Partnerships are critical for growth
This is part two of the Revive & Innovate: Vision for the Future blog series, by Tracy Judge, MS, CMP. Follow Soundings on LinkedIn to stay up to date on all of our posts!
There is an increased need for transparency given the state of the industry– we need to share the load. By coming together, we can use our collective resources to grow.
A key theme across all industry events I attended this past month was the importance of developing trusting relationships with partners and supporting each other to ensure business continuity as we move forward.
In this article, I share which organizations I think are navigating partnerships exceptionally well in the industry as well as how Soundings views partnership.
Transparency Matters
At PCMA Convening EMEA, Kim Kopetz, President and COO of The Opus Group, defined partnership as “two organizations coming together for mutually beneficial reasons". To Kim’s point, it is not mutually beneficial if one side does not receive a return on their investment!
During the session “Salaries, Rising Costs, and The Great Resignation" at Cvent CONNECT Europe, Karen Kadin, Managing Director at Brands at Work, spoke to the importance of transparency with customers and vendor partners, including being transparent with customers to show the increased costs they are incurring.
Karen made a great point, saying, "You don’t want to work with an agency that’s going to go out of business. We need to meet in the middle and share the load.”
At Soundings, we work directly with companies and associations, as well as agencies and production companies. In response to the need for transparency and to share the load, we have designed a new monthly membership program that allows customers to buy a set number of staffing hours at a discounted fee, and pay the pass-through cost of the talent as the hours are accrued. This provides transparency and stability for both sides, reduces cost of overtime due to a flat hourly fee, and enables our team the time to continually build a bench of talent for customers. Not to mention, our customers can then effectively budget knowing what their flat monthly cost for freelance talent will be!
Expand Reach to Create Community
IMEX is known for its support and partnership with many organizations within the industry, supporting many industry associations and non-profits to bring value to the entire community. They continue to demonstrate value in partnership for educating the industry in their Smart Monday partnership with Meeting Professionals International.
New this year, they partnered with Encore to create the “Break Free” experience on the show floor. This experience leveraged IMEX data and Encore’s technology to allow participants to interact with data and collaborate on how we can collectively change the industry for the good. Another type of partnership that has been mutually beneficial is the global representation model where global sales teams can represent individual properties, DMCs, and other types of brands.
At Soundings, we have a partnership with Global DMC Partners and we exhibit with GDP and 38 of their partner DMCs at IMEX America. Their booth was the 8th busiest booth at IMEX and hosted 800+ appointments during the show. It’s a notable example of how partnerships can expand reach and drive business for all sizes of organizations.
“Good partnerships facilitate a team spirit that generates a mutual goal of success. In our most fruitful partnerships, like our partnership with GDP, when there’s a common goal, goodwill, and lots of mutual respect, the partnership flourishes and all parties achieve much success.” – Elsa Renard, Ikebana Events, Global DMC Partners
‘A rising tide lifts all boats’ and this is especially important as we all look forward to the future of our industry!
Next steps
Questions
As you ponder the role of partnerships with your organization, here are a few questions to consider:
How can you be a better partner?
Who should your partners be?
How can you create and nurture partnerships that support your goals?
Resources
I've curated a list of resources to aid in your partnership efforts. Access the resources list here.