At Dialect we believe that Trust in partnership serves as the cornerstone of successful relationships. 

In the Payments sector, choosing the right trusted partner is essential. 

When companies are looking for a partner, they should prioritise transparency, open communication and real value. Partnerships must deliver more than creating a purely transactional relationship. 

To understand further the importance of Partnerships here at Dialect and perhaps within the wider Payments Sector, I asked our Payments Guru, our Head of Sales, Craig Luther his thoughts. 

With over 13 years of experience in the Payments with businesses such as EMIs, BaaS provider and Payments Processors, Craig defines and implements Dialect’s sales strategies, driving and forging long-term partnerships. 

Bianca –  On returning from Money20/20 as part of a round up you stated “People do business with people, not bots." What do you mean by this? Give me a bit more depth. 

Craig - If I can just clarify that statement a little; a few years ago my first Boss and something of a mentor in Sales told me; “People do Business with People”. 

I believe this whole heartedly. Solutions and technology are cold and often complex. We need the relationships that go alongside these to build the connections, trust and comfort to allow business partnerships to grow and expand. 

In the payments world we aren’t just moving boxes. 

Often, we are selling complex and emotive services, or solutions and we need to know we have in our partners someone we can trust to deliver, be accountable and clear on their responsibility to support their partner. 

Bianca - What are some of the ways Dialect go about establishing a robust partnership? 

Craig - Trust is key. From the very outset the team here at Dialect focus on open and clear communication. Authenticity of engagement and clarity on the solutions we offer are in place from day one. 

We avoid overstating our capabilities – luckily, they are pretty broad as it is – and make sure we deliver on what we say. 

Understanding. The senior team here at Dialect has many years of experience in the payments sector and we always focus on our partners business, what it is they do, and what they are seeking to do and how we can help them. A real understanding of our partners business, business model and roadmap means we can help them in many more ways. 

At Dialect we have the idea of a trusted Advisor. As we very often support partners on key operational or customer centric processes allowing us to provide oversight and reporting on these areas we can discuss where challenges are identified and due to our wide partner network, we can often introduce businesses who can help if the solution falls out of our remit. 

We don’t claim to be experts on everything but luckily, we know lots of experts on lots of things. 

Bianca – You talk about Trusted Advisor; do we need to be careful on the Advice we give? 

Craig - 100%.

For example, we aren’t compliance and regulatory specialists or management consultants by any stretch and we don’t claim to be. 

What we are is experienced and with a great sense of best practice across many areas. Where we can help a lot is as a sounding board or as an additional opinion on any thoughts or considerations your business may have. 

For instance, we try and get a deep understanding of our partners roadmaps so we can call out any areas we can help on. 

Bianca – In the office you often talk about true value in Partnerships. What do you mean by that. 

Craig - The focus on value is hugely important. That goes for us, our partners and indeed the wider industry. 

I am always mindful of, what value do we bring? At a business level we can support on operational efficiency, cost savings, increased oversight and so on but what more do we bring to the relationship? 

Often, we can introduce new opportunities to our partners via our existing network and relationships. For some of our key strategic partnerships we can offer value added services, bedded into their technology stack. For others we offer access to a partner network to help them shape and build their business. 

It is so important to us that the relationships we have always bring value. 

Bianca - Why do businesses choose to partner with Dialect? 

Craig - I think there are a few reasons here. 

One we solve problems. We actually help with challenges faced and smooth the challenges out. 

We build strong relationships. Very often with a partner we will have been talking for some time on shaping up a solution and understanding what they need. By the time we formalize the partnership trust and engagement has already been well established. 

We strive to bring value. I keep on about it but it’s so important that communication is open and clear and we bring more to the relationship than our solutions. Which are excellent by the way. 

Lastly can I say because of my hair?