If you’ve ever tried to get sales and partnerships teams truly working together, you know it’s like herding cats. Everyone wants more deals, but nobody’s quite sure who’s talking to which account, or what intros are actually happening. If you’re using Partnered to wrangle this chaos, you’re on the right track—but only if you set it up right.
This guide is for people who want less confusion and more closed deals. We’ll walk through exactly how to map your accounts and contacts in Partnered, what to watch out for, and how to avoid the usual pitfalls. No hand-waving, no jargon—just the steps that actually matter.
Why Mapping Matters (And What Happens If You Don’t)
First, a reality check. If your account and contact mapping is sloppy, you’ll waste time chasing the same leads, step on each other’s toes, and miss out on warm introductions. Or worse: you’ll make your partners look bad because you hit up their contacts without context.
Clean mapping in Partnered means:
- Faster, more relevant partner intros
- No embarrassing double pitches
- Real visibility into who knows who (and who’s just pretending)
If you skip this, you might as well stick to spreadsheets.
Step 1: Get Your CRM in Order (Don’t Skip This)
Mapping in Partnered is only as good as your source of truth—usually Salesforce, HubSpot, or whatever CRM you’re using. Garbage in, garbage out.
Do this before you even log in to Partnered:
- Deduplicate your records. Make sure you don’t have the same company under five different names (“ACME Corp”, “Acme,” “Acme Corporation”... you get the idea).
- Standardize your fields. Make sure account owner, contact email, and account name are all consistent.
- Remove stale contacts. If someone left their company two years ago, don’t invite them to the party.
Pro tip: If your CRM is a mess, fix that first. Partnered can’t magically clean it up for you.
Step 2: Connect Your CRM to Partnered
Now, log in to Partnered and connect your CRM. This part isn’t rocket science, but there are a few things to watch for.
How to connect:
- Go to the integrations/settings area in Partnered.
- Choose your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.).
- Authorize access—make sure you have the right permissions.
- Double-check which objects and fields will sync (accounts, contacts, owners, etc.).
What to watch out for:
- Partial syncs are a recipe for confusion. Don’t just sync some accounts “to test it out”—that’s how things slip through the cracks.
- Permissions matter. If you don’t have access to all the right fields, mapping breaks down fast.
Honest take: The initial sync might take a while if you’ve got a big CRM. Go grab a coffee, but don’t close your laptop—sometimes you’ll need to approve more permissions.
Step 3: Map Your Accounts—The Right Way
Once your CRM data is in, it’s time to actually map your accounts in Partnered. This is where most teams get lazy. Don’t just click “import all”—be intentional.
How to do it:
- Select which accounts to map. Focus on active opportunities and strategic targets. Not every tiny account needs to be mapped.
- Match accounts between you and your partners. Partnered will suggest matches based on domain or company name, but always review these—auto-matching isn’t perfect.
- Resolve duplicates or mismatches. When in doubt, check LinkedIn or company domains to see if “Acme Inc” and “Acme Corporation” are the same.
- Assign account owners. Make sure each mapped account is tied to the right person on your team.
What actually works:
- Quarterly reviews. Set a reminder to review mappings every quarter. Company names change, ownership shifts, and your list of targets will evolve.
- Don’t map everything. The more noise, the less signal. Only map what matters to your team.
Ignore this: Don’t get sucked into “mapping for mapping’s sake.” If nobody cares about a particular segment, skip it.
Step 4: Map Contacts—Don’t Just Dump Your Whole List
Contacts are where the magic happens. This is how you find real warm intros through your partners. But dumping every contact you have into Partnered is a sure way to annoy everyone.
How to do it:
- Filter your contacts. Focus on decision-makers, influencers, or anyone who’s actually relevant to your sales process.
- Review suggested matches. Partnered will look for overlaps between your contacts and your partners’. Don’t assume these are always right—review before accepting.
- Flag sensitive contacts. If someone’s sensitive or off-limits (for legal, personal, or strategic reasons), most platforms let you mark them as “private.”
- Assign contacts to the right accounts. Sounds basic, but double-check. This is where most mapping mistakes happen.
Pro tip: Less is more. People hate spam, and your partners won’t thank you for dumping a thousand irrelevant contacts into their lap.
What to ignore: You don’t need to map every intern, junior staffer, or info@ email address. Focus on quality, not volume.
Step 5: Review and Confirm Your Mapping
Before you start acting on mapped accounts and contacts, double-check your work. This is your last chance to catch mistakes before they go public.
Checklist:
- Are all key accounts mapped to the right partners?
- Do account owners and contact owners match reality?
- Any obvious duplicates or mismatches?
- Are sensitive contacts/private accounts marked accordingly?
If you spot issues, Partnered usually lets you fix them directly in the UI—don’t ignore warning flags.
Honest take: This is the boring part, but most mapping disasters happen because someone skipped the review step. Five minutes here can save you weeks of headaches.
Step 6: Put Mapping to Work—Align on Outreach and Warm Intros
Now you’ve got your mapped accounts and contacts, what’s next? This is where Partnered actually pays off—if you use it right.
How to actually use mapping:
- See overlaps. Partnered will show you which accounts your partners also have relationships with. These are your best bets for warm intros.
- Request introductions. Use the platform to ask for an intro—don’t just cold email the contact because “Hey, they’re mapped.” Be specific about the ask.
- Track outcomes. Follow up on intro requests, mark deals as progressing or closed, and keep your partners in the loop.
What works:
- Be respectful of your partners’ relationships. Just because someone’s mapped doesn’t mean you have free rein.
- Limit your asks. Don’t flood your partner with intro requests—pick the best opportunities.
- Share context. When requesting an intro, make it easy for your partner to help you (short blurb, why it’s relevant, etc.).
What doesn’t: Blindly blasting every mapped contact or treating Partnered as a magic lead generator. It’s a tool, not a silver bullet.
Step 7: Keep It Clean—Ongoing Maintenance
Mapping isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it deal. Accounts move, people leave, priorities change.
Maintenance tips:
- Quarterly cleanups. Set a recurring calendar event—review mappings, remove dead accounts, update ownership.
- Encourage feedback. If someone on your team notices a mapping issue, fix it right away.
- Stay synced. Make sure your CRM integration is still running—sometimes permissions or field changes break the sync.
Honest take: If you let mapping get stale, you’ll be back to confusion in no time. Make maintenance part of your sales ops routine.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
If there’s one thing to take away, it’s this: Don’t overcomplicate mapping. Start with your most important accounts and contacts, review and update regularly, and focus on quality over quantity. Partnered is a solid tool, but it won’t fix bad habits or messy data.
Get the basics right, keep things simple, and don’t be afraid to adjust as you go. The goal isn’t a perfect spreadsheet—it’s more closed deals with less chaos. That’s real sales alignment.