strategic partnerships and alliances

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corporaterewards.co.uk Strategic Partnerships and Alliances (SPA) Nicholas Dean, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances, Corporate Rewards

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Nicholas Dean explains how strategic partnerships and alliances can make all the difference.

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Page 1: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

corporaterewards.co.uk

Strategic Partnerships and Alliances(SPA)

Nicholas Dean, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances, Corporate Rewards

Page 2: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Nicholas Dean, Director of SPA at award-winning incentive recognition and reward, motivation and events agency Corporate Rewards, presents how strategic partnerships and alliances can make all the difference.

Strategic Partnerships and Alliances (SPA)

Page 3: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Clients are increasingly demanding.• Agencies are expected to provide everything:

Setting the Scene

Marketing

Events management

Online platforms

Employee Engagement programmes

Rewards and recognition

Customised rewards

fulfillment

Comms

Page 4: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Strategic Partnerships and Alliances (SPA) can make all the difference.

• Identify like-minded agencies that differ from, yet complement your own.

• Build a partnership that intertwines your services and extends your portfolios - giving you multi-channel expertise.

• Take advantage of the pool of industry knowledge already out there.• Creating new service divisions can be costly, time-consuming and, if

done badly, ineffective. • Partnerships add value to clients by providing a total solution in a

single package. • RFPs including a reward and recognition element demonstrate this

benefit, as many agencies could not respond independently.

Why Partnerships?

Page 5: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Collaboration is the name of the game. • Both parties need to:

– have the same end in sight– be willing to compromise– work towards mutual rewards, rather than thinking of their own

individual business only• Working with a partner can:

– significantly broaden your service offering– provide scope to work with a wider range of clients– give your existing clients an improved and more varied service– provide your business with an additional revenue stream

Collaboration

Page 6: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• A strategic partnership or alliance can give your business a mighty step up.

• But it must be done well!• Following a few simple, golden rules can help to ensure that your first

steps down this road are in the right direction…

Five Top Tips

Page 7: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Partnering with another business gives them access to your clients, and you access to theirs.

• This is a real leap of faith and trust is implicit in the arrangement. • The two-way set-up helps to reassure both parties.• Like-mindedness is vital.

1) Trust

Page 8: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Choose a partner who shares your core values and work ethic. • Check that processes and policies tie in, such as ISO9001. Easy to

overlook, but potentially tricky down the line. • The personality fit has to be right, not just for day to day interaction,

but for clients too. • Clients buy in to agency personality as much as service; this needs to

match for a happy ending!

2) Chemistry

Page 9: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Any partnership or alliance must be a two-way deal.• No one party should provide the lion’s share. • A disproportionate partnership is destined for resentment and a

breakdown of the relationship.• This is particularly true of financial arrangements.• A balanced framework builds trust, and confidence in referring your

partner directly to clients.

3) Equitability

Page 10: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Managing expectations is incredibly important.• Both parties need to know exactly where they stand, how much they

need to put in, and exactly what they are set to gain.• Teamwork requires transparency, with realistic expectations agreed

from the beginning. • This makes the end goal more achievable and more satisfying, as

both parties know their roles and requirements to get there together.

4) Clear Expectations

Page 11: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• This is another area that requires aligned attitudes and a balanced share.

• Frequent contact between partners is vital, without going overboard. • Neither party should micromanage the other, but both should expect

to be kept up to date. • Regular updates keep things moving and provide information to filter

through to clients.• Putting discussions into practise facilitates synchronicity and proves

that the partnership is working.

5) Two-way Communication

Page 12: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Considered and carefully set up Strategic Partnerships and Alliances will improve services to your end-users and benefit your business.

• For you the perks include:– additional revenue streams– improved service offerings without financial investment– increased pitch-winning opportunities– stronger client relationships

• For your clients:– deployment is quick– delivery times are shortened– more services and expertise are provided by a single source– management time is simplified and reduced.

• It’s a positive experience all round.

Take your business to the SPA

Page 13: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

www.corporaterewards.co.uk/blog

@CorpRewards

Connect with corporate-rewards-uk

Call us 0370 405 2020

Let’s start the conversation

Find out more

Page 14: Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

Call us 0370 405 20208 The Courtyard, Timothy’s Bridge Road, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. CV37 9NP

email us [email protected]