Mercedes Villanueva on Reinventing Partner Marketing and Leading Through Transformation

Transformation sounds exciting—until you’re in the middle of it. In this episode, Mercedes Villanueva shares what it actually takes to rebuild a global partner marketing function while the entire company is rebranding, restructuring, and redefining how it goes to market.

From prioritizing just three high-impact initiatives to reshaping partner programs around real customer outcomes, Mercedes explains how to cut through complexity and focus on what drives value. She also shares why flexibility matters more than perfection, how to let go of ideas that don’t work, and what resilience really looks like when nothing is fully under your control.

A practical and honest look at building, leading, and adapting when everything is changing at once. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, I'm Rick Courier, and this is Never Go to Market Alone. More than a show, it's a community where tech, marketing, and the human connection come together. You're not just a listener, you're a GTM friend. And friends don't let friends go to market alone. Let's go. Today I'm joined by Mercedes Villanueva, who leads global partnering at Quest Software. Mercedes has spent her entire career in the channel, from Cisco to Okta to now building and transforming partner marketing at Quest. And she brings a really sharp perspective on what it actually takes to drive partner-led growth at scale. We get in a lot in this conversation, what it looks like to walk into a full transformation, how to prioritize when everything feels important, and why simplifying your story might be the hardest but most important thing you do as a partner marketer. Before we jump in, a quick update on what we're seeing here at Partner Vista. I just got back from Google Cloud Next, spent some time with customers, and one result really stood out. We ran a hyperscaler co-funded program in Q1 that drove over 92x return. Yep, that's right. Over 9,000% return on investment. For a startup like ours, that's only a year into this journey. It's massive. We're working to return that into a case study, but it reinforces something we believe from day one. Partner marketing isn't something we do, it's everything we do. We've built an always-on partner marketing engine that is simple to execute, built to scale, and most importantly, designed to deliver real pipeline and revenue outcomes. But enough about us. This episode is about Mercedes and the work she's doing to rethink partnering from the ground up. I hope you enjoy it. Cheers. Hey Mercedes, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 1:36

I'm doing great, Rick. Great to see you again.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Yeah, I feel like we're we're both looking good after a little vacation. So it's nice to uh nice to see you again and get back to work and talk about what you're doing at Quest.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Absolutely. Uh so much to talk about. So I hope we have enough time.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Well, let's just start with who you are, what do you do, you know, where where do you come from?

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Um, okay, so there's a little bit of everything in that answer. So once again, my name is Mercedes and I am currently I currently lead the global partner marketing function at Quest Software. Um I am from Venezuela. Originally, I came to the US when I was 15 years old. So I finished my high school here and went to school, college, and all the good things. And I have spent my entire career in the marketing discipline and specifically in channels. So in my background, I have my journey with Cisco Systems. I spent a couple of decades there. Uh, then I moved on to Okta and I am now Request Software, all in the channel, all in marketing. So I this is why I'm so delighted to speak with you today. This speaks to my heart for sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

I I love it, especially as someone who's come up in the in the channel. And wow, I mean, coming over from Venezuela at 15, I mean, that I gotta just ask you, like, what was what was that like as someone in high school? I mean, I like look, I'll I'll frame it like this. I moved from California to Georgia when I was 16, and I thought that was a cultural shock. So what was it like for you at 15?

