30-60-90 day plan for partnerships managers
On this page
- What does a partnerships manager own that a business development manager does not?
- What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
- Which partner rules and marketplace terms does a new partnerships manager check?
- What should the partner inventory and scorecard contain?
- Which numbers should a new partnerships manager baseline?
- What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
- A filled example
- How should the hiring manager use this plan in the final interview?
- What should the hiring manager ask at the check-ins?
- What the hiring manager owes a new partnerships manager
- Common mistakes
- Adapting the plan
- Questions people ask
A 30-60-90 day plan for a new partnerships manager should spend the first 30 days building an inventory of every partner, agreement and partner-sourced deal and learning how deals are registered and credited; days 31-60 tiering partners, writing joint business plans with the few that produce and fixing deal registration with sales; and days 61-90 delivering a partner scorecard, program changes and a two-quarter plan. As of November 2026, two outside rule sets shape the work: the marketplaces' own fees (AWS Marketplace charges 3 percent on SaaS public offers and 1.5 to 3 percent on private offers; Microsoft charges a 3 percent store service fee) and the FTC's Endorsement Guides, which expect companies to guide and monitor the affiliates and partners who promote them.
This plan is for the head of partnerships, sales or marketing leader, or founder hiring a partnerships manager to run an existing program of technology, reseller, referral or affiliate partners. If the seat starts a channel from nothing, the 30-60-90 day plan for business development managers fits better and covers outreach, antitrust and gift rules; if it manages customer accounts, see the 30-60-90 day plan for account managers; and co-marketing launches sit with the 30-60-90 day plan for product marketing managers. Nothing here is legal advice.
What does a partnerships manager own that a business development manager does not?
| Area | Partnerships manager | Business development manager | Account manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting point | An existing program: signed partners, agreements, tiers and some partner revenue | A segment or channel with little or no pipeline | A book of customer accounts |
| Main output | Partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline, joint plans, a healthy program | A new motion and first partners | Renewals and expansion |
| Internal role | Runs deal registration, partner credit and enablement with sales and marketing | Sets the first rules of engagement | Works partner deals in their accounts |
| Agreements | Manages renewals, tiers and amendments with legal and finance | Negotiates the first agreements | Customer contracts only |
Write down in week one which partner types the seat covers. A technology partner that builds an integration, a reseller that buys and resells, a referral partner paid a fee and an affiliate paid per sale need different plans, agreements and measures.
What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
30-60-90 day plan — [Name], Partnerships Manager, [company]
Reports to: [head of partnerships / VP sales] Start date: [date]
Program: [N] partners — [technology / reseller / referral / affiliate]
Marketplaces: [AWS / Microsoft / Google Cloud / app stores / none]
Systems: [CRM, partner portal, affiliate platform]
DAYS 1-30 — Inventory, agreements and the deal path
Goals:
- Inventory every partner: agreement, renewal date, tier, margin
or fee, sourced and influenced pipeline, last real activity
- Read the agreements for what the company owes partners:
discounts, exclusivity, notice periods, data sharing, no-hire terms
- Map deal registration: who approves, how fast, how conflicts
are settled, how credit and commission are paid
- Meet sales leaders, the top [10] partners by revenue, legal,
finance and marketing
Deliverables by day 30:
- Partner inventory sorted into active, stalled and signed-only
- Deal registration map with the three biggest failure points
DAYS 31-60 — Tier, plan, fix
Goals:
- Propose tiers on evidence: registered deals, certified people,
integrations live, customer outcomes
- Joint business plans with the top [5] partners: target
accounts, enablement, co-marketing, quarterly goals
- Fix deal registration with sales ops: approval within [2]
business days, written conflict rules, CRM fields for credit
- Check partner content and affiliate placements for disclosures
Deliverables by day 60:
- Tier proposal approved; [5] joint plans signed off
- Registration fixes live in the CRM
DAYS 61-90 — Scorecard and program changes
Goals:
- Partner scorecard shared with partners and sales
- Decide on signed-only partners: re-launch, re-tier or exit
per the agreement's terms
- Two-quarter plan: partners to recruit, benefits by tier,
marketplace listings, enablement, budget
Deliverables by day 90:
- Scorecard live; program changes approved
- Two-quarter plan approved by [head of partnerships]
Check-ins: weekly with [manager]; reviews at day 30, 60 and 90.Numbers in brackets are examples. Size them to the number of partners and the length of the sales cycle.
Which partner rules and marketplace terms does a new partnerships manager check?
