How do you remain a lean and efficient organization while trying to service customers across the globe with personalized service and attention? That was my challenge to figure out when I joined LMKR just over a year ago. I knew from interacting with customers in our industry that service after the sale is just as important as the quality of the product. I knew that we would need to enlist channel partners that were well versed with GeoGraphix and the customer base and had a reputation for providing top notch service in their territories.
Once I had settled on the type of channel partners we wanted, it was a matter of determining where. Our goal is to have channel partners wherever GeoGraphix has a significant presence in the marketplace. I knew we would have to prioritize the countries first because of the length of time it takes to perform recruitment, due diligence on prospective partners and finalize the agreements. Working with our regional sales managers we decided to initially focus in on China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Egypt and Colombia. Through fortuitous introductions, traveling in country and attending industry trade shows, our sales managers were easily able to shortlist candidates in these countries that met our requirement for being versed in GeoGraphix with a reputation for stellar service. After doing further research and visiting with all of the contenders, the sales teams were ready to make their official recommendations for who should represent LMKR and GeoGraphix in each territory.
This is the point where I took over the process; I worked closely with our partners through our due-diligence process and concluded execution of the partnership agreements.
I am very pleased to report that as of today we have 7 channel partners on board with Reighshore Energy Services being our first partner signed on to cover Nigeria. Since then we’ve added AIP in Colombia, Largeo in Russia, Technical Petroleum Solutions in Egypt and Oman, PT Meidhi Petro Energi in Indonesia, GNT in China, and most recently KTIB to service Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.
Over the last 10 weeks, we have “on-boarded” 4 of the 7 partners and we are just about to complete the final 3 of the first phase – details of our partners are accessible by clicking here.
On-boarding consists of: education on the sales-to-delivery process; ensuring our partners are equipped with the latest GeoGraphix software and are trained on the latest features; enabling our partners to maximize their visibility to their local GeoGraphix user community by providing support for website presence, User Group meetings, e-communications, trade show presence, etc.
Once our partner is “on-boarded” then the fun really begins. We work closely with them to assist and support their sales efforts, ensuring that the user community realizes all the benefits of our glocalized* approach.
(*Glocalization refers to the practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations)
Over the next couple of months, I will introduce each partner to you through this blog. Each one has a slightly different business profile and “personality.” However all of them have a common quest which is to make GeoGraphix the most sought after and used G&G software, through its strength as a product and their expertise providing pre and post-sales support – setting the bar in the industry for everyone else to follow.
My goal is to continue to set the standard higher and higher. To do that I need your feedback and suggestions of the local support that you would like to see GeoGraphix deliver – feel free to comment or send a question – I will respond to each and every one.
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