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Well, um, I had grown on uh grown up knowing that we eventually will move to the United States. My dad um did all his schooling here. He actually got appointed to West Point. Um, then circumstances in life uh brought him back to Venezuela, but coincidentally he met my mom there who had had her own journey in Canada. And so growing up, I always knew I'm an only child, and that was the conversation in my household, right? That when I finished high school, we were gonna move to the States, and then things accelerated a little bit. Um, my dad was able to um, he's had uh requested residency that took 10 years when we lived there, and then once it was granted, uh then we prepared to come, and it was a little bit earlier than we anticipated. So I had not finished high school. So I finished high school here, and it was literally I was transplanted from an environment where I'm speaking a different language, um, life is completely different, and I was inserted right into the swing of things here. Um, didn't speak the language, uh, I was sink or swim, and I went straight from being a sophomore to being a senior in high school. So not only did I have all those elements to contend with, but also, you know, there was an age difference. I was I was 15. And um, these girls were driving, they were, you know, 18 and all that. And the conversation in my house was she she should take the bus, she doesn't speak the language yet, and all this stuff. And long short story, um, or short story to get to the point, there's a lot of opportunities in there to quickly adapt and sink or swim and just embrace whatever comes. And and whatever happens is the plan, and just kind of get go with the flow. And I think that built a lot of um skills in me to just be up for whatever and just know that things are always gonna turn out okay in the end.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Yeah, I mean, I I imagine where we're gonna get to today with some of these topics, how how much of what you've experienced early in your life has probably come to play for you, you know, in your in your career. So tell me a little bit about what you're doing now at Quest Software.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Absolutely. So I'm head of Global Partner Marketing, and it's uh it's a wonderful role to be in, especially because um I joined the company to help build the function. And um I bring with me um my husband would call it my suitcase of ideas. It's kind of like you know, settle in, I have a suitcase full of ideas. Um, but it's been a wonderful opportunity to really get quickly into execution and to drive innovation and get involved in something that um is really going to benefit the partner ecosystem at Quest. And it's it's really uh what uh excites me the most is that as we all know, it's a growth engine, right? Um the title of your series says at all. Don't go, you know, don't go to market alone. You need a partner ecosystem to do it. And being behind the scenes driving that growth engine from a marketing perspective is super, super exciting. So we're at the, I would say we're at the early stages uh in building the function and we are closing gaps, uh ensuring that the skill set is in place and that we build a foundational framework for our partners to run, especially where we are with AI and all those things.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

No, I'd love to dig into that because I think so many people out there are either in the middle of a transformation or they're being brought in to bring transformation. So, what did that look like for you? Were you walking into you know a blank slate where you could bring in your suitcase of ideas and build, or where there are already things in motion and you're having to, you know, sail the boat and build the boat at the same time? So, like, what did it look like for you kind of coming into this journey and building it from the ground up?

SPEAKER_02 6:52

So it's a little bit of everything. Um, I could not have asked for better timing to join uh the company. I joined right in the middle of a massive rebrand, and and the timing was absolutely perfect. Uh, the company has moved from uh being a very long-standing software company that everybody has known mostly for its migration practice and just really a very large portfolio of products, moving to more of a solution-based, simple two platforms and the you know, really defining what it is that we do and how we bring value to the market. And in the midst of that, I joined. So we were um rebranding a company, you know, it's not just rebranding and giving, putting makeup on a logo, it really is transformation from the core. Everything. So engagement models, um uh in some cases, personnel, uh, in in really everything, including our partner program. Everything is being relaunched, revamped, and it's exciting to be in that kind of motion. There's a lot of new talent in the organization, and nothing is a bad idea. So it's a lot of fun to come into a place where you can ideate and innovate and try something quickly. If it works, fantastic. Let's iterate. If it doesn't work, let's pivot quickly and let's rethink. Rethink it. So I think it's um it's uh an incredible time to join. If you're gonna join and drive transformation, joining like that when everybody around you is going through the same thing, it it's really the way to do it.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

So for someone who jumps into something like that, what what advice do you have in terms of setting priorities? You know, thinking about there, there's probably endless things to do, but you know, how do you set those top priorities? And you know, if you're comfortable, what have been some of your top priorities in this journey in like maybe the first 90 days?

