The news is out: Zendesk is retiring Sell, its platform for custom apps. If you've been using it to wrangle your partner program, you’re now officially on the hunt for a new home.
Let's be honest: this is a good thing.
Using a customer support tool to manage a sales channel was always a clunky workaround. It forced your partners into a system designed to solve problems and not create opportunities. Now, it's your chance to finally treat partners like a real growth channel.
The Old Way Was Broken Anyway
Using a support tool for partner management forces everyone into bad habits. It creates a system where:
- Partners Are Treated Like Problems: When a partner submits a hot new deal, the last place it should go is a support queue. It signals that they aren't a priority.
- Deals Simply Vanish: A deal registered in a support tool has zero connection to your actual sales pipeline. You can't forecast it, and your sales team is flying blind.
- Your Day Is Wasted on Manual Work: A partner emails a lead. You manually copy-paste the details into a spreadsheet, then copy-paste them again into your CRM. It's a slow and tedious process.
Your Upgrade Path: A Real PRM That Talks to Pipedrive
It’s time for a real system. A Partner Relationship Management (PRM) platform is built for one thing: making it incredibly simple for partners to sell for you. The solution brings a new way of working, powered by a deep, two-way integration with Pipedrive.
How It Works: The Technical Breakdown
The Journeybee and Pipedrive integration is designed to bridge the CRM-PRM gap, creating a single, unified environment for your sales and partner teams.
- Two-Way Object Sync: This is the core of the integration. It establishes an automated, real-time sync between Journeybee and Pipedrive. When a partner submits a new lead or deal in their Journeybee portal, the corresponding Lead, Contact, or Deal is instantly created or updated in Pipedrive, with all custom fields mapped correctly. This eliminates double data entry and ensures everyone works from the same information.
- Embedded Partner Info (Pipedrive Widget): The Journeybee widget is embedded directly into your Pipedrive interface. When a sales rep views a Deal, the widget displays all the relevant partner information: who sourced it, their contact details, and a direct link to their dedicated Partner Room for co-selling resources. Your team gets full context without ever leaving Pipedrive.
- A Frictionless Partner Portal: Journeybee serves as the professional, partner-facing front-end. Partners access a secure, personalised portal. Here, they can access curated content like marketing collateral and sales playbooks, register new deals, and—most importantly—see the real-time status of those deals as they move through your Pipedrive pipeline.
Time for an Upgrade
Moving from a support tool to a dedicated PRM is a strategy change. This integration fundamentally improves how you work. See how:
- You'll Sell Faster with a Single Source of Truth. When your sales team and partners see the exact same deal status in real-time, the endless email updates and status-check calls disappear. Deals get to your sales team instantly and move faster through the pipeline. Plus, you no longer need additional CRM seats for your partner team.
- Your Partners Will Be Happier and More Engaged. A transparent, professional experience makes partners want to bring you more deals. When they can see their deals progressing, it motivates them to invest more in your brand.
- You Can Finally Prove Your ROI. Because all partner activity is tied directly to your Pipedrive deal data, you can generate precise, partner-specific analytics. You can finally answer critical questions with confidence: How much revenue is each partner actually influencing? Which partner types deliver the highest close rates?
Installation is Simple
Connecting Journeybee and Pipedrive is a straightforward process that takes minutes.
- Connect: Navigate to the Integrations section in Journeybee and select Pipedrive.
- Authorise: You'll be securely redirected to Pipedrive to approve the connection. This automatically adds the necessary custom fields to your account.
- Configure: Choose which deals, leads, and contacts you want to sync.
Zendesk made the choice for you. Now you can make the right one - see how Journeybee's Pipedrive integration can transform your partner program.