The five KPIs that predict revenue
- Active partner count. Active means at least one registered deal per quarter. Signed-but-inactive partners do not count.
- Partner activation rate. Percentage of signed partners that close at least one deal in their first year. Target: 60%+.
- Partner-sourced pipeline. Total open pipeline value attributable to the partner program. Trend it quarterly.
- Registered deal win rate. Percentage of registered deals that close. Target: 25-35% for reseller programs, 35-50% for referral.
- Partner-sourced customer retention. 12-month gross retention of customers acquired through partners. Target: at or above your direct customer retention.
If you track only these five, you have a working partner KPI dashboard.
Secondary KPIs (helpful but not primary)
- Average partner ramp time (signature to first close). Target: under 120 days.
- Certified rep count per partner. Capacity signal.
- MDF utilization vs allocation. Operational efficiency signal.
- Joint marketing activity count. Quarterly. More than one per partner per quarter for active partners.
- Net Partner Score (NPS for partners). Annual.
These help diagnose issues; they do not by themselves drive program decisions.
Vanity KPIs to drop
- Total signed partners. Counts inactive partners, which is the opposite of what you want.
- Portal logins or content downloads. Gameable, weakly correlated with revenue.
- Training hours completed. Process metric, not outcome.
- Marketing impressions on partner content. Awareness metric, not revenue.
- Number of integrations available. Quantity over quality leads to broken integrations.
If a metric does not predict revenue, retention, or capacity, it does not belong on the executive dashboard.
Targets by stage
- Founder-led: 5+ active partners, 1+ closed-won deal in trailing quarter.
- First dedicated hire: 15+ active partners, 60% activation rate, partner-sourced pipeline above 10% of total pipeline.
- Specialized org: 40+ active partners, partner-sourced ARR above 15% of new ARR.
- Enterprise org: 100+ active partners, partner-sourced ARR above 30% of new ARR in target segments.
These are mid-range benchmarks. High-performing programs exceed them; under-performers drift below and risk losing executive support.
Cadence and dashboard format
The KPI dashboard should be one page, updated monthly, reviewed quarterly by the executive team. Each KPI shows current value, trailing four-quarter trend, and target. Commentary section captures the why behind material changes.
One page forces priority. Five-tab dashboards become abandoned ritual. Executive sponsors will read one page; they will not read fifteen.