Crossbeam + Spekit: Just-In-Time Learning Enhances Overlap Data in Salesforce

This article can also be found through a partnership with the team over at ELG Insider the same day it goes live here on LinkedIn.

Account mapping software is quickly becoming a critical, if not necessary, element of the partner tech stack for growth companies. If you're not familiar with it, take a few minutes and read any one or all of these articles from three major players in the space.

• Crossbeam: Partnerships 101: Account Mapping. How to (Finally) Do It Without Giant, Cumbersome Spreadsheets
• PartnerTap: Account Mapping: Six Critical Insights to Increase Ecosystem Revenue
• Reveal: What You Don't Know About Account Mapping

All caught up? Great... let's keep rolling.

These tools open a variety of doors for new strategies to further leverage the inherent value of your partnerships ecosystem. It's not a new tactic, to be clear. It's something Sales reps have been doing for years through spreadsheets and email - resources they can take with them. I know... I know.. sssshhh.. it's okay.... we've got secure platforms now.

These new strategies are actually overwhelming for organizations new to the effort. The basic overlap map of Customers, Prospects, and Opportunities ends up creating 9 different data points that could all support a different strategic action. That outline is for another write-up because this one is focused on a specific use case: leveraging the power of Crossbeam with the power of Spekit to drive enhanced visibility and awareness of overlap value within your Salesforce platform.

The Problem Statement

Most account mapping platforms offer integrations into CRM that include a widget, or some kind of in-system visibility of overlap results that you can tie to different objects.

The problem is that these widgets are still under development and come with limitations around data visibility and interaction. In the screenshot below you can see the option to 'View Detail' and if you go to the article directly you can see what detail is included.

The Solution Summary

By leveraging the power of just-in-time learning with Spekit, you can dramatically enhance the value of your widget overlaps with custom, rich-text articles highlighting the most important details and calls of action.

Now here's the part where I need your help - I simply don't have a great screenshot of this play in action. Working in ops means you deal with a lot of propritary information and... well... I just can't share it directly.

Work with me, though, and I think you'll get it.

First, take a look at this widget in action from Crossbeam:

Now... imagine the overlap widget above has the same icons you see below next to every Partner name in the overlap list, or at least the highest value ones.

Everywhere you see the Spekit icon links to a custom, rich text article. Keep in mind that any widget you've got installed, Crossbeam or otherwise, will work with this model.

The Requirements

1. An active Salesforce CRM license of any level.
2. An active Crossbeam account with the widget installed in Salesforce.
3. Spekit licensing for all impacted users in Salesforce.
4. An admin to help write/develop/maintain the Speks.

Template for Speks (as applicable)

1. Partner Name as primary tag - must match Salesforce Account name exactly
2. Summary of Partner Relationship highlighting key value propositions
3. "Better Together" Content Links
4. Integration Guidance Content Links
5. SPIFF Content Links
6. Links to Partner Slack Channel (use strategically)
7. Links to Partner Account in Salesforce
8. Link to Partner Website
9. Link to Marketplace/Directory Listings
10. Note on Partner Manager (Bonus: direct link to Partner Manager internal Chat system - may require extra lift)

Caveats and Tips

• Requires manual administration and ongoing management of Speks
• Setup a 'Template' Spek to use as a base for the overall outline and copy for creating new Speks quickly
• Setup a quarterly review of Speks to ensure accuracy with changes
• Focus on high priority partnerships - just like Account Mapping you may see more value with reduced, focus effort to get started.

The Wrap Up

That's it. That's the post this week.

Quick acknowledgement that I am not affiliated with any of the platforms or technology discussed in this write-up and was not solicited in any way. I wrote this because I've done it, saw the value, and thought you might too.

Go forth and make it happen! 

Daniel Lancioni bringing value once again with a map to the stars for understanding Partner program types and connections.

Jared Fuller delivered a complete 'Partner Ecosystem Roadmap' during the Partner Ecosystem Kickoff event hosted by PartnerHacker. You can even go into the roadmap directly and take a quick look around.