Gaining commitment from your partners is one of the most crucial elements to achieving partner marketing success. From our experience, a simple, yet disciplined, approach can create a good rapport and win your partners over.Here are our top tips for gaining partner commitment…

1. Champion Collaborative Working:
Be clear with your partners from the outset and reinforce that you’re 100% committed to working together. Set out your thoughts on how best to work together and find out if they have any preferences too. Agree an approach and ensure you stick to it.

2. Clear Plan Documents:
When you’ve formulated your joint plans, set them out in a clear and easy-to-read document. Share your document with your partner contacts to ensure everyone has an identical view.

3. Regular Catch-up Meetings:
It’s a simple task – and one that sometimes gets forgotten – but a regular catch-up call is crucial. Book a regular slot in the diary – weekly, bi-weekly (it’s completely up to you!) – and use it to catch up on the status of actions to help keep everything on track.

4. Circulate Meeting Notes:
After each catch-up call, circulate notes and updates on actions. You don’t need to write war and peace, just a quick recap on what you’ve discussed and the priorities for the next couple of weeks.

5. Regular Plan Review:
It’s good practice to review your joint plan on a regular basis. Things do change in the marketplace and you may come up with additional ideas, so carrying out a monthly review will give you the opportunity to make adjustments.

6. Be Consistent:
Adopting good practices and ensuring regular contact is key to the success of your relationships. So don’t let things slip! Be consistent and ensure you stick to agreed meeting times and updates, so everyone’s kept in the loop.