The partnerships and co-selling framework we install for every client for professional services firms
A repeatable, seven-part framework for running partnerships and co-selling as a system — the same one we use inside every Growth Broker engagement. Written for managing partners and heads of business development at consultancies and agencies.
This edition is written for managing partners and heads of business development at consultancies and agencies. In professional services firms, professional-services buyers hire partners, not vendors, and the pitch has to reflect that, so the way you install partnerships and co-selling has to reflect that reality from day one.
We have installed partnerships and co-selling inside more than fifty companies. This is the framework we reach for every time. Partnerships and co-selling is using another company's distribution to reach buyers you cannot cost-effectively reach yourself, and the framework exists to keep that definition honest under real conditions.
Part one, diagnosis. Before you touch the model, name the constraint: finance, demand, access, or conversion. Partnerships and co-selling applied to the wrong constraint is theatre.
Part two, target. Narrow to one industry, one role, one trigger. Every extra dimension halves conversion.
The binding constraint we see in professional services firms is almost always senior partner time, not lead volume. Partnerships and co-selling is only useful in this vertical when it is pointed at that constraint — not at a generic growth number borrowed from another category.
Part three, offer. What is the buyer's next step, and what makes it obvious? The offer, not the copy, is what carries.
Part four, engine. Tools, sequences, data. Buy the minimum you can operate; every extra tool is a future dependency.
Part five, operating rhythm. Monday plan, Friday review, weekly sourced and influenced pipeline from partners. Nothing about the model is left to memory.
Parts six and seven, learning and allocation. What did we learn last week; where does next week's dollar go. Once those two loops are live, partnerships and co-selling compounds and the framework stops being visible.
Concretely for professional services firms: one signed retainer typically funds the entire growth program for a year. That is the reason it is worth installing partnerships and co-selling properly rather than half-heartedly across three vendors.
Frequently asked questions
Partnerships · professional services — answered
- Does partnerships and co-selling work for professional services firms?
- Yes — provided it is aimed at senior partner time, not lead volume rather than a generic growth number. One signed retainer typically funds the entire growth program for a year.
- Do I need all seven parts to see results?
- Diagnosis, target, and operating rhythm are the non-negotiables. The others can lag by weeks, not quarters.
- How long does the framework take to install?
- Six to twelve weeks depending on the state of the data and the size of the team.
- Can I adapt the framework to my stack?
- The framework is stack-agnostic. Tooling is part four and is the most swappable piece.
- What is the biggest risk to the framework?
- Signing MOUs no one operationalises — usually because a stakeholder shortcuts diagnosis to get to spend.
- What is the professional services specific pitfall with partnerships and co-selling?
- Running the generic playbook without adapting to professional-services buyers hire partners, not vendors, and the pitch has to reflect that. The install has to be vertical-first.
Growth Broker editorial
Filed under partnerships · professional services