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Mentoring
Success in the WSI Network
Around
the world, business franchises are recognizing the value of Mentoring
Programs. Not many organizations, however, have explored the full potential
of this mechanism. WSI, the world’s leading provider of Internet
solutions to small and medium sized (SME) businesses and the #1 Internet
services franchise in the world, has taken Mentoring to a new level of
sophistication. Having started off with experienced franchisees mentoring
newer ones, the company has expanded the scope of its Mentoring Program
to also include mentoring of end-clients through increasing educational
seminars and profitability analysis based progress tracking. Success in
the WSI network has thus come to mean a well-rounded, deep and thorough
meaning of enhanced profitability for all stakeholders, franchisees, end-clients
and the franchisor.
Since
its inception over a decade ago, WSI has always sought ways to provide
formal and informal forums for its franchisees to interact, exchange best
practices and work cooperatively to ensure the collective success of the
WSI network and its clients. Furthermore, WSI Consultants are trained
to adopt a unique business methodology whereby they work as business partners
with their clients on a long term, mutually beneficial relationship. This
approach of handholding a client from early stages of e-business adoption
to advanced levels of e-commerce and search engine marketing enables mentoring
of small and medium sized business owners by their WSI Consultants. The
overall effect of this kind of mentoring that involves need analysis,
solution delivery, result monitoring and business efficiency upgrades
is the ongoing and enhanced profitability for franchisees and their clients.
WSI has
strived hard to create an organizational climate that encourages, enables,
rewards and accelerates learning by ensuring that access to information
and learning resources remains continuous, easy and affordable for all.
Ron McArthur, president WSI says, “Having studied
the pattern of informal mentoring within our network for the past decade
or so, we decided to give it a more structured and formal look in order
to optimize the positively beneficial results as well as to define set
goals and objectives for all of us involved. No longer is mentoring a
random effect of 2 franchisees getting together to manage a successful
project. Although this may still happen sporadically, we now have several
key Mentoring initiatives in place (more details provided below) to ensure
that franchisees, their clients and us as the franchisor are committed
to achieve defined goals over a specified time period with measurable
results affecting the bottom line.”
Darren
Kincaid, a Virginia, US based WSI Internet Marketing Consultant
(franchisee) started his WSI business in January 2007 and in less than
6 months, he already has a good base of clients generating monthly recurring
revenue plus his new business referrals are growing. “Mentoring
has been the key to my early success. Even though I was very well equipped
with the intensive training provided by WSI headquarters and the ongoing
business coaching that I was receiving, I was a bit stunned when I landed
my first big e-commerce deal. The WSI Mentoring Program allowed me the
chance to review and select a Mentor in my proximity. With the knowledge
and experience of a seasoned WSI Consultant, Neal Lappe, I was able to
manage my client’s expectations, work efficiently with the WSI e-marketplace
production partners and deliver a world class solution that is now a proud
exhibit in my portfolio of clients. I would not have been able to achieve
this level of success without my Mentor. The success of my client is also
not a surprise by-product – we worked together to realize the desired
goals and I feel great to be on my client’s speed-dial! I am not
just another vendor but a valued business partner. I will continue to
mentor my client towards their ongoing e-business profitability using
the tools, techniques and knowledge expertise available to me through
the WSI network.”
Ron
McArthur concludes, “Simply put, at WSI, learning is a
part of everybody’s job description and an essential component of
work. Every day, in every way, we collectively look at ways to improve
each WSI team member’s ability to perform their jobs at higher levels
of productivity, efficiency and profitability. We do this by facilitating
advanced learning using best of breed learning techniques, systems and
experts. Mentoring is a cornerstone of success for all WSI touch-points.”
An Overview of WSI Mentoring Initiatives:
Ambassador
Training Seminars - Ambassador Coaches are experienced WSI Internet
Marketing Consultants with expertise in certain techniques or skills which
have led to their ongoing profitability and high performance. The quality
of training imparted by Ambassador Coaches and benefits experienced by
session participants are regularly surveyed and monitored to ensure that
the curriculum content and methods of training meet the changing needs
of the WSI community. The subject tracks covered in these seminars range
from sales and marketing to business management, customer relationship
management and Internet marketing strategies.
Having
designed a living resource for learning with the Ambassador Training Seminars,
WSI encourages each of its Consultants to take advantage of this opportunity
to learn from their experienced peers, the Ambassador Coaches. Although
it is difficult to attach a monetary value to these high quality seminars,
the logistical expenses required to attend an event of this nature has
been valued at US$1,500 USD. In order to ensure maximum participation, the
WSI Training Scholarship Fund (TSF) was created to help franchisees cover
the seminar fees. Every Consultant is thus awarded an annual one-time
total of US$5,000 USD to be used towards four separate Ambassador Training
Seminars.
Virtual
Training - As the WSI community continues to grow and expand
around the globe, the company finds great value in local Consultants who
can provide a wealth of learning to their regional peers or to the entire
WSI community on specific areas of business. WSI endeavors to present
this learning to all its Consultants, online, without having to pay for
it. Virtual Training is provided in the form of “Coffee
Break” Web casts (an audio/visual presentation that is
broadcast over the Internet), podcasts, video presentations and e-talk
shows. WSI Consultants from all over the world can log on using only their
computers and an Internet connection to learn about new WSI products and
services, business practices, industry trends and other topical subjects
that affect their business. Consultants have the opportunity to discuss
and ask the presenter questions in real-time online and the Web casts
are also archived for future viewing.
Suppliers
within the WSI e-Marketplace range from Production Centers to suppliers
providing a diverse range of services such as Hosting solutions, Search
Engine Optimization, Pay-per-click programs, Sales & Marketing Training,
Copywriting, Lead Generation, Multimedia solutions, creative services
and many more. As Authorized Suppliers with WSI, the quality of their
products and services is the best of the best in order to help franchisees
provide exceptional service to their SME customers. It is no surprise
then that the people in these organizations are highly qualified and experienced
in their own fields. More importantly, they are always willing to add
value to the WSI community by sharing their knowledge through Virtual
Training media like Webinars.
Excellence
and Innovation Conferences - These conferences attract over a
150 WSI Consultants from all over the world. The objective of these two/three
day conferences is to enable seamless flow of information, best practices,
trade ‘secrets’, industry trends and technological advancements
across the WSI network of Consultants in an environment of close networking
and relationship building.
Keynote
speakers at these conferences are subject matter experts of repute; leaders
in different fields of specialization related to Internet Marketing and
Business Consulting. In the past WSI has invited well-known and extremely
busy industry experts such as Susan Sweeney, John Quarto–von Tivadar,
Brad Fallon, Jay Conrad Levinson and others who willingly spared the time
to come in as speakers and were very happy to be introduced to our high-profile
network of WSI Consultants. Presenters at E&I are also WSI Internet
Marketing Consultants who have excelled in their WSI business and consistently
achieved greater profitability by introducing an innovative concept or
practice. These presentations are founded in the objectives of sharing
best practices that can be adopted and duplicated in a flexible manner
across cultural boundaries by other WSI Consultants, anywhere in the world.
Internet
Business Planning Seminars - As small business owners themselves,
WSI Consultants understand and empathize with the needs and motivations
of other small and medium sized business owners. Making SME businesses
realize that having a website is just not enough, they help business owners
retain repeat customers and attract new qualified customers through increased
traffic and enhanced online conversions. To educate SME business owners
about profiting from the Internet using a mix of Internet Marketing tools
and techniques, WSI conducts Internet Business Planning (IBP) Seminars
across North America and Europe. These seminars are a structured form
of mentoring that WSI franchisees provide their SME clients.
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