Design investment · Economics & benefits

Treat benefits as investments, not entitlements.

“Because you can earn 20% margin” has never once landed as an answer in a room. If the math doesn't work for the partner, nothing else in this playbook matters.

Decision signal · risk

The partner profit pool is only partly validated

Validate the cost, effort, margin, and repeatability of each active pathway.

Map the partner profit pool

Decision 3 · Partner economics. Why should a partner put their next salesperson, technical resource, marketing dollar, or customer relationship behind you? Levers highlighted match your active pathways.

Resale / transaction

Sell · Transact

What margin is achievable after discounting, support cost, financing, and sales effort?

Referral

Influence

Is the fee meaningful relative to the effort and risk of making the introduction?

Implementation / consulting

Serve

Can the partner attach high-value services and build repeatable delivery?

Managed services

Serve

Is recurring margin sufficient to fund the operating obligation and support model?

Marketplace / cloud commerce

Transact

Who owns the customer, billing, margin, renewal, commit drawdown, and transaction cost?

Expansion / adoption

Sell · Serve · Transact

Can the partner participate economically after the initial sale?

IP / integration / agent

Build

Can the partner create differentiated recurring value around the platform?

Mutual investment

Every investment we ask of a partner sits right next to the investment we're making back. Select the rows you'll commit to.

The Win-Win Test

Decision 4 · Where the money goes. For every candidate benefit, write what the partner receives, what it costs the vendor, and what the vendor gets back. If the third statement cannot be answered honestly, the benefit does not belong at that level.

SparkPlaybook example: Structured onboarding, starter deal registration, base enablement content → A committed partner making a real early investment of time

BuilderPlaybook example: Technical enablement, sandbox access, architecture support → A partner capable of independent, standard delivery

PerformerPlaybook example: Priority deal registration, co-op funding tied to proven results, dedicated CAM support → Predictable, repeatable pipeline and proof of delivery quality

AcceleratorPlaybook example: Expanded MDF released against outcomes, co-sell motion, reduced approval friction → Account expansion and stronger retention economics

CatalystPlaybook example: Roadmap access, executive sponsorship, joint go-to-market investment → Market-making, co-innovation, and reference-grade advocacy

In the plan

0 / 0

candidates passed the Win-Win Test

A sharper question

Instead of asking “what tier is this partner in,” ask “what did we just get back for the last benefit we gave them.” If the honest answer is nothing, the benefit is an entitlement wearing an investment's name.

Incentive design

Pay for what you actually want more of. Your intake priorities are listed first — select the mechanisms you'll fund, and cut the ones that don't map to anything.

Incentives follow strategy

An incentive should make the outcome you want more profitable to chase. If all it does is make busywork slightly cheaper, it's not an incentive. It's a discount.

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Build the decision brief →

To continue, add: a profit pool verdict, a mutual investment, an incentive design choice.