#132 Ally Murtlow: How to Handle an Ecosystem in Hyper-Growth

Since its launch in 2011, Dialpad has evolved to become a widely-used AI-enabled cloud communication platform for businesses. Teams can stay connected through online meetings, video conferencing, calls, and many other solutions provided by Dialpad.

Through streamlined communication, business operations can be executed effectively, and overall productivity can be increased.

In this episode, Ally Murtlow, Dialpad’s National Channel Director, joins Chip Rodgers and talks about the success of Dialpad, the growth and management of partner agents, strategic partnerships, their regional channel teams, services, and collaborations.

Ally discusses:

• How Dialpad’s insider and regional channel team work together to achieve results
• The strategy and approach behind onboarding new partners
• Tracking of partnership growth and what’s next for Dialpad

Great Teamwork between Regional Channel Managers and Partner Account Managers

Over the past year, Dialpad’s channel team has grown tremendously, with 13 Regional Channel Managers (RCMs) across the nation. In addition, they created a new inside channel team comprising of Partner Account Managers (PAMs) that work 1-to-1 with each RCM. The experience and skill set of this team helps enrich Dialpad’s partner program.

The insider channel team has a pretty deep bench, with the PAM team aligned to each RCM across the 13 territories. This allows the RCMs to focus on Dialpad’s top 40 partners and helps increase pipelines and bookings. The PAM team focuses on other partners and enables them to collaborate with Dialpad actively. Handling recruitment and onboarding by PAMs have helped increase bookings by 150% and account for 60% of the company’s overall sales.

Even though both the RCMs and PAMs have many individual goals to focus on, they still work as a team to achieve a shared target. Teamwork and dedicated support allow Dialpad’s master agent partnerships to grow on a regional and national scale.

Recruitment Strategy for New Partners

The approach and strategy for onboarding new partners are tailored to the specific needs and requirements of the particular company. Channel managers speak to agents and provide a demo account for them to use Dialpad’s services and understand its benefits. In March, Dialpad launched its dynamic Partner Portal.

The Partner Portal is really helpful as:

• Partners can register deals and analyze their pipeline with Dialpad.
• They can access collaterals and use co-branded landing pages for their clients.
• Partners can leverage Dialpad’s Email and marketing campaigns and use Webinars.

Dialpad hired a lot of experienced industry veterans with strong ties and relationships in the channel. Many agents trust these veterans, and this attracts a lot of new partners for Dialpad. MDF with master agents make sure Dialpad engages in the right activities with their partners. This clarifies the regions they need to focus on and come up with ideal marketing and branding activities.

Dialpad has MDF agreements with many partners and launched competitive SPIFFS. Marketing activities and allocation of funds are based on Dialpad’s relationship with its partners. For newer partners, Dialpad focuses more on marketing through LinkedIn campaigns, Email marketing, etc. For partners who are comfortable with Dialpad’s services, the focus is more on customer-facing events.

The growth and success of Dialpad’s partnership are evident with the NBA team Sacramento Kings featuring the Dialpad logo on their jersey.

Tracking Partnership Growth and Improvement Through New Strategies

Dialpad tracks everything related to salesforce like- booking-related data, pipeline generation, conversion rate, etc. This helps track one-time and repeat customers.

Dialpad focuses on the Contact Center because over 80% of partnerships are a combination of UC and Contact Center deals. In addition, the company acquired Care Knowledgeware and incorporated its AI-powered chatbot solutions in its operations. Dialpad also uses digital deflection to take questions from their partners’ Contact Center desk and offer solutions to frequently asked questions and issues.

Dialpad helps technology partners by providing tight integrations and APIs for joint solutions. Partners send or receive data from Dialpad, and a business model is set up based on this. For example, remote working has rapidly increased, and Dialpad recently partnered with Playvox, a workplace engagement management firm. This partnership focuses on offering robust solutions to remote workplaces. Co-branded as Dialpad SKU, data from Dialpad is sent to Playvox, and solutions are generated to keep the remote workforce motivated and dedicated to productivity.  

Conclusion

Dialpad emphasizes its partnerships, design solutions, and plans integrations that complements its technology. Leaders are motivated to achieve the common goal and strategize business models that can help build healthy and productive work relationships.  

Links & Resources

• Learn more about how WorkSpan helps customers accelerate their ecosystem flywheel through Co-selling, Co-innovating, Co-investing, and Co-marketing.
• 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 how to lead and get 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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