Meet Butterscotch.

He's a little bigger than this now (he's almost two years old) but it's spring, and all the puppies we've been running into lately on our walks have taken me back in time a bit, to when the story all began. I'll spare you the tale of how we ended up with a puppy in the first place (challenging the idea that parents have free will as the masters of their universe). I'll even spare you the humor of his dragging a broom around the house, biting the air for no apparent reason, and the gnawing of some favorite shoes….all typical puppy fare.

Instead, I'll share the lessons I've contemplated during our late evening walks around the neighborhood (calm and relaxing now, after many months in which the leash served as a focal point for some pretty bizarre acrobatics).

Mostly, while you can nurture and build loyalty with your partners, let's dispel the notion that without continual care and feeding, partners rarely demonstrate the unconditional love we receive from our canine friends.

• Well-fed partners rarely bite the hand that feeds them.
  Providing leads to your partners is a key ingredient to feeding their loyalty. We don't mean the leads that your direct sales force doesn't want; rather, leads that have been pre-qualified for a potential fit to your partner's solution. While partners shouldn't depend solely on their vendors to create demand, passing quality leads to partners demonstrates your respect and commitment to helping them grow their business. In turn, you should expect your partners to be accountable for reporting back to you on each lead's outcome. Or, perhaps, said better….
  
  If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
  Mark Twain
  
  
• While man's best friend may be content with table scraps, a sustainable partnership is contingent on profitability.
  Ensuring partner profitability is an ongoing task and takes many forms. As margins dissipate along with the natural evolution of the technology life cycle, it's important to work alongside your partners to identify ways for them to add value, extend reach into new markets, or even re-evaluate their business model. Earning the role of a trusted advisor demonstrates that you're in this together. As the Cloud has become a viable distribution medium for many solutions, for instance, some partners will welcome your help in exploring managed services models, or in partnering with others to deliver complementary offerings. So remember…
  
  Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.
  Ann Landers
  
  
• A partner's respect and loyalty must be built and then reinforced regularly.
  We joke about the seeming "dog years" of our industry, but there's no question that building productive partnerships takes time and requires investment from both sides. Most partnerships follow a trajectory that requires a fair amount of partner readiness, enablement, and development before the first sale is ever realized. While "bluebirds" fly in now and again, short-circuiting the development process isn't sustainable, and almost certainly results in dissatisfaction. So, keep in mind that…
  
  Life is a series of dogs.
  George Carlin