Partner application review

This playbook reviews one inbound partner application from initial submission through commercial decision, record update, and next-step handoff. It evaluates candidate background, domain alignment, and partnership track requirements against documented tier criteria before recommending an outcome. Unverified applicant statements remain self-reported claims until supported by corroborating records or owner assessment. The process stops at formal outcome recording and initial next-step assignment; it does not negotiate binding partnership contracts, provision production credentials, or launch joint marketing campaigns. When configured partner platforms or CRM systems are temporarily unreachable, the agent retains evaluated records and proposed status updates locally until connectivity is restored or manual entry is assigned to an owner.

• Extract submitted application fields from the intake form in Fillout, including legal organization name, primary domain, contact details, partner track selection, self-reported capabilities, and claimed customer references.
• Search Attio for existing company, contact, or deal records matching the applicant's domain and primary contacts to identify historical sales interactions, prior applications, or active commercial relationships.
• Cross-reference the application against partnership criteria documented in Notion, noting satisfied baseline requirements, track-specific prerequisites, and unverified self-reported claims.
• Information request. If decisive eligibility information is missing or contradictory—such as unverified mutual customer references, undefined technical capabilities, or ambiguous track preferences—draft the exact clarification question and recipient for dispatch through the company's configured communication route or direct owner delivery, or request internal context from the assigned account executive. The respondent provides the specific missing details or confirms that the information is unavailable. Once received, the agent incorporates the response into the evaluation file; if no response is received within the agreed review window, the agent records the missing evidence and presents the case with documented gaps to the commercial owner for an explicit decision, without assuming acceptance.
• Compile an evaluation brief detailing applicant profile, CRM relationship history, criteria alignment, specific risks or unverified claims, and a proposed disposition (acceptance into a specific track, deferral, or decline).
• Approval. Present the evaluation brief and recommended disposition to the commercial partnership owner for formal review. The owner approves acceptance with an assigned track and next-step owner, requests adjustments to the evaluation or track tier, defers the decision pending a milestone, or rejects the application with an explicit business reason.
• If the commercial owner requests revisions or additional internal diligence, update the evaluation brief with the requested context and resubmit the adjustment for final owner sign-off.
• On approval, update the applicant organization and contact records in Attio to reflect partner status, track designation, and assigned partner manager, while logging the full decision summary and approved next steps in Notion.
• If the application is deferred, log the deferral reason, required milestone, and future follow-up date in Attio and Notion, and prepare the owner-authorized deferral notice for the applicant via configured communication channels.
• If the application is declined, record the decline rationale in Attio and Notion, prepare the owner-authorized decline notification for commercial owner review and delivery, and assign any required follow-up.
• Exception. If an API failure or permissions conflict prevents updating partner records in Attio or Notion, or if an external write leaves record state uncertain, inspect existing platform effects before retrying. If inspection is unavailable or write conflicts persist, log the exact platform error and evaluated payload, notify the partnership operations lead, and hold the case until records can be verified or write permissions are restored.
• Confirm the completion of the review by reading back updated records in Attio and Notion, verifying that the recorded partner status, assigned owner, and logged decision notes match the commercial owner's approved disposition.
• In a fictional illustrative case, an agency applying for the Solution Partner track submitted three client references but omitted technical certifications for its implementation staff. The agent treated the client relationships as unverified claims and flagged the certification gap against the Notion criteria document. The agent drafted a targeted clarification request, which the partner manager approved and delivered. The applicant returned verified credential links within 24 hours. The commercial owner reviewed the updated brief, approved admission into the Emerging Agency tier, and assigned onboarding to the partner lead. The agent updated Attio and Notion, verified the read-back records, and closed the review case.
• A run completes when the commercial owner's approved partner decision (accepted, deferred, or declined) is recorded in Attio, synced to Notion, confirmed via read-back, and next steps or notifications are delivered or assigned. An application cannot be marked completed while awaiting partner clarification or commercial owner approval.