ChristianWhen forming a new joint venture marketing partnership it’s always a good idea to put together a training binder that has information about your company, the products and services the business provides and key details that are relevant to the business partnership. Training a business partner to execute the partnership in the right manner is critical to successfully finding new clients. Here’s a short overview of the standard documents that should be included in a binder that is provided to your business partner.
A binder that is provided to key executives and the one that is handed off to a person that is just involved in one element of a business partnership should be adjusted accordingly, however it is important that key individuals have a clear understanding of your business and the details of the relationship.
Binder Documents
- Executives should have a copy of the partnership agreement included in the binder.
- List of contacts based on role within partnership. It is always good to have at least two contacts for each vital link inside of a business partnership in order to resolve critical problems when needed.
- Current and future co-marketing campaign budgets should be included depending upon recipient.
- Flow charts for exchange of data, client information, client referrals, sales information, customer service requests and any other specific part of business transactions that occur based on the joint venture. Only include what each party requires.
- Company information, basic overview of company.
- Product and Services information. In depth information about the company’s product and services, pricing, etc.
- Incentives. Depending on the role within the company each joint venture partnership should include bonus incentives for employees that perform and excel in their roles of executing a successful partnership. For sales organizations this may already be included however; other positions that require additional work to perform the new duties should experience rewards of a successful business venture as well.
- Additional document. Depending on the businesses involved there may be additional information that companies wish to share with each other including demographic data, client information, and many more details.
Be sure to use a cloud based document storage service and keep a copy of your training binder available for all parties that require it.
The training binder is intended to serve the purpose of reinforcing the partnership agreement and act as an implementation tool for kick starting the business relationship. When distributing the binder to the appropriate people there should also be a timeline of when activities will begin and the flow charts will be followed. Create a visually appealing template that can be used for that specific partnership and any new clients or businesses that join the partnership in the future. Take the time necessary to clearly write out the details needed in the training binder and the chances for success will increase.
A well trained business partner will understand your business thoroughly and be able to sell your company and its products or services to new clients, which is ultimately the point in creating a joint venture marketing relationship in the first place. A well trained sales team that has been provided the right information will always deliver better results than the sales team that is given minimal or incomplete information and asked to educate themselves concerning the company’s products and services. By training your partners in a consistent manner, even when personnel change occurs during the course of the partnership and it will continue to remain productive and profitable due to the core training you have in place.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
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