Techniques September 2012 - 24

CareerTech VISION 2012— Advocacy/Partnerships

Figure 1: Client Pyramid Calling Plan
Effort

Level 9 Primary Clients Level 3 Secondary Clients Level 1 Training Clients

plan is primarily for establishing the level of our relationship with the client. The Business Excellence Training Model helps us to strategically provide the best training services with the most return on investment for the client. Within each step, we have clearly defined services and programs—such as safety, management or computer training, to name a few. The focus of this model is to serve the client by aligning people, knowledge, skills and opportunity so that they receive documented/measurable results for their investment in the Autry system. This will validate our value to them, which is key to making them our legislative allies.

Establishing Partnerships
Client Prospects

us to remain efficient and effective while continually serving all our clients. As we establish contact and begin building relationships, our focus shifts to identifying what their organizational and workforce needs are so that we can begin developing training solutions and services for them. The Client Pyramid Calling Plan (Figure 1) is a visual of our approach to ranking and building beginning relationships with the companies who fit our criteria. The pyramid in front shows the three levels. The inverted pyramid in the background represents the efforts we will make to move a company up the pyramid. These efforts include phone calls, personal contacts, focus groups, etc. Clients who reach Level 9 (primary clients) are our targets for full collaborative partners and eventually legislative advocates.

In addition, the Business Excellence Training Model helps us identify opportunities to further build our relationships and establish stronger partnerships based on our validated training successes. Over the years, we have identified five tiers of training partners that help us move our clients to become legislative advocates for us. All our clients are training partners. We want anyone who uses our training services to view us as a partner rather than just a vendor. The name alone fosters the awareness and involvement that builds long-term relationships. As we build these long-term relationships, we strategically move our clients through the five tiers of partnerships from being “ just a training client” to being an active and involved collaborative partner. The tiers are outlined below: • Training Partner. Any business client receiving our training services. • Active Partner. Any repeat business client who returns for regular training in at least one area, e.g. safety training, management training, etc. These clients might also serve on advisory councils or participate in a supervised work experience program. • Planning Partner. Any repeat business client who has an established

written annual training plan that Autry implements on their behalf in more than one area. These clients serve on councils, provide subject matter expertise, give funds to our foundation, etc. • Embedded Partner. We work so closely with these partners that we place a full-time training coordinator in their business to coordinate and provide their training on a daily basis. • Executive Leadership Council (ELC). The ELC is the most important partnership that Autry has with a client. These clients are long-time partners who have moved through the aforementioned partnership tiers and participate fully in Autry’s CEO Network. They have networked relationships throughout the technology center and are considered vital to our programs. The CEO or top decisionmaker of the client business participates in a monthly ELC meeting with the other members of the Council and Strate. They meet to discuss common issues, trends and concerns among business and industry and our community/state. Our area legislators are also members of this group and participate regularly. Membership in the ELC is select and by invitation only. The agenda is determined by the membership with facilitated discussion focusing on their needs and issues. Autry is an equal member at the table and not the topic under discussion. The members of the ELC are already so embedded in our Autry programs that they see themselves as part of our organization. Our primary focus is to help them build their relationships with each other and with our legislators. Currently, there are 17 companies involved in the council, which has just completed its sixteenth year. Over the years our legislators’ involvement in the ELC has grown. Legislators use the ELC as a sounding board for any legislation that might impact our commuwww.acteonline.org

Business Excellence Training Model
The Business Excellence Training Model (Figure 2) is a 10-step training model used along with the Client Pyramid Calling Plan. As stated previously, the calling

Techniques

September 2012

Techniques September 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Techniques September 2012