As part of the family holiday preparation I “volunteered” to get the Euros we needed. “Luckily” my mobile network provider sent me information about the special deal available to their members via a well known high street name. All good, one would think so I dutifully queued up one lunchtime two days before our departure to get the special rate.
Nearly an hour later I emerged; no-one in the branch knew how to process the deal; once they had made several calls it turned out that the deal was of less benefit to me than promised, and definitely not enough to have spent an hour on. My loyalty has reduced a couple of notches.
This isn’t a pure professional services example but it’s still a good reminder that while affiliate marketing and partnerships can be great, if effective communication and joint effort is lacking, they can be counterproductive.