If you’re responsible for partnerships, sales, or revenue—especially if you're juggling dozens of potential partners—chances are your CRM is a mess of contacts, companies, and half-baked opportunities. Sorting real, high-value partner opportunities from the noise is tough. This guide is for people who want practical, no-nonsense ways to use Reveal to make sense of their CRM data and actually find partner deals worth chasing.
No fluff, no “transformative” visions—just steps that save time and help you avoid wild goose chases.
Why bother? The problem with CRM partner data
Let’s be honest: most CRMs are graveyards of stale leads and “maybe someday” accounts. Even if your team logs everything, it’s almost impossible to spot which accounts are actually worth pursuing through partners. Here’s what makes it hard:
- Data is scattered: Contacts, companies, and deals aren’t always linked up.
- No context: You don’t know which accounts are already talking to your partners—or if they care.
- Dead weight: A lot of “opportunities” are just leftovers from old campaigns.
The goal here isn’t to chase every possible partner intro, but to zero in on the handful that have a real shot.
Step 1: Connect Reveal to your CRM (and don’t overthink it)
First things first: get Reveal connected to your CRM. Reveal integrates with major CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and a few others. Here’s what actually matters:
- Use a sandbox first if you’re worried about permissions or data leaks, but the integration is mostly read-only and pretty safe.
- Map your fields properly. Don’t just click “next.” Take a minute to double-check that account names, domains, and owner fields are aligned—Reveal matches on these.
- Skip syncing junk. If you have a “Test” or “Garbage” account segment, don’t sync it. You don’t need more clutter.
Pro tip: If your CRM data is a total disaster (duplicates everywhere, inconsistent fields), take an hour to clean up the worst offenders before connecting. It’ll save you headaches later.
Step 2: Set up your partner network (choose quality over quantity)
Now Reveal will prompt you to invite or connect with partners. This is where most people go wrong—don’t just add every company you’ve ever emailed. Focus on:
- Active partners: Who actually shares leads, attends calls, or closes deals with you?
- Complementary products: Ignore “wouldn’t it be nice” partners and stick with companies that really fit your ICP.
- Partner willingness: If they’re not already using Reveal, don’t waste time chasing them—pick partners who actually want to collaborate.
You can always expand later. The point is to avoid signal loss from a bloated network.
Step 3: Sync and refresh your CRM data
Reveal only works as well as the data you feed it. Once you connect:
- Run a full sync the first time. This pulls all your CRM accounts and matches them against your partners’ accounts.
- Schedule regular refreshes (weekly or biweekly is fine for most teams).
- Flag stale data: If you see a ton of “unknown” companies, it’s usually because of bad domain data in your CRM. Clean it up when you notice patterns.
If your CRM is huge, the first sync can take a while. Don’t panic—let it run overnight if you have to.
Step 4: Identify overlap—where the real opportunities are hiding
This is where Reveal starts to earn its keep. The platform shows you which accounts in your CRM overlap with your partners’ accounts. But here’s what you actually want to look for:
- Open opportunities where your partner is already engaged. If your partner has a live deal or a strong relationship, you’re not starting cold.
- Your target accounts that are already customers of your partner. This means they trust your partner and are more likely to take an intro.
- Accounts your partner has recently closed. They’re warm, not cold, and your partner’s credibility is high.
What to ignore:
Don’t waste time on overlaps where your partner has no meaningful touchpoint. Just because two CRMs list the same company doesn’t mean there’s a real opportunity.
Pro tip:
Use filters. Reveal lets you filter by account stage, owner, industry, and more. Spend time setting these up—it’ll save you from chasing dead leads.
Step 5: Prioritize—don’t chase every overlap
Not all overlaps are created equal. Here’s how to spot the high-value ones:
- Deal size and fit: Go after accounts with big deal potential and a clear fit for both companies.
- Partner strength: Prioritize where your partner has an actual champion or decision-maker—not just a name in their CRM.
- Timing: Focus on accounts in active buying cycles. If the deal closed last year, you’re too late.
Reveal has scoring, but don’t blindly trust it—use your common sense and gut checks.
What to skip:
Don’t get distracted by vanity metrics (“We have 400 overlaps!”). Ten high-quality overlaps will do more for your pipeline than 200 cold, mismatched ones.
Step 6: Take action—request warm intros, not cold emails
Here’s where most teams fall flat: they spot overlap and then… do nothing. Or worse, they send cold emails “on behalf of” a partner. Do this instead:
- Request a warm intro directly via Reveal. This gives your partner context and makes it easy for them to actually help.
- Share context: Don’t just say “Can you intro us?” Add a line or two on why the prospect is a good fit. Make your partner’s life easy.
- Track responses: Use Reveal’s dashboard to see which partners actually make intros. Double down on those relationships.
What doesn’t work:
Spamming partners with intro requests on every overlap. Be selective and respectful, or you’ll end up ignored.
Step 7: Measure and iterate—what’s actually working?
After a few weeks, take a hard look at the results:
- Which partners actually respond? If only one or two are engaged, focus your energy there.
- Which overlaps led to real conversations or deals? Don’t fool yourself with “activity”; look for outcomes.
- Are your CRM and Reveal data drifting out of sync? Set a recurring calendar reminder to clean up both.
Pro tip:
Have regular check-ins with your top partners. Share what’s working, swap feedback, and agree on next steps. It’s not magic, but it keeps things moving.
What to ignore (and what not to stress about)
- Don’t get lost in dashboards. Fancy charts are fine, but they don’t close deals.
- Don’t treat Reveal as a silver bullet. It surfaces opportunities, but you still have to do the work.
- Don’t overcomplicate your filters. Start basic—industry, deal stage, region—and refine as you go.
Wrap-up: Keep it simple, keep it real
You don’t need a 20-step “partner playbook” or an army of ops people to get real value from Reveal. Focus on clean data, a handful of active partners, and overlaps that actually make sense. Ignore the hype, skip the vanity metrics, and iterate as you go.
The best partner opportunities aren’t hiding—they’re just buried under a pile of noise. Use your tools to cut through, stay honest about what’s working, and don’t be afraid to prune what isn’t. That’s how you actually win with Reveal.