They say one of the keys to professional satisfaction is feeling a part of something bigger than yourself. So, whenever I need a quick jolt of motivation, I head on over to the Drift Solutions Partners directory and count up the company names.
The directory currently features nearly three dozen agencies, and I’m proud of our partnership with each and every one.
Browsing the partner directory reminds me that Drift isn’t just another marketing tool but the center of a community of people and organizations dedicated to building businesses and accelerating revenue through exceptional, personalized customer experiences.
But putting myself in a Drift customer’s shoes — your shoes, perhaps — I can also see why such a huge (and growing!) list of partners might be just a tiny bit overwhelming.
Drift users turn to Drift Solutions Partners (often at the recommendation of one of our excellent Customer Success Managers) for support and guidance when they lack the internal resources to get the most out of their Drift implementations.
It may be that you need help executing your Conversational Marketing strategy within your Drift portal. Or perhaps you’ve run into some integration issues with your existing tech stack. Or maybe you recognize the potential of Conversational Sales, but you need strategic assistance mapping it to your specific target buyer’s journey.
Or all of the above.
Regardless of your challenge, there’s a Drift Solutions Partner out there with the knowledge, experience, and capabilities to help you. The question is, how can you be sure the partners you’re evaluating meet the minimum threshold of competence needed to help your business succeed with Drift?
Today, I’m excited to introduce a new way for Drift partners to prove their qualifications to Drift customers like you: the official Drift Solutions Partner Certification.
What Is Drift Solutions Partner Certification?
Drift Solutions Partner Certification is the latest member of our certification library, joining Conversational Sales, Conversational Marketing, Playbook Basics, and Virtual Events certification.
However, unlike those other certifications, Solutions Partner Certification is the only one that is awarded to an organization rather than an individual user.
(Partners: I’ve unlocked a special certification section just for you within Drift Insider. If you don’t have access and want it, please let me know.)
Very soon, you’ll start seeing Solutions Partner Certification badges showing up on agency websites, email sign-offs, and LinkedIn profiles. Here’s a quick overview of how they earned it:
- The partner organization was able to demonstrate they had one or more certified users in: Conversational Marketing, Conversational Sales, and Drift Playbook Basics.
- The partner was able to demonstrate they had one or more users complete our curriculum of partner-specific content, including classes on onboarding new Drift customers (helping you get started), delivering ongoing optimization services (keeping the momentum going), and co-marketing and co-selling with Drift (working alongside Drift’s team on your behalf).
- The agency has passed an assessment exam testing their ability to apply their collective knowledge from the training towards helping Drift customers succeed.
Just a note on the certification content itself: We didn’t pull it out of thin air.
We built the curriculum based on the struggles, triumphs, and insights of partners around the world who have generously shared their experiences with the Drift community. Certified partners learn methodologies that have proven themselves in practice with Drift customers like you.
(Check out my ongoing series of partner profiles for examples of how Drift partners get results for their clients.)
Why Should You Look for a Certified Drift Solutions Partner?
We created the Solutions Partner Certification program to take some of the uncertainty out of choosing a competent Drift partner to help your business with your Drift implementation.
Think of the Solutions Partner Certification badge like the diploma on the wall of your doctor’s office. It demonstrates that its holder has undergone the necessary training and possesses the fundamental knowledge and skill to help you solve your problems and achieve your goals.
I’m not saying that all certified Drift partners are the same (any more than all doctors are the same). But there are certain baseline qualities you can expect all certified partners to share:
- The agency is fully versed in the foundational methodologies of Conversational Marketing and Conversational Sales and knows how to plan, build, and optimize playbooks in Drift. Remember, to earn Solutions Partner Certification, they had also to achieve certification in all three of these areas.
- The agency is prepared to function as a seamless value-added extension of the Drift team you’ve come to trust and the Drift experience you’ve grown to love. The examples, templates, and best practices included across the partner-specific training ensure that, from your perspective, working with the Drift team and working with a partner is one and the same.
In short, Drift Solutions Partner certification is the new gold standard for Drift partners. All certified partners have our stamp of approval.
Certifications Make a Difference! Here’s the Proof:
As you know, we won’t launch anything here at Drift without the numbers to back it up. Our internal data (revealed here publically for the first time) shows that those who invest in Drift training in their areas of focus are generally more successful than those who do not:
- A Drift customer with at least one certified user in their account captures 25% more leads with Drift than a customer with no certified users in their account.
- A Drift customer with at least one certified user books twice as many meetings with Drift as a non-certified account.
- A Drift customer with at least one certified user influences 50% more pipeline with Drift than a non-certified account.
If you can’t spare the time or resources for Drift training and certification within your own organization, partnering with a certified Drift Solutions Partner is a way to get these performance increases for yourself. Working with a certified Drift Solutions Partner grants your business the transformative power of four separate Drift certifications.
Many certified Drift Solutions Partners will have dozens of users certified in the foundational Drift training courses — meaning nearly every single person who helps with your Drift implementation or strategy will be an expert user.
4 Reasons to Work with a Drift Certified Partner
So in summary, why should you work with a Drift Certified Partner? It boils down to these four reasons:
- Certified Partners have demonstrated they have users who understand the fundamentals of Conversational Marketing, Conversational Sales, and Drift Playbook Basics, as well as how to function as an extension of the Drift team.
- Certified Partners are required to learn methodologies that have proven themselves in practice with Drift customers like you.
- Our customer success data has shown that Drift users who have completed training in Drift Insider (such as the Solutions Partner Certification and/or its pre-requisites) are typically more successful using Drift users who have not.
- You can be sure that Certified Partners you’re evaluating have been tested on their ability to meet the minimum threshold of competence needed to help businesses like yours succeed with Drift.
Last stop, finding a Certified Drift Solutions Partner that’s right for you.
Find a Certified Drift Solutions Partner
I began telling our partners about the new certification program this month, and I can report a few of them have already completed it, like the folks over at ROI DNA, the first of Drift’s Solutions Partners to achieve this new certification. Check out their customer success story on the Drift blog here — this is a great example of the kinds of results Certified Drift Solutions Partners can produce for companies like yours. Several more are well on their way!
Be on the lookout for more announcements of newly Certified Drift Solutions Partners as their teams complete our training curriculum over the weeks ahead.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for help right away, check out our partner directory or speak with your Customer Success Manager.
(And again, Drift Partners, please let me know if you have any questions about the certification. I’ll also be sharing more details and program updates with you in Drift’s monthly Partner Newsletter. If you’re not subscribed and want to be, send me an email here.)
Interested in working with a Drift Partner? Check out our directory here.
