Guest Post: Glad You Asked! Partner Surveys Can Supply Valuable Insight

We receive a lot of surveys in our daily lives. They come from retailers, airlines, hotels, car dealers, dentists—you name it.  

Surveys are used for a reason: they work. The business or service provider wants to know your thoughts. How was your experience? The answers you give allow companies to adjust their offerings and learn what is working—and more important, what can be improved. 

Surveys also let you know that the company you have done business with cares, that your opinion matters, and your views are valued. They show that you are important to that company.

Surveys for Partnerships

Business-to-business surveys are just as important as consumer-facing ones, and that’s equally true in the alliance and partnering realm. Since a thriving alliance is based on care and trust, surveys or assessments are a tool that should be seriously considered by partnership managers. To start or refine the partner survey process, we need to ask these questions:

• As partner managers, do we consistently take advantage of surveys?  
• Can we use surveys more effectively to gain information about our partnerships?  
• Is there an easy way to deploy a survey that allows us to see trends and identify areas for improvement?

No Time Like the Present

If you do not use surveys, or have not done so in a while, now is the perfect time. The end of the year or beginning of a new year is a natural time to ask your partners a few questions. Besides helping us identify strengths and weaknesses, surveys can be a great tool to see trends across multiple partners. The responses may show what you already know—or alert you to something you might have missed.

What can you learn? Surveys return feedback that can help shed light on a concern your partner has, something that is top of mind for them but may not have been raised before. Once you know about it, you can work to implement a solution and get your partnership back on the right course. When you ask directly and elicit honest feedback, your partner may be willing to supply useful information that can help shape your plans for growth.  

For example:

How to Do It

In creating a survey, short and simple is best. Most people hate, and don’t have time for, long surveys that seem to ask the same questions over and over. 

In some situations, partner managers may want to focus on a particular aspect of the alliance: for example, products, sales, APIs, SSO and technical integrations, marketplace processes, or partner operations. In those cases, separate surveys at different points in time may be used to drill into the details in a more precise, targeted way.   

Consider this example of a general survey that is being used to assess the overall relationship:

Hi Regina, 

We value our partnership. Can you please take a moment to complete a brief, 5-question survey? Your thoughts will be helpful as we work to continuously improve. 

1. How well does your team understand our partnership and its value for customers?

• Extremely Well
• Very Well
• Somewhat Well
• Not So Well
• Not At All

2. Overall, how well does our partnership meet the needs of your customers?

• Extremely Well
• Very Well
• Somewhat Well
• Not So Well
• Not At All

3.  How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?

Not at all likely                                                                                                 Extremely likely

4. How responsive have we been to your questions about our products and services?

• Extremely responsive
• Very responsive
• Somewhat responsive
• Not so responsive
• Not at all responsive

5. What is one thing you would like us to do better or differently? _______________________

Do-It-Yourself Is a Great Way to Start

You may have colleagues internally, such as partner marketing experts, who can develop the survey for you. But if not, or if they are not available, launching a simple survey can be as easy as sending an email with a few questions like the example above. 

Using an online survey tool is another fast and easy option that can be used by the partnership team. Third-party tools are readily accessible with templates that can easily be adapted for partners. Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Typeform, and Jotform are examples. Performing a Google search for “Partner Survey” or “Customer Satisfaction Survey” will generate many other ideas and templates. 

Give It a Name

One last point to think about: What do you want to call your survey? 

It may sound trivial, but names can matter. Giving your survey a name gives it an identity, and shows that you take it seriously. It has a distinct purpose and character and has earned its own title. 

“Partner Satisfaction Survey” is a commonly used generic name. That’s fine, but it doesn’t evoke strong feelings. So how about something that has more vibrancy and oomph? It can be personalized to your company or industry:

• Partner Check-in
• Partner Success Thoughts: (Insert name of partners)
• Your Thoughts Matter
• Growing Together
• How We Partner
• Alliance Pulse
• Partner Feedback

Show You Care

Just like other aspects of alliance management, assessments should be included as a routine process, one of the building blocks of success. Regular surveys can be helpful in carrying out winning partnerships and identifying areas for improvement. 

And surveys send a strong message to your partner: We care. 

Surveys and assessments are often overlooked as a helpful partnering tool. But they’re generally easy to start or restart and can yield valuable insights. Now is a good time to make one happen.    

Ezra Schneier is a partner manager at G-P, which supplies global growth technology solutions helping employers to succeed with international expansion. He can be reached at eschneier@g-p.com.