Partner Development & Retention Specialist

AREAS OF DELIVERYCustomer retention• Driving customer retention through consultative engagements.• Ensuring customers derive value from our solutions through understanding there expectations and ensuring they get the full value from our solution provided.• My current portfolio consists of 14 customers that make up +/- R1.7million.• Solutions are software as a service in the telecoms / expense management space.• Sectors include, insurance, financial / banking, FMCG, SOE's.Action plans• Completion and regular updates on Customer Account Plan and respective internal systems - relevant to required delivery. Rating above 3 will require updates on Customer Account Plans – external to current delivery.• Formulation and delivery of initiatives in accordance with customer account plans.• Execution on customer cross sell matrix (gap analysis).Customer Relations Management• Face to face engagements with relevant customer stakeholders – minimum monthly engagement.• Quarterly engagement with Management.►►CLIENTSFinancial Institutions / Parastatal Organisations / Government Departments / Engineering

AREAS OF DELIVERY• Stock and Cost management• Finance and Reporting • Inventory Management • Annual conference management►►ACHIEVEMENTS1. Reduce debt levels by R8 million and create profitable new product lines for the company As Operations Manager, together with my new MD, managed to reduce debt levels by R8 million and create profitable new product lines for the company in a space of 9 months by splitting various key focus areas as well as reviewing and analysing all pricing, products and processes in the respective departments. I was also tasked with negotiating and enforcing higher pricing and avoiding margin erosion with our largest key customer.2. Cost reduction by re-negotiating all our rates with our service providers. I negotiated better rates with new service providers saving the organisation on average R67 000 or 15% per year on courier, and R15 000 or 20% per year on packaging for the business. I stopped over-night deliveries by managing customer’s expectations. Savings on cell phone claims was achieved by ensuring that all employee access codes were up-dated which resulted in an average R2000 or 30% saving per month. I further reduced costs by better managing and understanding the system and input information by updating the ‘bills of material’ for all our items which added an estimated R200 000 to our profit for the year. 3. Staff coaching and developmentI train and coach all of my staff. Training and coaching the warehouse manager has freed up a lot of my time, allowing me to move into a more strategic role where I could be more effective in dealing with key clients. We implemented effective succession planning in order to create back-up staff who could perform important tasks in the absence of a key staff member.

►►OVERVIEWMy role was to completely transform the sales and corporate image of the business, with the aim being to open up other branches around the country. I started by creating clearly defined objectives for the staff and setting forth sales targets. I had to structure staff roles and develop key performance indicators for each of them. During this period, I was also involved in general operations for the distribution side of the business and I was also given the task to improve and develop the company ecommerce website.