B2B SaaS Partnership & Channel Terms

Channel partners are third-party companies that market, sell, or deliver a vendor's product to customers in exchange for commission, margin, or a referral fee.

Channel sales is a go-to-market model in which a vendor sells through third-party partners, such as resellers and affiliates, rather than only a direct team.

Direct channel is a go-to-market route in which a vendor sells its product straight to customers through its own team, website, or app, with no intermediary.

Indirect channel is a go-to-market route in which a vendor reaches customers through third-party partners, such as resellers and affiliates, not directly.

Partner relationship management (PRM) is the practice and software used to recruit, onboard, enable, and measure a vendor's channel partners.

Marketing development funds (MDF) are budgets a vendor gives channel partners to fund co-branded marketing that generates demand for the vendor's product.

An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a description of the company type that gets the most value from a product and is the most efficient to acquire and retain.

Firmographics are the descriptive attributes of a company, such as industry, size, revenue, location, and structure, used to segment and target B2B accounts.

A Partner Manager is the person who recruits, onboards, enables, and grows a company's external partners so those relationships produce measurable revenue.

A Partner Advisory Board (PAB) is a selected group of a company's partners that meets regularly to give structured feedback on program strategy and roadmap.

A B2B partnership is a commercial agreement between two businesses to reach customers, share value, or build products together for mutual revenue gain.

A SaaS Partner Program is a structured framework a software company uses to recruit, enable, and reward partners who drive new revenue.

A partner program is a structured framework a company uses to recruit, enable, and pay external partners who refer, resell, or promote its product.

A partner ecosystem is the full network of external companies and individuals that refer, resell, integrate with, or co-market a product around one vendor.

Deal registration is a process where a partner submits a sales opportunity to a vendor to claim it and protect the commission tied to that deal.

Co-selling is a sales motion where a vendor and a partner work the same opportunity together, sharing pipeline, effort, and the resulting credit.

A strategic alliance is a long-term agreement between two companies to pursue shared goals while staying independent, often combining products or markets.

A technology partner is a company that integrates its product with a vendor so the two tools work together and create joint value for shared customers.

An integration partner is a company that connects its product to another vendor's platform through an API or app, creating joint value for shared customers.

A value-added reseller is a partner that buys a vendor's product, adds services or features on top, and sells the bundle to end customers.

A managed service provider is a partner that delivers and operates a vendor's product as an ongoing service on behalf of end customers.

An OEM partner is a company that embeds another vendor's product inside its own branded offering and resells the combined solution.

A referral partner is a person or company that sends qualified leads to a vendor and is paid a commission when those leads convert.

An incentive program is a structured set of rewards a vendor offers partners or customers to motivate specific behaviors such as referrals or sales.