Partners
The best people we know are usually the worst at being found.
The chef who never advertised. The restorer with a two year book and no website. The skipper everyone in the port recommends and nobody outside it has heard of.
We spend our lives looking for them, and then we spend our clients’ money with them. If that sounds like you, read on.
Who you would be working with
Our clients do not shop. They ask us.
We are a private office for entrepreneurs, their families and their family offices. Based in the south of France, working across Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Pacific.
These families do not compare three quotes. They ask one person they trust, and they buy what that person recommends. They travel eight to twelve times a year, own property in more than one country, employ staff, and spend consistently rather than seasonally.
When we recommend you, you are not entering a pitch. You have already won it. What is left is delivering.
The arrangement
Three parties. Three wins. No hidden fourth.
Most networks in this category work because the supplier pays to be there. Ours works because the client pays us to be right. That single difference changes everything downstream, so here is exactly who gets what.
They stop guessing
- They reach someone excellent on the first attempt.
- They pay your price, not an inflated one.
- Their preferences arrive before they do.
- If something goes wrong, one person owns it.
You get introduced, not listed
- Named recommendation, by a person, to a family who trusts them.
- No listing fee, no commission on your existing clients.
- Marketing and training you would otherwise buy.
- A category held for you rather than shared with six rivals.
We keep our word
- Our recommendation is the whole product. You are it.
- A retainer or project fee from the client, agreed in advance.
- Trade terms with you where they are standard in your sector, disclosed to the client every time.
- A partner who makes us look right is a partner we use for years.
We will never ask you to discount for us, quote us a rate we then mark up in secret, or pay for placement. If we cannot make the economics work honestly, we would rather not work together.
Why this is worth your time
What you actually get.
Not a badge for your website. Five things with commercial weight.
Recommendation
A person saying your name, in a room, to a family who trusts them. Not an impression, not a directory entry, not a link in a newsletter nobody opens.
Marketing
Every partner gets a written profile across our social channels during the year, produced at our cost and yours to use anywhere. A full feature in The Concierge Chronicles is earned rather than issued: it goes to the partners whose delivery, to us or to a client, has proved worth writing about.
Training
How this client expects to be spoken to, quoted, chased and looked after. Where the relationship is usually lost. Delivered to you and to your team, in person where we can.
Advisory
Pricing, positioning, service design and the operational fixes that stop a good business losing a great client in week three. We have seen what works and what quietly does not.
The Pavilions
Host from our room at Le Mans, Goodwood, Miami or the Cape. One partner per category, per event. Twelve to twenty guests, all of them people you would want to meet.
The rule that protects you
One category. One partner. One region.
A network that signs everyone is a directory, and a directory is worth nothing to the people in it. So the roster is capped by category and by region, and we only add a new partner when client demand genuinely requires one.
If you are our chef in Provence, you are our chef in Provence. We will not sign three more next spring because it looks good on a map.
It follows that we grow slowly, we say no often, and we take a long time deciding. That is the same care we apply to a client, pointed at you.
Who we are looking for
Owner led, and doing the work yourself.
There is no size requirement and no minimum turnover. Some of our best partners are one person and a van.
- The person who answers the phone has skin in the business.
- You make it, grow it, fly it, restore it, cook it or crew it yourself.
- You can absorb a genuine emergency once or twice a year without theatre.
- You tell us immediately when the answer is no, when the date is gone, or when the thing is not what it says it is.
- You would rather turn down work than deliver it badly.
Not for us: resellers, franchises, anyone who white labels another person’s work, and anyone whose first question is how many clients we have.
How it works
Four steps. Six weeks. No cost at any stage.
Conversation
Not a form review. We come to you where we can, because we want to see the workshop, the kitchen, the hangar or the vines.
One real request
We put a live client request through you and watch how you handle it. This is where most applications end, and it is the point.
Terms
Agreed once, in writing, at the start. Confidentiality both ways. Your right to decline any request, at any time, without consequence.
Roster and profile
We brief the team properly, write your profile for our channels, and start putting your name in rooms. Then we keep going.
Before you ask
The five questions every partner asks.
01What does it cost to join?+
Nothing. No joining fee, no annual fee, no fee for the profile or the training. We earn from our clients, and from standard trade terms in sectors where those already exist. If we ever charge you for anything, it will be a consultancy project you asked for and agreed a price on.
02Will you take my client away from me?+
No. Anyone you bring is yours and stays yours, and we take nothing on your existing business. What we do is introduce you to families you would never have reached, and stay between you and them only for as long as that is useful to both of you.
03Do you mark up my prices?+
The client sees your price. Where a trade rate exists in your sector we use it and we disclose it. What we never do is ask you to inflate a quote so we can hide a margin inside it. That practice is why families stopped trusting this industry.
04How much business should I expect?+
We will not promise you a number, and be careful with anyone who does. What we will tell you honestly is how many clients we have who need your category, how often they buy it, and what they typically spend. You can do the arithmetic yourself before you commit anything.
05What happens if I have to say no?+
Nothing. You are full, you are away, the dates do not work, or the request is not right for you. Say so quickly and we will find another answer. A partner who cannot say no is a partner who will fail us at the worst possible moment, so we would rather build the habit early.
Apply
Tell us what you do, and who does it.
A few lines is plenty. If it looks like a fit we will come and see you. If it does not, we will tell you why, quickly, and we will remember you if that changes.
Or write to christian@thegatekeepers.club.