One of my proudest moments was a quiet, offhand remark that wouldn’t even register to most people.
It happened a few years ago. I got on a call with the CEO of Bluewolf at the time and his executive assistant. They started asking me things, and explaining different issues they were having.
After a few minutes I interrupted.
“What are we trying to accomplish here?”
The CEO said, “Excellent, Kailey. Spoken like a true project manager.” And I beamed to myself.
Set aside your assumptions of what a project manager does for a minute, and think about the real reason they are put in place on any project.
They’re in place to keep the project moving forward.
Where to?
Towards the end of the project.
Now, the biggest question. The question I asked on that day a few years ago, that all project managers need to ask:
How do you know what the end of the project should look like?
How do you know what success looks like?
What are we trying to do here?
Some people call this the “North Star” and others call it vision. Whatever you want to call it, every project needs to have a clearly defined finish line. What are we trying to accomplish?
No matter the size of your project - it could be a short marketing campaign or a new business unit you want to get up and running - you need to have a clear understanding of what you’re trying to achieve.
Salesforce’s V2MOM Framework for Partners
One of the first activities a Partner Account Manager does with their partner’s alliance team is to complete a V2MOM.
The V2MOM is essentially a business plan on a page. Salesforce asks every employee to fill one out for themselves, and leaders set one for their teams each year.
This process provides clarity for the alliances team on both sides of the table. It helps each party understand each other’s goals, what they care about, how they plan to achieve their goals, and the biggest hurdles they expect to have to overcome.
V2MOM stands for:
Vision - the “North Star”, or what are we trying to accomplish here?
Values - what do you care about most?
Methods - what actions will you take to achieve your vision?
Obstacles - what will you need to overcome on the way?
Measures - what will you track to ensure you’re moving forward?
The simplicity of this framework is brilliant, because it forces both parties to focus and be very clear about their business plan for the year.
In a partnership, or alliance, this clarity allows both parties to support each other and ensure the time and resources they have are spent wisely.
Why Your SI or ISV Partner Firm Needs the V2MOM Framework
Whether you’re a new partner or you’ve been co-selling with Salesforce since the early 2000s, your alliance team needs to complete the V2MOM framework.
It is not busy work. It’s a targeted process that allows you to align with your Salesforce partner team immediately.
Plus, your partner management team will appreciate you putting in the effort to clarify your business plan for the year. It will help them get you in front of the right customers and the right internal industry teams, because they’ll know exactly what your plan is.
Additionally, the V2MOM framework ensures that you, your alliances team, your sales team, and your marketing team are all aligned around how you will go to market as a Salesforce partner firm.
When everyone on your team knows what they’re trying to accomplish, what actions they need to take, what’s being measured, and what they should care about, they will all work every day towards the vision with focus and precision.
And when you understand the obstacles in advance, you can come up with creative ways to resolve them, or even avoid them.
Clarity in the process ensures you’re working towards success.
Standing Out in the Partner Ecosystem
At bloomly, we talk a lot about “speaking the language of Salesforce”. The V2MOM is just one of those small things you can do to speak more clearly to your partner.
With the recent changes to the partnership levels - from metal statuses to Navigator badges - it’s even more important to be clear about how you will go-to-market as a Salesforce partner.
The V2MOM can and should include methods that you’ll use towards becoming the “partner of choice”, and obstacles that could prevent you from getting there.
Planning Light and Executing Hard
No matter how much you plan, you can’t predict everything. The V2MOM is not carved in stone. It can, and should, be revisited throughout the year.
Review your V2MOM at least once per quarter. With this review, you’ll understand if your goals have changed, whether your methods need to be adjusted, and which obstacles still need to be overcome.
Example V2MOM For Partner Firms
If you’re struggling to complete your V2MOM, or you haven’t yet worked with your partner team at Salesforce, the example below will help. Depending on the size of your firm, different people can be involved in filling this out.
If you’re a smaller firm, the CEO, alliances team, marketing director, and sales leader should be involved. One person may fill more than one role. If you’re looking for someone to handle your alliances and partner marketing functions, get in touch with us.
If you’re a larger firm, your sales leader, go-to-market marketing director, and alliances manager should take the company’s business plan and distill it down. Then, review it with anyone in the C-suite who needs to be informed. Finally, share it with the go-to-market team, the partner marketing team, and the Salesforce Practice team.
Sample SI V2MOM
The V2MOM below is for a fictional SI firm. Any resemblance to an existing firm is purely coincidental.
VISION - To be the #1 Level II Specialist SI firm for Marketing for Medical Devices
VALUES - Clarity in Expectations, Integrity in All Work, Digital-First, Always the Best Outcome
METHODS - achieve and maintain minimum 30 certifications, 100% certification across the company, CSAT of 4.6+, complete & record 20 successful implementations in marketing specialization
OBSTACLES - need dedicated resource to partnership, internal comms, util, & change management around certification
MEASURES - CSAT, # of successful implementations, # of new customer logos, # certifications, # specializations
If you still aren’t sure how to create your V2MOM, check out this Trailhead Module, Organizational Alignment (V2MOM).
Preparing for Success in the Salesforce Ecosystem
At bloomly, we want to help our clients understand the Salesforce ecosystem so they can make strategic partner marketing decisions. We believe that with a clear understanding, vision, and execution plan, any firm can have a successful partnership with Salesforce.
That’s why we love the V2MOM framework. It provides the clarity your business needs to get the most from your Salesforce partner channel.
If you’d like to learn more about how bloomly can help you stand out in the Salesforce ecosystem, set up an introductory call today.
The V2MOM framework is outlined and described in Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff's book - Trailblazer. The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change.