activities to win and serve the customer lie more with one party. This structure encourages us both to concentrate on obtaining the most profitable deal.
Some of the managed partners are actually strategic partners. In such cases, the collaboration incorporates joint activities such as newsletters and seminars. Sales personnel from both sides meet up to share opportunities. With some partners Comsoft receives a fee for lead generation, in case only services are sold.
Vincent has several ideas on how to promote partner loyalty.“ First of all we have to further enhance our reward structure with proper lead registrations and incentives. The second action is to further share knowledge about customers. We receive marketing funding from our vendors, and a third option is ' to apply that money in consultation with our partners.
Finally, we can organise events for our potential clients and promote our partners there.”
Apart from distribution partners Comsoft has alliances with complementing companies to make collaborative offerings. In these cases no fees are paid. One example is the collaboration with IT specialist Inter Access. Inter Access will source all its software licensing activities with Comsoft, and Comsoft will be the preferred implementation partner for Inter Access.
He sees a major challenge ahead:“ As Microsoft offers more and more solutions „ through the cloud ‟, the need for software licenses is bound to decrease. We already notice it in the market. We will have to adapt both our business model and our partnerships to these changing circumstances.”
Franchising
Franchising is an important growth strategy for many organisations, particularly in retail. Franchising can also be applied in the business-to-business market to expedite the sale of products or technology. In return for the brand name, the service concept and often the purchase of products, franchisees pay a fixed sum or a percentage of the turnover. This often concerns long-lasting contracts in which the franchisor and franchisee clearly depend on each other.
For a franchisor it is often important to grow rapidly through the number of franchisees, as this yields cost benefits in three respects:
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� He is better able to spread his investments in the concept. Marketing communication generally becomes more effective since there are more sales outlets. Scale size enables him to negotiate better purchasing conditions.
Additionally, it is a way of establishing a brand name that requires few extra own investments.
Nevertheless, the value of the franchise format is somewhat doubtful. Many franchise formulas collapse relatively soon because the concept is not embraced by consumers, or even because it proves impossible to find sufficient franchisees. 70