#156 Libby Greco: Get Out There and Break The Glass

Joining Chip Rodgers on this Ecosystem Aces episode is Libby Greco, Vice President, Alliances at Salesforce.

Chip and Libby discussed achieving hyper growth within government partnerships. Some of the topics discussed include:

• Salesforce Diversification and Expansion
• Reaching New Markets
• Product Development of Joint Offerings
• Commercial Versus Public Sector
• Co-Selling in the Public Sector
• Creating New Solutions

Salesforce Diversification and Expansion

Libby starts off talking about some of the changes underway at Salesforce. A significant change is that Salesforce is now focused on diversification and expansion of partners in its ecosystem. This vision has enabled her to explore the new-found territory of private partnership with the recent creation of Salesforce AMER Alliances.

Salesforce's partnership plan is to explore different routes to market through collaborating and tapping into various partner ecosystems, including management consulting firms, agencies, and up-and-coming regional system integrators.

"It's a fun challenge I was quick to embrace. Finding those untapped routes to market in the ecosystem is clearly the path to growth," Libby said.

Aside from AMER alliances’ expansion, Libby is focused on making their partners future-proof. Companies are tapping into big global brands, which they think could be significant contributors to billion-dollar businesses.

Reaching New Markets

Salesforce is also exploring innovative ways of expanding its own ecosystem by exploring new, non-traditional partnering motions and partner types.

The best example of these non-traditional approaches is Salesforce's partnership with McKinsey, Bain, & BCG. While these organizations never had Salesforce practice per se, their curiosity about Salesforce is there.

Salesforce is now open to taking in partners not just to deliver their products, but to play a role in advising clients on future direction and strategy. Furthermore, the company's exploration and creativity in partnerships are also going as far as entertaining various solution offers via LinkedIn.

In this new age of partnering, Libby shares that it's all about gathering the best knowledge and expertise to deliver the best solutions.

Product Development of Joint Offerings

With the highly flexible partner ecosystem that Salesforce is now implementing, Salesforce’s products become a combination of both technologies and solutions.  And ultimately, it all boils down to helping companies deliver inherent value for shared clients.

Libby shared that companies should understand that most tech partners don’t have to bring in just new clients. Instead, they could contribute templates, workstreams, simplifications, and other work processes for the deals as well as knowledge and expertise to advise clients confidently.

Commercial versus Public Sector

"There are inherent qualities or care attributes in the public sector making our business truly unique. But surprisingly, there are a lot of crossovers [with the commercial sector], especially in highly regulated industries like energy, healthcare, and finance," Libby said.

Libby sees similarities between private and public solutions verticals. However, for Libby, the public sector has more partnership diversity. Because of its rapid growth rate and remarkable expansion in the public sector, Salesforce currently holds a significant influence on the communities they serve. This covers local, state, provincial, and even federal connections.

To make the most out of this influence, Salesforce created a nonprofit arm that focuses on educating academic institutions and other nonprofit entities. It's the company's way of giving back 1% of its product to the public sector.

Co-Selling in Public Sector

Salesforce remains a direct-selling organization.

Salesforce contracts are still with their end-user clients, with reselling arms for international and public sectors. According to Libby, having a direct line with clients is a wonderful thing, especially for a company like Salesforce.

However, Libby shared that the co-selling motion is always there, especially since Salesforce still wades through markets where reselling is the norm and for countries that require local reselling arms.

"Co-selling motion is still there. You're not wholly reliant upon your ecosystem to represent your product to represent your value to the client. You're active, but you're more in the background than at the table," Libby added.

Wrapping Up

With AppExchange, Salesforce now has tens of thousands of apps and partners currently implementing or using their solutions and their incredible growth continues.

Libby shared the importance of fearlessness when it comes to expansion.

After all, as Mario Andretti once said, "If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."

Learn more about Libby Greco and stay updated on her work with Salesforce by following her on LinkedIn.

Links & Resources

• Learn more about how WorkSpan helps customers accelerate their ecosystem flywheel through Co-selling, Co-innovating, Co-investing, and Co-marketing.
• Subscribe to the Ecosystem Aces Podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcast.
• Join the WorkSpan Community to engage with other partner ecosystem leaders on best practices, news, events, jobs, and other tips to advance your career in partnering.
• Find insightful articles on leading and getting the most out of your partner ecosystem on the WorkSpan blog.
• Download the Best Practices Guide for Ecosystem Business Management
• Download the Ultimate Guide for Partner Incentives and Market Development Funds

To contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about modern partnering, he can be reached on Twitter, LinkedIn, or send Chip an email at: chip@workspan.com

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