SPEAKER_02 8:47

That's a great question. Um, as tempting as it may seem to immediately start jumping in and doing really fancy and uh complex things, I think that evaluating and assessing where you are and where you can drive the most value is imperative. And sometimes that means focusing on the top three things. Like what are the biggest gaps that we have to solve for, and but what's gonna drive the most impact uh with the investment of time, resources, budget, and all of those things. So the very first thing I did it was just like most people would do, right? You parachute in and you land and then you're assessing just to see what's going on. So I did a lot of discovery, but quick discovery. I think that's the difference. Not spending a lot of time in trying to understand something that's in the midst of transformation because you are transforming it. So acknowledge the legacy and the history, take the nuggets from that, what's working and should continue to work, but quickly get into what are the most foundational needs the company has. And in terms of the partner marketing discipline, what's missing for our partners? What are they not getting today? That's critical. And sometimes it means the very basic things, right? Um, are we telling them the right stories and arming them with the right uh content? And while that may seem um non-revenue generating, it truly is foundational because they need to understand where you are in that transformation if we're rebranding, relaunching, and doing all these things. I need to understand why and why it's important for them and why this means something good for them. So spend a lot of time in that storytelling and making sure that what we're saying as a company and how we're showing up resonates with why they may want to pay attention that this is happening. And it and it really behooves them to engage because it represents a monetization and profitability opportunity for them. But more importantly, we're doing something that truly will allow them to help their customers. And you know, partners don't think in terms of um, or I should say, customers don't think in terms of products and renewals and all these things. They think in terms of outcomes. So, what are those outcomes that we are um building for our partners in the context of what we provide, the solutions that we deliver and uh sell, why this matters to them in solving their customers' problems. So reframing everything, going from look at all our products, right, which is the typical narrative and look at everything that we sell, aligning to simplifying what we do as a company and then that storytelling that goes along with that, but really in terms of what this does for you and your customers, for your practice, how your practice is gonna be optimized, simplified. You're gonna have a better story to tell to your customers. You're gonna be able to plug in into this engine in a much easier way.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

I wish I could say simplifying is easy, but it's it's one of the most challenging things out there. So thinking about challenges that you faced, or maybe some common pitfalls that other folks might be facing in a similar journey. You know, what are those challenges that that typically come up in a transformation like this when you're jumping in?

SPEAKER_02 12:01

I would say staying flexible is paramount. We simply don't have control of most of the variables in a function like this. You don't own the customer, you don't own the partner, you don't own the product, you don't own the lifecycle, uh, you don't know the sometimes the better together value proposition, right? So it's you're in the midst of um circumstances that you can influence but you don't own. So I think staying flexible and being able to pivot quickly and not get too attached to pet projects, but to just release them quickly and de-attach if it's not working, uh I think it's a skill that everybody should have, but with awareness. You should be consciously aware that flexibility needs to be permeating everything that you do. Um, being able to change gears quickly as well, in the middle of a transformation, that is the name of the game. Simplifying sometimes may mean let's not over orchestrate something, let's not oversell something, but just call it what it is, very simply tell what it does, and very simply showcase why this is a good thing. If we remain or always go back and anchor ourselves in what is ultimately the story and is it really driving value, and we're very honest about it and can convey that, I think that's the foundation for everything because everything, everything builds from there. If you're in marketing and you're trying to, doesn't matter what you're doing, are you driving campaigns? Are you telling better-together stories? Ultimately, you are here to drive demand for your products and demand uh in terms of the values that our partners perceive. But if you don't really have that honest true story that everybody can tell and it's simple to articulate and customers can relate to, then it's much harder. It's much harder to orchestrate. I do need to make a call out to our uh um, I want to call out the leadership at Quest and specifically our CEO that has made it a point to make sure that every single person in the company understands what we sell. And that is very refreshing because the danger of, well, I'm in this function, you know, I'm not I'm not directly selling, I'm not directly selling to customers, I'm not directly um engaging or leading an alliance with partners. The danger of, well, I do my function that really is behind the scenes and does this, that's very dangerous. But when you have an entire company that understands, I mean, where everybody is like, this is this is an imperative, it's a guiding principle. We need to understand what we sell and why our solutions are great. Because that when you have that belief and you truly understand it, you can tell a story. You can be the biggest advocate and the biggest ambassador, no matter what you do. Even when you're making a social media post, you can do it with conviction.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