Stated as of November 2026 from the agencies' and marketplaces' own pages. They are not legal advice; legal should review agreements, fees paid to partners in regulated industries and anything involving foreign partners.
| Area | What the source says | What the partnerships manager checks |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliates and partner endorsements (16 CFR 255.1(d); FTC FAQ) | Advertisers are liable for failing to disclose unexpected material connections and should guide endorsers, monitor them and act on non-compliance; the FTC says "paid link" can be adequate where "affiliate link" alone may not be | Disclosure terms in affiliate and referral agreements, and a periodic check of partner pages, posts and reviews |
| Co-branded email (16 CFR 316.2(m)) | When several companies are advertised in one email, each can be a "sender," unless one is named alone in the "from" line and meets the opt-out and other duties | Which company is the sender on every joint campaign, and whose opt-out list applies |
| Sharing leads or customer data (CCPA regulations, section 7053) | A business that sells or shares personal information with a third party needs an agreement naming the limited, specified purposes and requiring the third party to give the same privacy protection | Data-sharing terms in partner agreements, and whether lead swaps are a "sale" or "sharing" that needs opt-out handling |
| Third-party due diligence (DOJ Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, updated September 2024) | Prosecutors look for risk-based due diligence on agents, consultants and distributors, a known business reason for each, compensation in line with the work, and ongoing monitoring | Due diligence and annual certifications for resellers and agents, especially outside the United States |
| No-hire clauses between partners (FTC and DOJ guidelines, January 16, 2025) | The guidelines address no-poach and non-solicit agreements between companies; as of November 2026 the FTC's legal library lists them with no withdrawal notice | Any clause stopping either company from hiring the other's staff goes to legal before it is signed or renewed |
| AWS Marketplace fees (AWS seller guide) | Effective January 5, 2024: SaaS public offers 3%; private offers 3% under $1M, 2% from $1M to under $10M, 1.5% at $10M or more, all renewals 1.5%; channel partner private offers add 0.5% | Deal economics for marketplace private offers and resellers using them |
| Microsoft Marketplace fees (Microsoft Learn) | A 3% standard store service fee on transact offers; a 50% discount on the fee can apply to qualifying private offer renewals | Which offers transact through the marketplace and how fees affect partner margins |
The guide to no-poach agreements and antitrust law explains the hiring risk in more depth. It matters for partnerships because integration and services partners often work side by side with the company's own staff.
What should the partner inventory and scorecard contain?
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Agreement, start date, renewal date, notice period | When terms can change, and what exiting requires |
| Partner type and tier | Which benefits and margins the partner gets today |
| Commercial terms: discount, referral fee, revenue share, marketplace use | What a deal through this partner really earns |
| Registered deals, sourced pipeline and closed revenue, last two quarters | Whether the partner produces |
| Influenced deals, on an agreed definition | Value that does not show as sourced, if defined in advance |
| Certified people, integrations live, joint customers | Capability behind the tier |
| Last joint activity and partner contact | Whether the relationship is alive |
Agree the definition of "influenced" with sales leadership before the first scorecard. Without it, every partner claims influence on every deal, and the scorecard loses credibility with both sides. The 30-60-90 day plan for marketing analysts shows how to write metric definitions that hold.
Which numbers should a new partnerships manager baseline?
| Measure (examples only) | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Partners with a registered deal in the last two quarters, against all signed partners | How much of the program is real |
| Partner-sourced pipeline and win rate against direct deals | Whether partner deals are as good as direct ones |
| Days to approve a deal registration | Whether partners trust the process |
| Registration conflicts and how they were settled | Channel conflict with the sales team |
| Days from signing to a new partner's first registered deal | Onboarding and enablement quality |
| Marketplace transactions and fees paid | The real cost of selling through each route |
What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
| Checkpoint | On track | Worth a direct conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | Inventory complete and sorted; agreements read; registration failure points named | A recruiting push for new partners before the existing ones are understood |
| Day 60 | Tiers based on evidence; joint plans with top partners; registration fixed | Tiers set by partner size or seniority; credit rules still argued deal by deal |
| Day 90 | Scorecard live; decisions made on signed-only partners; a costed plan | Long partner lists presented as success; no view of fees or margins |
A filled example
Partnerships manager: Theo Lindqvist (invented), joining a data integration software company with 64 signed partners, reporting to the VP of sales. All details are examples.
Day 30: Only 11 partners had registered a deal in two quarters. Registrations took a median of nine days to approve, and three partners had stopped registering after losing deals to direct reps. Two reseller agreements contained mutual no-hire clauses nobody had reviewed.
