What is a network partner agent?
So you have joined a network and are now part of the party, one of the team. Your company is peer-to-peer with other like minded companies around the world who you will make business with over the next few years. But who really are all of these people and how do they fit in with your company? How should you be thinking of them? Are they your agents? Are they your friends? I’d like to give you a few practical ways to think about these people who make up your new team:
They are not just partners but they are your best customers.
How many customers will you have directly, in house and free hand, who will be able to give you repeat business like other members of your network? That would be a small number my friend when you look at the big picture. If you can make the business work with some important new partner agents in the group your business will not only take off within the group but it will fly. And it will repeat over and over and over. Who will have more freight than a large group of freight agents. And since you have their customers by proxy as your customers as well as the partner importers and / or exporters of your agents’ customers as proxy agents then you automatically will be able to multiply the number of clients you get right off the bat. It is then your job to treat each of them the way that you’d want to be treated so that they give you even more repeat business, grow the on going business they already have with you and give you opportunities to increase your profits with this business.
They are not just customers but they are your best partners.
When you are working in a tight agency relationship you do necessarily need to perform all the functions and duties that would make your business more aligned on a long-term basis. You need to keep open lines of communications. You need to think as a team if you plan to win and keep more business. And you should be meeting each other at the annual general meetings to strategize. (Yes, if you think these meetings are all about meeting new agents you are all wrong in your approach!)
So if you are thinking about your networking peers in the right way they are your best customers and your best partners. This is something neither of you should lose sight of when dealing with one another. Treat yourselves right. Don’t conduct business with one another like it is there forever to be had and to be taken for granted. Your network partner agents are some of the most important customers, and partners, you will ever know. Treat them that way and prosper together.
