Too often, partnerships get dismissed as “relationships” work. Nice to have, hard to measure, and easy to deprioritize when budget gets tight.

Dan Taylor, a Partnership Manager at Deel, has heard this more than once. After years of running partnership programs, he’s learned that the best way to change that perception is to tie every partner activity to a measurable outcome.

By focusing on what actually drives results, whether that’s new leads, closed deals, or customer value, Dan has been able to prove the impact of his work and earn a seat at the table.

Here’s his playbook:

Identify the Gaps Your Partners Can’t Fill

The highest-value partner plays happen when you solve a problem your partner cannot solve alone.

Dan sees this regularly in his work with HRIS tools. On the surface, these companies might seem like competitors since Deel has its own HRIS product. But many HRIS providers lack the global payroll and employer of record capabilities that customers with international teams need.

Without a partner to fill that gap, “the deal is essentially lost unless they can bring in a partner to fill this gap and to work with them,” Dan says.

When these situations arise, Dan moves quickly by connecting the partner with the right account executive, leveraging existing integrations, and helping structure a deal where everyone wins.

The key is making this repeatable. “I’ve tried to replicate that process and find in partnerships where the need is for my partners, fill that need, and make it a very smooth process,” he says. “The closer I get to that in each of my partnerships, generally the better it goes.”

Educate Partner Teams Before They Need You

Filling gaps only works if partners know you can fill them. That requires proactive education, not waiting for a call when a deal is already stuck.

Dan treats awareness as an ongoing investment. “Oftentimes it’s a question of just awareness and education,” he says. “People might know that Deel does one thing, but do they know that Deel does a lot of things?”

His approach breaks down into a few key tactics:

• Get in front of partner-facing employees directly. Dan spends time with AEs and customer-facing teams at partner companies, making sure they know who he is, what Deel offers, and how he can help them close deals.
• Make enablement easy and rewarding. Dan uses light gamification to drive engagement, like asking partners to watch a video or fill out a questionnaire in exchange for a reward or a dinner.
• Show up at key moments. Dan attends partner SKOs, joins their meetings, and finds ways to stay visible. “If you’re out of sight, you’re gonna be out of mind,” he says. “And that’s gonna be fewer leads coming my way.”

The goal is to make sure that when a partner hits a gap they can’t fill, your name is the first one that comes to mind.

Prioritize Activities That Drive Outcomes

Partner work comes with a lot of chaos and being able to focus on the right things is critical.

“Earlier on in my career, it was very easy to get distracted and maybe spend time on things that were not going to be effective,” Dan says. “I had some good leaders that helped me see certain activities are driving certain outcomes, and it’s important to look at your desired outcomes and walk that back into which activities are driving those outcomes.”

Dan focuses on a few core questions when evaluating where to spend his time:

• Is it creating new leads? If a partnership or activity is generating qualified opportunities, it’s worth doing more of.
• Is it helping close deals? Some partnerships don’t generate net-new leads but help move existing deals across the finish line.
• Is it filling a gap for customers? Even if a partnership isn’t driving direct revenue, it might be providing value that strengthens customer relationships.

If an activity isn’t doing one of those things, Dan moves on quickly. “Be willing to try a lot of different things. Fail fast and pivot fast,” he says. “If it’s not creating results, I’ll try and move away from those activities quickly and not spend a lot of time on them.”

Use In-Person Events to Break Through the Noise

Dan has found that in-person events deliver outsized returns compared to digital outreach.

“You can get a lot farther with one in-person meeting than you can with a multitude of online interactions,” he says. “Sometimes just being in person gets you there a lot faster, a lot easier, and breaks through a lot more barriers.”

Dan’s event strategy focuses on efficiency. For example, rather than running everything himself, he looks for partners willing to handle logistics. “Oftentimes what I like to do is find partners that kind of run that side of it for us, and they offer to source the events, find the people. And they just want us to come in and sponsor.”

He stacks events across the quarter, mixing formats like webinars, dinners, and networking gatherings. For in-person travel, he prioritizes hubs like California or New York where he can see multiple partners in a short trip.

But the event itself is only half the equation. Without follow-up, all that work is pointless.

“Sure you can run a great event, but if you don’t follow up on it, probably nothing’s gonna happen,” Dan says. That means having a great relationship with the sales team is crucial.

His follow-up process starts immediately after the event:

• Identify who raised their hand. Dan tracks attendees who expressed interest or asked to learn more.
• Loop in sales with context. He connects leads to the right AEs and gives them background on the conversation.
• Stay persistent. Dan is willing to get on the phone himself, set meeting times, and run email sequences to keep momentum going.

The combination of high-impact events and disciplined follow-up is what allowed Dan to double his qualified opportunity target at Deel in Q4 2025.

Final Takeaway

Dan’s playbook is built on a core principle: every partner activity should drive a measurable outcome, whether that’s new leads, closed deals, or customer value.

“I’m helping the customer. I’m helping close deals. I’m helping our sales team. I’m helping our partner,” Dan says.

For partner teams looking to prove their impact, the path forward isn’t necessarily more partnerships. It’s better execution with the ones you have.

The challenge is doing this at scale. When partner motions depend on manual tracking, tribal knowledge, and one-off follow-ups, even the best playbooks break down as teams grow. WorkSpan helps partner teams operationalize exactly this kind of motion by connecting partner intelligence to seller workflows, so the right plays happen at the right time without relying on memory or spreadsheets.

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