Partnership Resources, Inc. Announces New Sales and Distribution Model for Greeting Cards

Partnership Resources, Inc. (PRI) is proud to announce that its PARTnerships line of greeting cards will be represented by Robin & Friends, a leading Minneapolis based team of card representatives. Driven by a tremendous public reaction to its greeting card line, Partnership Resources has been working for six months to take this next step in sales.  Robin & Friends will bring a much wider potential customer base, having represented accounts throughout Minnesota as well as North and South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. 

Robin & Friends have the staff and expertise to maintain and nurture more and larger retail accounts than Partnership Resources has been able to do while utilizing their existing staff.  In addition, several large chains of retail stores will only consider cards that are carried by card representatives.  Partnering with Robin & Friends will provide Partnership Resources with more opportunities to meet the requirements of larger retailers. We look forward to the Robin & Friends team bringing PARTnerships cards to more than 500 retail accounts in the upper Midwest.

"They [PARTnerships Cards] are wonderful, different, and very appealing. I believe they are going to sell very well."

Robin Moreland, owner of Robin & Friends.

Robin & Friends representatives will begin offering PARTnerships cards to their retail accounts in early June.  Our goal is to be in 50 new retail locations within a year of launching this exciting new partnership.

Having addressed its sales needs, it was necessary for Partnership Resources to look at the production end of its card business.  To date, most of the PARTnerships cards sold were produced in-house using a multifunction printer/copier. This mode of production had reached its limits, both in terms of quantity that could be produced and the overall quality and consistency of the end product.  In addition, shipping of cards to customers was done by Partnership Resources staff and put constraints on space within the agency. For the help that was needed, Partnership Resources turned to The John Roberts Company, a large print manufacturer located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

The partnership with The John Roberts Company came at the perfect time for both parties.  John Roberts is in the process of expanding their business to include fulfillment services in addition to the high quality print services they have always offered.  John Roberts provides a web portal to enter orders into the system. Once in the system, John Roberts' staff picks, packages, and ships the orders. This represents an ideal situation for Partnership Resources, giving them the capacity to handle a larger volume of orders effectively.  The situation is also a "win" for John Roberts as Partnership Resources is one of its first customers to use this service, giving them the opportunity to fine tune their fulfillment systems.

Another fantastic aspect of this partnership is that it has created an employment opportunity for Partnership Resources' clients.  A portion of the fulfillment process, collating and sleeving the cards, will be performed by individuals with disabilities on a sub-contract basis.  This was an important aspect of the relationship as Partnership Resources wanted to be certain that its clients benefit from the card business on as many levels as possible. 

"We love the cards. They are wonderful.  We are thrilled to be having PRI workers helping us with the job."

Sandy Dooty, Sales Executive - The John Roberts Company

That The John Roberts Company is a very socially aware and conscientious company was also of importance to Partnership Resources. They are  certified as a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain-of-Custody company through SmartWood, an FSC-accredited body and are using FSC certified paper in the production of PARTnerships Cards.  In addition, they have been incredibly welcoming of Partnership Resources' clients and staff as is evidenced by the photo to the right, showing a group PRI staff, clients, and John Roberts staff witnessing the first cards coming off the press.