I love that. I absolutely love that. I've worked at companies in the past that didn't operate like that. And it was it wasn't helpful to me as a sales rep when other people were like, well, I you know, I don't do that. And I could see it actually hurt revenue in different cases. So absolutely love that you guys have that focus. I want to ask a little bit about how you prioritize partners, thinking about partner tiers, rewarding them. You built this, you know, transforming this partner organization. How do you engage with partners? How do you prioritize them and why do they work with Quest Software?

SPEAKER_02 15:26

This is a very timely question because um we are in the midst of launching a new partner program. And with it, we're making a bold move to change many, many things that have been very traditional. So, in my experience, in my journey, the traditional partner program has been tier-based. You know, it's the typical things, right? Um, it's linear. You become a registered partner, then you move to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, but it's it's almost like you're achieving different tiers, and you um you hear often across companies, well, your gold, your silver, whatever, and it or some version of that. What's happening at Quest is something very different. It's a bold move to move away completely from tiers and become a number of things. Number one, um at its core, we're gonna be AI driven and we're gonna move from heroics, we like to call it, to to true um self-serve in in some ways. But more importantly, we are providing, building a program that will allow that it's gonna be built on the core uh concepts of B-Layer, which is the build, land, um, adopt, expand, renew motions. Some of those things are very familiar, probably, but we're really gonna put money behind that. So we are we want our partners to be very vested in the role they play in the life cycle, right? We wanna make sure that uh this is a program that stacks rewards based on behaviors, and those behaviors are the very ones that will give them more margin and more stickiness with their customers as well. So we don't it's a mutually beneficial type of thing. Um when you earn benefits, you're doing that because you're aligning in moving, really creating value for your customers, and in doing so, it creates value for Quest. Um, it's um we're flipping it on its head a little bit, and we want to reward repeatable execution, like I said before, uh, reducing the cost to serve and just really make it very simple. We want simplicity. We don't want, we want to move away from what you're typically used to, which is how do I achieve this thing and the next thing. And it's just, you know, the more things that align to some of these motions, the more rewards you get. Simple. And we want you to be able to access your stuff anywhere from your phone where you are. You don't have to come in and sit in front of a desktop to ask for things. Uh, we want this to be very um up to 2026 standards. So stay tuned because a lot is coming.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

No, I love that. I was just talking to another partner marketer the other day about how you know we used to live in the world of spiffs and providing, you know, your partner is like, look, here's a Hawaiian vacation, we'll take you on if you engage or participate. And just how that doesn't work these days. And it's more of a collaborative process. And it sounds like that's what you're doing at the very go-to-market level of collaborating um to get that behavior. So it sounds like you're just rolling this out, like no results yet. We're we're just we're getting that out there right now. Is that kind of where we're at?

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Yeah, and um, and I can I can speak freely about it because we are going to be unveiling this for our partners on May 27th. So we've given a little sneak peek. So it's it's around the corner. So we're now in the process of uh, you know, we'll unveil the new name and all those different things, but we're very excited. And I think our partners feel that this momentum that the company is driving is not just us talking, it's it's just everything aligning to what we're saying. It it's it's a new quest, we have a new program for you, you're gonna earn more money than ever before. Uh, and in the process, you know, we are going to solve customer problems. It's really outcome-based. It really is. I don't think I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

You're trying something new. And I this is kind of like a theme I see across partner marketing is there there's a lot of risk taking in partner marketing, and people are experimenting, I think, more in some other marketing type functions. And I just love that because I think we got to constantly innovate, try new new things. And like you said, don't don't be married to things that we're trying. Let's try it. If it doesn't work, we'll try something else. Uh, I want to ask you, just looking back, what's been harder than expected? Like, were there certain things you thought would be easy, but ended up being a lot harder in this this journey at Quest Software?

