What is a Close partner?

What types of Close partners are there?

In its partner program (opens in a new tab), Close names several roles. For you as a customer, these are the most relevant:

• Solutions Partners: implement Close for customers. CRM Kraft is a Tier 3 Solutions Partner, the highest tier in the Close partner program.
• Affiliates: recommend Close.
• Technology Partners: build products or integrations around Close.

What does a Close partner actually do?

That depends on the partner. In the Close directory, the listed services range from migration and onboarding to integrations, consulting, training and development.

Is a Close partner an employee of Close?

No. Partners have to make clear in how they present themselves that they are independent of Close. You hire the partner for the consulting; the software comes from Close.

Set up Close CRM yourself or hire a Close partner?

If you sell on your own, have no team and only need Close to call your own leads, you can do the setup yourself. In that case, that is often all it takes.

That changes as soon as setters and closers are involved. A Close partner sets up Close CRM around your sales process: pipelines, metrics, follow-ups and upsell should fit together from day one, not as an afterthought you piece together months later. That is exactly what most people who set it up themselves overlook: later, they are rarely missing just one field. They are missing what nobody thought about once the first problem was solved.

For a sales team, the sensible decision is therefore to hand it off. The owner and the sales manager can then focus on training, call analysis and marketing.

The two paths are compared side by side in Set up Close CRM yourself or hire a partner.