Network operations and turnaround: when partners exist and the network does not perform
Most consultants sell the system before the first partner. Most difficulties come after: the parent company does not know what is happening in the markets, partners make mistakes because support is not there when they need it, and some partners damage the brand.
Network Operations and Support Program
3 to 4 months. For a network with five or more partners that the parent company does not control.
- Network management system: partner performance indicators, reporting rhythm, visit protocol, escalation on deviations, management of contractual obligations through the life of the relationship.
- Quality system: delivery standards, regular audits, mystery visits, scoring, corrective action and consequences for repeated deviation.
- Training architecture and knowledge library: training by role, scripts for recordings, a library available when it is needed, requalification when people change.
- Onboarding: a standardised programme from signature to launch, delivered once on the next partner.
- Two-day training for the parent company team.
The programme loses half its value without a retainer, because people change. Network Support, monthly, is the intended continuation.
Network Health Check and Turnaround
Two weeks to four months. For a network where some partners miss targets, breach standards or damage the brand.
Three levels of review, so that you can enter where trust and budget allow and continue when the review shows it is needed. The paid lower level is credited in full on moving up.
- Network Survey. A structured survey of all partners and interviews with management. What partners think, where the obstacles are, whether they follow the model. Two weeks, no visits.
- Sample Audit. The survey plus an on-site review of three to five partners chosen to cover the best, the average and the problematic. Findings generalised to the whole network. Three to four weeks.
- Full Network Audit. Every partner reviewed: performance, compliance with standards and contract, cause separated from symptom. Every partner classified as keep, fix or exit, with a prioritised action list. Four to six weeks.
Then, per partner, one of three paths: a three-month improvement programme with targets and checkpoints; renegotiation and restructuring of the agreement; or an orderly exit with the brand protected and the market prepared for a successor. Finally, a management system so that the same does not happen again.
Related Focused Engagements
Master Partner Diagnostic
Master or area partners act outside the system: sourcing around it, selling outside the channel, suspected links to competitors. A diagnosis per market, a brief for your lawyers and an action plan with negotiating strategy.
Contract Health Check
Do your existing agreements give you the levers you think you have? A gap map by clause and a list of legal questions for local counsel.
Partner Exit Plan
Ending a partner relationship with the brand, stock, receivables, data and non-compete protected, and the market prepared for a successor.
Frequently asked
Do you take over negotiations with partners?
We prepare the position, the strategy and the sequence, and we sit beside you. We do not represent you in litigation; that is for lawyers. Where negotiation leads to a restructured agreement, a success fee tied to the additional revenue actually received applies.
Can we start with the survey only?
Yes. The survey is a complete deliverable on its own. In practice it almost always shows enough for the client to ask for the next level, and the amount paid is credited.
The first conversation is without obligation and takes 45 minutes.
Within five working days we prepare a proposal for a Focused Engagement or a programme, with scope, deliverables, deadline and a fixed price. The price is fixed, by work package, and is reduced only with a proportionate reduction in scope, a longer deadline or a larger contribution by the client.
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