ABPM Solution Partners Community Culture

Welcome to the ABPM Community! Whether your company is a new ABPM Solution Partner or you're joining as a new team member in a company that's maintained Solution Partner membership for some time, this page is meant to help you understand the unique culture of the ABPM Solution Partner community and the things you can do to ensure you and your company thrive within that culture.

Your company went through a qualification process in order to be eligible for ABPM Solution Partner membership. This means your organization was enthusiastically recommended by a Primary or Associate (briefing professional) ABPM Member with whom the company recently completed a project or has an ongoing working relationship. In addition, the ABPM team periodically looks at an ABPM Solution Partner company's recently completed projects or work for member briefing programs, as well as activities that show support of the ABPM Community. These actions might include active attendance at conferences, service on committees, demonstrated collaboration with other Solution Partner companies, interest in leading or contributing to conference sessions, and/or serving as a Solution Partner Mentor. The initial and continued vetting ensures a foundation of trust; briefing professionals in the community understand that Solution Partners are familiar with a briefing program team's unique challenges and are interested in - and working with them toward - the best possible outcome for their program.

The ABPM has a Solution Partner Advisory Committee made up of one representative per Solution Partner category that meets regularly and has established the above criteria to ensure that the ABPM Solution Partner Culture be maintained and enhanced where possible. There are a few suggestions committee members often share with new Solution Partners to help them be successful in the community.

• Listen and learn first, sell last: Briefing professionals work every day to help their internal stakeholders build relationships and trust with their customers by helping them solve their business challenges. Those conversations often end in sales but the primary focus is solutions and business relationships. They expect the same from ABPM Solution Partners and, if they feel they are "being sold to", they don't react positively.
• Bring a consistent face (or two) to conferences: As we said above, briefing professionals are relationship and trust people so seeing regular faces that represent your company is important to that long-term relationship. Attending sessions and listening is key as well (see Listen and Learn First above). Learning about their customer's challenges first is what they do, and they expect it from you as well.
• Build relationships with your fellow Solution Partners: Sometimes new Solution Partners focus solely on the briefing professionals in the community and don't realize there's as much value in forming relationships with fellow Solution Partners. Each Solution Partner company brings its own strengths to the table and it's very common that Solution Partners bring fellow members into a project they are working on.

Finally, ABPM has a Solution Partner Mentor program that is meant to support you in your first year as a Solution Partner. You'll receive an email from your mentor in the near future to set a 30-minute meeting with your mentor so you can hear their perspective and ask questions. Then, they'll check in with you via email a few more times during the year. After a couple of years in the membership, if you have interest in serving as a Solution Partner Mentor, just let the ABPM team know!

Again, welcome to ABPM!