---

name: traction-partnership-sales description: Plan business development, sales, and affiliate traction experiments from Traction. Use when testing partnerships, direct sales conversations, outbound lists, affiliate programs, channel partners, or revenue-oriented startup acquisition channels. license: MIT compatibility: Codex, Claude Code, and other Agent Skills-compatible clients. metadata: version: "0.1.0" displayName: Traction Partnership Sales category: Marketing tags: traction,sales,business-development,affiliate-marketing,partnerships

Traction Partnership Sales

Use this skill when growth depends on direct human channels: partnerships, sales, channel deals, or affiliates.

Source Traceability

Primary source: Traction, chapters 17-19 and the appendix. Authoring notes: converted lines 2287-2703 and 3353-3358.

Channel Options

• Business development: create strategic relationships that benefit both parties.
• Sales: directly convert prospects into paying customers and learn from the conversation.
• Affiliate programs: motivate third parties to promote the product with a clear payout and onboarding path.

Workflow

1. Choose the commercial channel and target segment.
2. Define the mutual value proposition.
3. Build a small target list.
4. Write a conversation or outreach script.
5. Track meetings, objections, conversion, and customer quality.
6. Decide whether the channel can scale or should remain a learning channel.

Output Format

# Partnership/Sales Traction Plan

## Channel
- Channel:
- Target:
- Offer:
- Desired outcome:

## Target List
| Prospect/Partner Type | Why Fit | Outreach Angle | Next Step |
|-----------------------|---------|----------------|-----------|

## Conversation Plan
- Opening:
- Discovery questions:
- Proof:
- Ask:

## Metrics
| Metric | Target |
|--------|--------|

## Decision Rules
- Double down:
- Iterate:
- Kill:

Quality Bar

• Do not confuse a vague partnership idea with a deal path.
• Include both sides of value for BD.
• Treat sales objections as product and positioning data.
• Onboard affiliates personally before expecting performance.