole culture around, you know, just DMing people or like, or sending them your shooting your shot, I guess in
Ben Wright
which is fine, right? That's right. But like, that's not necessarily living in market that's just pitching Well, that's just selling, right, like living in market is probably a level deeper than that which is, which is like your community, you know, the people that you can help and thinking and thinking through that as well.
Ella Richmond
Yeah, it's playing the long game, the long game to build trust, and that's what you don't get from the shooting your shot, it's just like your one out of 1000. You know, if they if they respond, okay, like, the, it's not because you did a great reach out, or it's not because they trust you, it's just because they, they ended up responding,
Ben Wright
agreed, and like, I know, this is gonna sound like horrendous, but like, you've got a better chance of like reaching out to somebody from a code perspective, if you've got a brand on LinkedIn, as well, like, if somebody hit me up on LinkedIn, and I click on their profile, they've got 12,000 followers, and like people like they're given a lot of thought leadership, I'm much more likely to at least check out that proposal or respond rather than somebody that's like, got 20 followers on LinkedIn, and is obviously just there to spam people inbox notifications. So even if it is just the whole, like, you want to use LinkedIn to sell, there's still benefit of living in market and offering thought leadership, because people are a lot more likely to take you seriously as a result.
Ella Richmond
True, true. Thank you very much for giving me all of those insights.
