The five partner types
The Referral Marketing Formula recognizes five partner types: referral partners, collaboration partners, implementation partners, resellers, and affiliates. Each operates differently and requires a different program structure.
By Derek Morgan
Published · Updated
Why it matters
Most businesses use "partner" as a single word for five different relationships, then wonder why one set of materials does not work for all of them.
Referral partners. make introductions. They are not paid to sell and should not be asked to.
Collaboration partners. collaborate on joint activity, joint go-to-market and shared audiences.
Implementation partners. deliver your product or service to their own clients.
Resellers. sell on your behalf, under commercial terms.
Affiliates. promote for a commission, usually at arm's length and at volume.
The commitments differ, the enablement differs, and the reward structures differ. A referral partner given a reseller's targets will disengage. An affiliate given a referral partner's enablement will ignore it.
Deciding which type you are building is the first question of the Build phase, not an implementation detail.
Where it sits in the framework
RMF4, and it determines the structure of everything built in RMF5 and RMF6.
Defined in Partner Program Builder.