Day 60: New tiers rewarded registered deals and certified engineers rather than signed status. Joint plans with five partners named 120 target accounts. Sales ops moved approvals to two business days with written conflict rules. Legal removed the no-hire clauses at renewal.
Day 90: The scorecard showed partner-sourced deals winning more often than direct deals in two segments. Twenty-two signed-only partners got a final enablement offer under their agreements' terms. The plan moved two large partners' deals to marketplace private offers, with the fees built into the margin model.
How should the hiring manager use this plan in the final interview?
Give every finalist the same brief: a disguised partner list with pipeline by partner, the deal registration rules and one live conflict between a partner and a direct rep. Score the plans with the rubric in how to evaluate a 30-60-90 day plan in an interview. Strong candidates sort the existing program before they recruit, and talk about partner economics, not only partner counts. Questions that test it:
- "Sixty partners are signed and ten produce. What do you do with the other fifty?"
- "A partner registered a deal our rep was already working. How do you decide, and what rule comes out of it?"
- "A top partner wants to resell through a cloud marketplace private offer. What do you check?"
- "How would you define partner-influenced revenue so sales will accept it?"
The interview guide for sales roles covers the role play and pipeline exercise for the earlier rounds.
What should the hiring manager ask at the check-ins?
- Day 30: Which partners are real, and how do you know? What do our agreements commit us to that we are not doing?
- Day 60: Which five partners get our time, and what do their plans promise? How fast are registrations approved now?
- Day 90: What does each tier earn, and what does it cost us? Which partners should we exit, and on what notice?
What the hiring manager owes a new partnerships manager
- Every partner agreement, amendment and commission plan in week one.
- Sales leadership's backing for written registration and conflict rules, including how reps are paid on partner deals.
- A named contact in legal and finance with an agreed turnaround for amendments, marketplace offers and partner payments.
- CRM fields for partner source and influence, set up before the first scorecard.
- Budget for enablement and co-marketing, so tier benefits are real.
Common mistakes
- Recruiting before sorting. New partners join a program whose existing partners have stopped trusting it.
- Counting signatures. Signed partners are not active partners; registered deals are the measure.
- Leaving credit rules unwritten. Every unsettled conflict costs a partner or a rep.
- Ignoring fees. Marketplace, referral and reseller margins can make a partner deal worth less than it looks.
- Unchecked partner promotion. Affiliates and partners who promote without disclosure create risk for the company, not only for them.
Adapting the plan
- Technology and integration partners: weight months two and three toward integrations live, joint customers and listings in partners' own marketplaces; add product and engineering to the stakeholder list.
- Resellers and distributors: add pricing and discount governance, inventory or license reporting, and due diligence on resellers in higher-risk countries.
- Affiliate programs: add the affiliate platform, payout rules, fraud checks and a regular review of affiliate placements for disclosures.
- Healthcare and financial services: referral fees and revenue shares need legal review before they are offered; the business development manager plan lists the federal rules that most often apply.
Questions people ask
What should a partnerships manager do in the first 30 days?
Build an inventory of every partner: the agreement, its renewal date, tier, commission or discount, the pipeline and revenue the partner sourced or influenced, and the last real activity. Read the agreements for obligations the company owes, map how deals are registered and credited, and meet the sales leaders, the top partners and legal. The month ends with an inventory the head of partnerships agrees with and a list of partners that are active, stalled or only signed.
How much do cloud marketplaces charge software sellers?
As of November 2026, AWS Marketplace lists a 3 percent fee for SaaS public offers, and for private offers 3 percent below $1 million of total contract value, 2 percent from $1 million to under $10 million, 1.5 percent at $10 million or more and 1.5 percent on all renewals, with a 0.5 percent uplift for channel partner private offers. Microsoft says it charges a 3 percent standard store service fee on transact offers in its marketplace, with a 50 percent discount available on private offer renewals that qualify.
Do affiliates and partners have to disclose that they are paid to recommend a product?
Yes, when the connection would not be expected. The FTC's Endorsement Guides, revised in 2023, require unexpected material connections to be disclosed, and the FTC says affiliate marketers should disclose the relationship clearly and conspicuously; a label such as "paid link" can be adequate where "affiliate link" alone may not be. The guides also say advertisers should guide their endorsers, monitor them and act on non-compliance. This is not legal advice.
How is a partnerships manager's plan different from a business development manager's?
A business development manager usually opens a new segment or channel from nothing, so the plan builds a thesis and recruits first partners. A partnerships manager usually inherits a program with signed partners, agreements and some revenue, so the plan sorts active partners from inactive ones, fixes deal registration and credit, and builds joint plans and a scorecard with the partners that produce.