RETAINING OUR PARTNERS

It is not your customer's job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don't have the chance to forget you.

- Patricia Fripp

Why Retention of Partners?• To have partnerships that are:

• Long-term• Strong • Enlarge-scale• Value based

• To create credibility among the industry • To get use your connections to connect to potential

customers.

Pre selling Selling Delivery

Retention of

Partners

Partnership Management

Flow

• Market Research / Targeting• Identify company needs by speaking to them about where

is there company heading and how can AIESEC be part of the strategy.

• Set the right expectation and don’t oversell.

Pre selling

“Don’t sell life insurance. Sell what life insurance

can do.”- Ben Feldman

• - Effective meetingSet an agenda before meeting with a detailed flow

establishedTake notes/remember what are the key points Wrap-up the meetingSet next steps and follow up.

Tip: When selling always remember to thing long-term! (Ex. when selling you should be “pitch” organisations to become 1YR partners or more)

SellingPre selling

• Send output of meeting via e-mail with information as a respond to the discovered needs (materials, references, good case practice)

• Create materials customized for the company

• Confirm next meeting (selling = several interaction points)

• Sign contract & formalities

• Clarify always (with as many details as possible) delivery timeline, contact point, profile required.

SellingPre selling

• Build delivery plan for the next 3 to 12 months. • Do the shortlisting as professional as you can (shortlisting

requires HR knowledge, is not only about selling).• Keep track of all your internships available• Be in constant communication with the company through

the partnership.

Selling DeliveryPre selling

• Identity with your partners where is the organisation is going in the next year and what will their needs be. Ask them how can AIESEC be part of their strategy.

• Create a report every quarter, every semester or on a yearly basis depending on the services/products delivered.

• Have a quarterly meeting with your partners so you can discuss constantly how can we improve our services.

• Involve your partners in you national and local initiatives.• Create champions! Make sure that you engage more people in

the organisation.• Recognise their support to AIESEC.

Pre selling Selling Delivery

Retention of

Partners

…so then the flow is:

Selling

Post Selling

Delivery

Retention of Partners

Lesson If you are able to manage and retain your partners they will invest more in AIESEC and they will recommend you to other organisations.

70-30 Rule

70 percent of revenue is generated by

30 percent of your clients.

The other 70 percent of customers that

generate the other 30 percent of

revenue are simply less engaged.

HOW CAN I UPSCALE MY CURRENT PARTNERS?

1Speak to your partners about expanding the partnership. Be honest and seek their input.

“The most valuable resource you can give customers is your time… Only then can you find a way to solve their problems or meet their symptoms.” -Ginger Conlon

2 Understand where the organisation(partner) is going in the next 1-2 years and create products that are relevant for them and for AIESEC.

“You can acquire some measure of knowledge from various research techniques, but nothing beats living, breathing, and feeling the same things your customers do”-John Jatsch

3 Co-Create a plan that reflects the long term vision for the partnership.

“It is no longer good enough to simply satisfy your customer or to have a product that works…what will really make the difference is when a customer asks: when I went through that experience, did the provider engaged with me, did they understand my needs, did they think logically if that was the best for me ” -Jo Causon

4 Create a customized proposal and ask for feedback.

5 After signing the contract,

recognise them among all your stakeholders.

“When a brand connects with its customer, that in some ways is the easiest part. The hard part is keeping the customer at the center after the success comes flooding in.”-Anna Farmery

Remember always...

Customer is KING!