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Joint Business Plan (JBP)
Definition
A Joint Business Plan (JBP) is a collaborative strategic document developed by two organizations—typically a supplier and a customer or channel partner—to define shared business objectives, growth initiatives, responsibilities, performance metrics, and timelines. The purpose is to strengthen the relationship while creating mutual value over a defined period.
Why It Matters
Joint Business Plans encourage long-term collaboration rather than transactional interactions. By aligning priorities, investments, and performance expectations, organizations improve communication, strengthen partnerships, reduce misunderstandings, and increase the likelihood of achieving shared business goals.
How It Is Used in Practice
Organizations typically create Joint Business Plans during annual planning cycles or when launching strategic partnerships. The planning process involves identifying common objectives such as increasing market share, expanding into new regions, improving customer satisfaction, introducing new products, or growing revenue within existing accounts.
A JBP generally outlines key initiatives, assigned responsibilities, measurable milestones, performance indicators, resource commitments, communication schedules, and review meetings. Sales leaders, account managers, channel managers, executives, marketing teams, and customer success professionals often participate in developing and maintaining the plan.
Regular business reviews help both organizations monitor progress, address challenges, adjust priorities, and identify new opportunities for collaboration. Well-managed Joint Business Plans often contribute to stronger partnerships, sustainable growth, and increased customer loyalty.
Related Terms
Account Management, Business Development, Channel Partner, Executive Briefing, Key Account Management, Partnership, Strategic Account, Value Proposition
Joint Selling
Definition
Joint Selling is a collaborative sales approach in which two or more organizations work together to pursue, develop, and close business opportunities by combining their complementary products, services, expertise, or market presence.
Why It Matters
Joint selling enables organizations to deliver broader customer solutions, enter new markets, strengthen competitive positioning, and increase business opportunities that may be difficult to pursue independently. Customers also benefit from coordinated expertise and integrated solutions.
How It Is Used in Practice
Organizations participating in joint selling establish shared sales objectives, define responsibilities, identify target customers, and coordinate customer engagement activities. Joint sales teams may conduct discovery meetings, solution presentations, demonstrations, executive briefings, and proposal development together.
Successful joint selling requires clear communication, agreed qualification criteria, defined revenue-sharing arrangements when appropriate, and regular coordination throughout the sales cycle. Customer relationship management systems and shared account planning often support collaborative opportunity management.
Joint selling is widely used among technology vendors, consulting firms, systems integrators, channel partners, cloud providers, manufacturers, and professional service organizations where complementary capabilities create greater customer value than either organization could deliver alone.
Related Terms
Business Development, Channel Partner, Co-Selling, Partnership, Sales Enablement, Solution Selling, Strategic Alliance, Value Proposition
Joint Venture
Definition
A Joint Venture is a business arrangement in which two or more independent organizations collaborate to pursue a specific commercial objective by combining resources, expertise, investments, or capabilities while remaining separate legal entities unless otherwise structured.
Why It Matters
Joint ventures enable organizations to share costs, reduce business risks, enter new markets, access specialized expertise, accelerate innovation, and pursue opportunities that may be difficult to achieve independently. They are often used for strategic growth initiatives and large-scale projects.
How It Is Used in Practice
Organizations establish joint ventures to pursue opportunities such as international expansion, infrastructure development, technology commercialization, manufacturing partnerships, research initiatives, or major customer projects. Each participant contributes agreed resources, which may include funding, personnel, intellectual property, facilities, or operational expertise.
Governance structures typically define ownership interests, decision-making authority, financial responsibilities, risk management, performance expectations, and exit procedures. Although each organization retains its own identity, the joint venture operates according to mutually agreed objectives and management processes.
Sales and business development professionals may participate by identifying opportunities suitable for joint ventures, coordinating partner relationships, and supporting strategic customer engagements where combined capabilities offer greater value.
Related Terms
Business Development, Channel Partner, Joint Selling, Partnership, Strategic Alliance, Market Expansion, Collaboration, Value Creation
Job-to-Be-Done (JTBD)
Definition
Job-to-Be-Done (JTBD) is a customer-centered framework that focuses on understanding the specific task, problem, or objective a customer is trying to accomplish rather than concentrating solely on product features or customer demographics.
Why It Matters
Understanding the customer’s underlying objective helps organizations develop more relevant solutions, improve customer conversations, strengthen product positioning, and deliver greater business value. JTBD encourages organizations to focus on desired outcomes rather than assumptions about customer needs.
How It Is Used in Practice
Sales professionals apply the JTBD framework during discovery conversations by asking questions that uncover what customers are trying to accomplish, why current approaches may be insufficient, and what successful outcomes would look like. Rather than immediately recommending products, discussions emphasize understanding the business context driving purchasing decisions.
Product managers, marketing teams, customer success professionals, and sales organizations often use JTBD insights to improve messaging, prioritize product development, refine customer segmentation, and enhance solution recommendations.
The framework is particularly valuable in consultative selling, enterprise sales, innovation, software development, professional services, and customer experience initiatives where solving meaningful business problems creates stronger long-term customer relationships.
Related Terms
Consultative Selling, Customer Discovery, Needs Assessment, Solution Selling, Value Proposition, Value Selling, Customer Experience, Product Adoption
Journey Mapping
Definition
Journey Mapping is the process of visually documenting the stages, interactions, touchpoints, and experiences a customer encounters throughout their relationship with an organization, from initial awareness through long-term engagement.
Why It Matters
Journey mapping helps organizations understand customer experiences across departments, identify areas for improvement, eliminate friction, strengthen collaboration, and enhance customer satisfaction. It provides valuable insights into how customers interact with an organization over time.
How It Is Used in Practice
Organizations create customer journey maps by documenting key stages such as awareness, research, qualification, evaluation, purchasing, implementation, onboarding, adoption, support, renewal, and expansion. Each stage includes customer objectives, interactions, communication channels, responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities for improvement.
Sales, marketing, customer success, product management, implementation, and support teams often collaborate to ensure the journey accurately reflects customer experiences across the organization. Customer feedback, surveys, interviews, usage data, and operational metrics help validate and refine journey maps.
Journey mapping supports continuous improvement by identifying unnecessary delays, communication gaps, inconsistent experiences, or operational inefficiencies that may affect customer satisfaction and business performance.
Related Terms
Customer Experience, Customer Journey, Customer Onboarding, Customer Success, Product Adoption, Relationship Management, Sales Funnel, User Adoption
Justification Document
Definition
A Justification Document is a formal business document that explains the rationale for a proposed purchase, investment, or business decision by outlining expected benefits, costs, risks, return on investment, and strategic alignment.
Why It Matters
Many purchasing decisions require internal approval from finance, procurement, executives, or governance committees. A well-prepared justification document helps stakeholders make informed decisions by presenting clear evidence that supports the proposed investment.
How It Is Used in Practice
Sales professionals often assist customers by providing information that supports the development of internal justification documents. These materials may include business cases, return-on-investment analyses, implementation plans, operational benefits, productivity improvements, risk reduction strategies, and financial projections.
Within customer organizations, business sponsors adapt this information into documents submitted for executive approval or procurement review. Justification documents may also include implementation timelines, resource requirements, compliance considerations, and expected performance outcomes.
Well-prepared documentation improves internal communication, accelerates approval processes, and helps ensure purchasing decisions align with broader organizational goals and financial priorities.
Related Terms
Business Case, Procurement, Return on Investment, Total Cost of Ownership, Value Proposition, Buying Committee, Enterprise Sales, Proposal Management