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Um, I think not not having enough time to do all the things. Um, there's a surplus of ideas and enthusiasm and projects uh that when reconciled with the capacity and where we're in this moment of time, you just can't fit it all in. So I think that's been the biggest challenge. And and really, this is where your prioritization skills become super valuable. Like when things are getting a little bit out of hand, that we have we feel like we want to do 50 things, maybe we only do three and do them really, really, really well. Um, aligning everything to and the teams that you work with with that uh mindset, I think sometimes can be a little bit of a challenge. But since everybody's on the mission 100% in, uh everybody's always willing to calibrate. I think I think holding each other accountable to recalibrate constantly, it's it's a challenge because we want to we want to do so much in such a short amount of time. Um I I would say I would call that as a one of the challenges right now.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Yeah. I want to uh talk a little bit about resilience because we started at the beginning with what I feel is like resilience. You come into a brand new country in high school, being you know, being a girl in high school is hard enough, you know, from a brand new country, don't know any friends like that. I mean, they just build a foundation of resilience. What was it like for you coming into a massive transformation like this? And and you know, what advice do you have for other people that might be looking at other opportunities and thinking like this just isn't the right time, or I'm not qualified enough, or you could just keep going down all the doubts you might have about that opportunity?

SPEAKER_02 21:40

There's a lot in there to unpack. So um, first thing I will say is that you know, you've heard this before or read it somewhere, right? That everything that you ever dreamed of and wanted stands on the other side of fear. So I think that acknowledging the fact that you know there is fear involved in. Unknown, and you just simply cannot predict the future. You don't know what's going on. But staying in the present moment will by itself inherently get you to a place where you can be very resilient because you're not overprojecting, you're not allowing uh the fear of what is this the right move? Is this gonna work out, etc., to sort of stop you right from seeing what else is out there? Because maybe everything that you want, it's on that other side, on the other side of that wall. Um, resilience is really all about again, just being flexible, being malleable. Um, it's knowing just like a rubber band, right? When you stretch it and stretch it, you know that it's gonna come back. It's not gonna come back the same way it was, but it's it's gonna expand in size, right? That that's that's a a cool analogy that I like to think about. And that is the point. The point is everything that happens uh has a role in shaping who you will become tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. So if anybody is sitting on the fence um fearful or or or just that place of you know, just not knowing and our tendency to want to have everything under control, I would say just embrace what could be. Just embrace it. What is the worst possible thing that could happen is that you learn something and you move on to something else. I think adopting that resilience mindset is what we as humans should do at a personal level, at a professional level, with our kids, as friends, you know, as support um people for others, because we simply don't have control. The only thing we have control of is our how we process our perceived failures or when something doesn't go the way we want. It is only a lesson and it won't last that long in terms of the, you know, the whatever you're grieving in the moment, it won't last that long, right? The rain always stops. Even if it rains for three months straight, uh, the sun will come out eventually. So it's a good way to look at it.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Uh, just embrace it, stay flexible, and just be kind of like a bouncing ball, right? You you first have to hit ground in order to bounce back up. I think that would be that's kind of a good way to look at it.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

I think that's great advice. If if you find yourself in a rainy season, know that the sun will eventually come out. So I appreciate you sharing that. And Mercedes, it was great to have you on. I appreciate you sharing your journey at Quest Software for our other people that are looking at that next opportunity, or maybe they find themselves in a in a chaotic world of transformation. I think it's been great advice you shared, and I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Absolutely. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Always great to connect with you.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Thanks, Mercedes. Take care. Thank you. That's it for this episode of Never Go to Market Alone. If you liked what you heard, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another GTM friend. For new episodes or to see how we're helping partner marketers succeed, visit partnervista.co. Because friends don't let friends go to market alone.