Smartsheet Aligned receives a 5-star rating in CRN’s 2020 Partner Program Guide

At ENGAGE 2019, Smartsheet launched a new channel partner program called Smartsheet Aligned, after making thoughtful decisions about how we would launch a program that is entirely value-based for our global partner community.

In addition to the positive feedback we’ve received from our partners, our efforts were recently validated with a 5-star partner program rating in CRN’s 2020 Partner Program Guide. This annual guide is the definitive listing of the most rewarding partner programs from technology companies that provide products and services through the IT channel, and a 5-star rating recognizes the elite subset of Partner Program Guide applicants who offer Solution Providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs.

The research team at The Channel Company — CRN’s parent organization — analyzed each vendor’s partner program to compile this guide. Each score was based on several factors, including investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training, education and support, marketing programs and resources, sales support, and communication.

Here are a few of the benefits our Smartsheet Aligned partners value, which helped us receive a 5-star partner program rating:

Sales support

One of the unique aspects of the Smartsheet sales organization is that we offer compensation neutrality when working with channel partners. This means the Smartsheet sales team receives the same commission regardless of whether they work with a partner, which increases their excitement to bring partners into deals. We also compensate partners for deals that they register but are closed by the Smartsheet direct sales teams.

Our partners are also supported with a dedicated channel account manager, joint business planning, market development funds, enablement tools and resources, price protection plans, qualified leads, pre- and post-sales support, and more.

Partner profitability

Smartsheet solution partners have a massive opportunity to attach training, consulting, and implementation services to the Smartsheet products they sell. In fact, we have seen a 4-to-1 ratio in services-to-product revenue from our channel partners.

We’ve also invested heavily in our partner readiness program and certifications to help partners expand the services they offer and increase their overall profitability. Recently, we introduced a solution services certification focused on advanced services delivery, which includes an assigned partner enablement manager to shadow the initial deployment of complex custom implementations.

Onboarding and enablement

Joining the Smartsheet Aligned partner ecosystem is free of cost, and it even includes self-paced online training and in-person partner bootcamps. We’ve already heard feedback that our onboarding and training process has been easier and more straightforward than other partner programs, and we continue to streamline it based on feedback from Smartsheet Aligned Partners.

There are several partner tiers that are determined by value-based requirements, including sales and technical certification, vertical market expertise, and solutions expertise. Regardless of the partner tier, we actively support all partners to help expand their businesses through sales, marketing, and technical support benefits.

Join our partner program

While this award has helped validate how we’ve designed and are currently executing our channel partner program, we are continuing to seek new ways to support our partners and deliver an elite partner experience. If you’d like to learn more about Smartsheet Aligned or become a partner, visit our website at www.smartsheet.com/channel-partners.