Collaboration and fostering ecosystems for success
According to the World Economic Forum, the corporate world is under immense pressure to keep delivering value in an environment of mounting inflation and accelerating technology that is redefining consumers’ expectations.
Collaboration and fostering ecosystems, they predict, “will become increasingly important in the coming decade.”
Meanwhile, a study by the growth coaching company, Frost & Sullivan, reveals that a surveyed company's collaboration index helped increase sales by about 27%, and customer satisfaction ratings by 41%.
There can be no doubt that good collaboration between vendors and sales partners can improve success. Collaboration is an important driver of creativity and productivity, however simply putting people together doesn’t guarantee success. Like most things in life, collaboration has its challenges.
Here are some key obstacles to collaboration success and how to remedy them for effective teamwork that benefits both parties:
Misaligned expectations
Partners may expect more support from the vendor than is realistic, while vendors may have unrealistic expectations about the volume of sales their partners can make. It’s good idea for both parties to be clear about their expectations from the start. This includes what is expected from sales targets, marketing activities and support services.
Communication breakdown
Communication breakdown can lead to misunderstandings, missed opportunities and lost revenue. It’s essential to foster and maintain healthy lines of communication and to communicate regularly, keeping each other up to date on challenges, progress and successes.
Trust
Collaboration can’t happen without trust. Trust ensures that both parties share information and work together to solve issues, but it’s not an automatic process. Take time to build trust by being transparent and reliable. Provide regular updates and, once again, communicate openly.
Resources
Limited resources can hinder effective collaboration. Without training, marketing and the ability to deliver on the expectation and support needs of both parties, collaboration will come up short. Rather invest in resources: Vendors should provide sales partners with the resources they need to be successful, while partners need to invest in their own resources to ensure they are able to deliver on their promises.
But by committing to the collaboration 100%, both parties can overcome these, and other challenges to build a successful and sustainable sales ecosystem.
We can’t be perfect in everything all of the time, but we can try our best to
take responsibility for our own part and do a better job tomorrow.
As Henry Ford said: “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”
Lee Ann Kellner - Interim Head of Sales - KYOCERA Document Solutions South Africa
