Alliance Implementation Steps

Partnering for Profits: Alliance Crash Course

Perhaps, now more than ever, it’s time to give your organization a crash course in alliance management? As you already know, facing 2009 are some difficult economic realities. Goods and services demand has slowed or reversed; resulting, are many organizational failures. Increased competition and consolidation naturally follow. CEO edicts; “Do more with less” have become common place. Can organizations realize more value from their alliance relationships? I absolutely believe so.

Have your alliance relationships grown organically rather than by purpose? If so, perhaps your alliance managers could use a tune-up? Like most other business development and managerial activities, alliance skills are learned rather than inherent. Do your alliance managers have the ability to see the bigger organizational picture while managing an external relationship?

Below are my Seven Steps for Alliance Development, I like to call them the Alliance Alchemy; the formula for turning your alliance efforts to gold.

1. Monitor (Determine Reasons and Need)

2. Educate (Cultural, Operational and Strategic Differences)

3. Select Alliance Type (Structure)

4. Organize (Select Partner)

5. Agreement (Written is Best)

6. Implementation (Begin Activity)

7. Maintenance (Monitor Progress and Cooperation)

You can read more about the fine points in my several alliance articles at http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm (Permission to reprint is there too.)

Executive Presentation Skills: Twittering in the Back

If you are presenting to an audience where there are a minimum of just a couple people under the age of 40 (perhaps 50?), I can assure you there is someone Twittering. What’s Twittering? Visit www.twitter.com/edrigsbee to see. Twitter is something like an instant blog Web Site where persons can post—from their cell phones using the text messaging function. Their friends that follow them receive a notice of the other person’s post. You may not realize it but there can very well be a number of people commenting to one another about your speech—real time, while you are speaking.

What’s a presenter to do? First acknowledge it. Say something early in your speech like, “For those of you Twittering in the back, say something nice about my speech.” This is being proactive. Let them know that you know. Also, if it is possible, leave the podium (the definition of podium is; riser or stage, not lectern) and walk toward the back of the room, you can keep them off guard and they might Twitter less. Of course this is assuming you have a wireless lavaliere microphone.

For years now presenters have been successfully dealing with those RUDE individuals that leave their cell phones on “ring” rather than “vibrate” in a belief that they (the offender) are more important than the entire audience—that it is okay to disturb others trying to glean some important bit of information. Today, presenters are also successfully enduring the second generation of “disturbance through technology.”

Executive Public Speakers, Professional Speakers, and Emerging Professional Speakers; please visit http://www.SucceedInSpeaking.com for additional ideas, assistance, and resources.

Trade Association & Professional Society Executives: Getting to Yes

Just last week, I was hosting the Cigar PEG, Inc. Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ. I called the hotel front desk (from California) to be sure my attendees could check in before I arrived as the rooms and expenses would be put on my card, which was already in their system. And what do you know; the clerk I spoke with at the front desk was all about why they could not check in without…

Why in the world does one want to create conflict before the guests arrive? The primary reason I believe is twofold; a lack of training and a lack of a desire to serve. Let’s now move the discussion of your staff interacting with your members. Is there any chance that any of your staff could be guilty of this?

At the hotel, there was of course a very easy solution that (the second) front desk person offered. Perhaps the same is true when one of your members has a challenge? But why did I have to go to a second person? See the above two-fold reason.

Let’s face it, 2009 could deliver your association a membership net loss. So why in the world would you allow your staff to do anything but deliver absolutely fabulous value to your members? When staff doesn’t care or is trained poorly, the E.D. needs to look in the mirror for fault.

Please do what you can to help your staff to abandon the “sorry, it’s our policy” and stay focused on the “yes, I’m sure we can help you.” Your members will thank you.

Association Executives may access association growth articles and member recruitment campaign information at http://www.GrowingYourAssociation.com