Creating a Partner
Adding a partner creates a partnership record and, optionally, invites the partner's contacts into your partner portal. Use it to bring a new referral, reseller or distribution partner into your channel programme.
Where to find it: Go to Partners and click Add partner in the top right.
Who can use this: Admins and Partnership Team members. Indirect users cannot create partners.
How to create a partner
Go to Partners and click Add partner. The New Partnership form opens as a two-column sidebar.
Choose the partnership type (left column).
Fill in the partner details and any custom fields (left column).
Add assigned users, partner domains and contacts (right column).
Click Send Invitation to create a live partnership and email the contacts, or Create as Offline Partnership to create it without inviting anyone yet.
Partnership type
The type controls which tiers, categories, tags, stages and custom fields apply. Choose from the types your account has enabled:
Referral Partner: refers leads to you but does not sell directly.
Reseller Partner: sells your product or service to their own customers.
Distribution Partner: manages a network of resellers. This type appears only when the Distributor module is enabled (see below).
The type selector only appears when more than one partner type is enabled for your account. Referral and reseller types can be switched on by an admin under Settings > Modules & AI. The Distributor module is Managed by Journeybee: it is listed on the Modules & AI page but your team cannot switch it on. Contact Journeybee support to have it enabled.
If you change the partnership type after starting, any tier, category, tags and custom fields you had already chosen are cleared, because those are specific to each type.
Partner details
The details section (left column) captures information about the partner company. Which fields appear, and whether they are required, depends on your partnership field settings.
Name (always required): the partner company name.
Website: the partner's website. Shown by default; an admin can hide it or make it required.
Tier: the partner tier, such as Gold or Silver. Appears only when you have set up tiers for the selected partner type. Set these up in Categories & Tiers.
Category: the partner category, such as Technology or Services. Appears only when you have set up categories for the selected partner type.
Country: where the partner is based. Saved to the partnership and used for filtering and reporting. Shown by default; an admin can hide it or make it required.
Tags: apply tags to help filter and organise partners. Appears only when partner tags exist for the selected type.
Custom fields
If you have set up custom fields for partners, they appear below the details. Only fields that apply to the selected partner type (or are shared across all types) are shown. Any custom field marked as required must be completed before you can create the partnership.
Assigned users, domains and contacts
The right column covers who manages the partner, the partner's email domains, and the partner's contacts.
Assigned users
Pick which members of your internal team should manage this partner. You can assign users now or add them later from the partner page.
Partner domains
Add the email domains this partner uses (for example, theircompany.com). Journeybee uses these to match the partner's people and inbound activity. You can add multiple domains, and one must be marked as the Primary domain.
Contacts
Add one or more people at the partner. For each contact you can capture:
Email (always required): the contact receives the invitation here if you send one.
First name and Last name: shown by default; an admin can hide them or make them required.
Position: their job title. Hidden by default — it appears only if an admin turns it on in your field settings.
Phone: their phone number. Shown by default and optional.
Tags: apply contact tags to organise contacts. Appears when contact tags exist.
Contact custom fields: any custom fields you have set up for contacts appear here, and required ones must be completed.
Mark one contact as the Primary Contact. Click Add Contact to add more people. Managing contacts after creation is covered in Partner Contacts.
Creating the partnership
At the bottom of the sidebar you have two options:
Send Invitation: creates a live partnership and emails an invitation to each contact so they can log in to the partner portal.
Create as Offline Partnership: creates the partnership without sending an invitation. Use this for partners you manage outside Journeybee, or when you want to invite them later.
Invitation emails are sent only when the Partner invitation notification is enabled for your account (and for that partnership). If it is switched off, the partnership is still created but no email goes out. You can send an invitation later from the partner page. The broader onboarding journey is covered in Partner Onboarding.
Good to know
New partners are automatically placed in the first stage of that partner type's pipeline. You can move them later — see Stages.
You can change any partner detail at any time from the partner page after creating the partnership.
To assign distributors to a reseller, do it after creation — see Distribution Management. Distributors are not assigned from the New Partnership form.
For bulk partner creation, use CSV import — see Partner Import (CSV).
Troubleshooting
The partnership type selector is missing
The selector only appears when more than one partner type is enabled. If you only see one type, an admin can enable others under Settings > Modules & AI.
Distribution Partner is not an option
The Distributor module is managed by Journeybee and cannot be switched on by your team. Contact Journeybee support to have it enabled.
The contact did not receive the invitation
Offline partnerships never send an invitation. For online partnerships, check that the Partner invitation notification is enabled in your partnership settings. Delivery and next steps are covered in Partner Onboarding.
I cannot see the Add partner button
Only Admins and Partnership Team members can create partners. If the button is missing, ask an admin to check your role.