⚠️ This article is for Preferred or soon-to-be Preferred Sellers. Becoming a Preferred Builtifirst Seller is currently invite-only.
If you're a new Builtfirst seller & looking for a setup guide, refer to our Seller Onboarding Guides here.
How it Works
Preferred Sellers show up in our Catalog where marketplace owners (partners) can discover your business and available offers. There are a few ways these partners can engage with vendors that have reached preferred status:
Adding your offer to their marketplace: The easiest, most-common method. You create an offer broadly available to all Builtfirst marketplaces or certain groups and they add it to their community.
Upload a Deal: Partners can upload a deal and its details on your behalf. They will take responsibility for working with you to keep those details up-to-date.
Contact: You or a teammate can be listed as a contact for partners to message directly in-platform via the Inbox. These contacts will receive an email notification and can reply to marketplace owners directly in-app.
Here's an example of what preferred seller Zendesk looks like to marketplace owners in the Catalog:
Your vendor profile will appear similarly as a Preferred Seller.
Getting Started
This process takes around 30 minutes from start to finish. Here’s a step-by-step:
Create your account here if you haven't already.
If your company already has a Builtfirst Seller account, an existing admin can send you a team member invitation.
Create your offer(s) using this article: Creating & Managing Offers In Builtfirst: Seller Guide
Some important recommendations as you go:
Estimated Savings: This is an optional but highly recommended field as it makes your offer stand out. If savings amounts range, specify the best-case scenario with an "Up to" savings amount.
If you'll have founder redeem your discount(s) via a landing page: Keep your page generic and avoid using Builtfirst branding, as it can cause confusion for startups in a white-labeled marketplace.
Restrictions: You have lots of restriction/segmentation options, but we advise that most sellers DO NOT utilize the Other Restrictions section for deals, as it will hide your offer from most audiences.
Instead, we recommend adding any details about restrictions in the Special Instructions box under Redemption Method.
And that's it! Just like with "regular" offers, marketplace owners have the option to add yours to their marketplace.
Going Live as Preferred & Maintaining Preferred Status
Once your global offer is live, marketplace owners will get an email notification letting them know it's in the Catalog.
See an example of that email below:
⚠️ In order to maintain Preferred status, you'll need to respond to prospective startup leads and partners within 3 business days.
Now You're Preferred: Next Steps
It's up to Partners to add your deal to their marketplace via their Catalog.
You might be wondering at this point, "Who will add my offer? How do I get involved in this process?"
An effective way to determine who's partnering with you:
Add a form field (or just ask): When a startup fills out your application form add a text field asking which partner they came from. Or if startups contact you via email, ask them.
Share your partner list: Send Builtfirst's general manager, Michael Julve (michael.julve@appdirect.com), a list of your current partners and he'll let you know who's already on the platform. As you continue working with more business leaders/VCs, reach out to find out if they use Builtfirst to list offers.
Driving More Engagement
There are several crucial factors that will determine the performance of your offer with marketplace owners and their founders (startups, portfolio companies, etc):
Brand recognition: How well-known and relevant is your offer to startups?
Partner relationships: Related to brand recognition — how much comarketing and referrals are your partners driving? We've found that partnerships follow the 80/20 rule, where the top 20% of your partners often refer 80% of referrals.
Offer structure: Offers that are low-commitment and aggressive perform the best. For more insight, see our Tips on Creating Offers.
Ease of redemption: The easier it is for a startup to redeem your offer, the more likely they are to convert. Self-serve performs best, but a quick email response can also be effective. Waiting for a rep to reply and schedule a demo creates a higher barrier to entry and doesn't perform as well.
Our recommendation to drive more engagement is to have a dedicated partnerships manager or marketing specialist facilitate outreach to potential & existing partners to build awareness and relationships.
During outreach, ask if they use a marketplace solution like Builtfirst. If you find out a partner does use Builtfirst, let them know they can easily add your offer by searching in their Catalog.