Strategic partnerships can be a fantastic lever to fuel the growth of your business, especially when you can align with other non-competing businesses and help each other grow.
I secured multiple partnerships in my early days of business that formed a springboard of growth.
It starts with identifying who are your best clients and what do they look and what are your values and beliefs. From there you can mindmap out potential non-competing business who are marketing to and working with these clients. From here you can reach out for a quick chat or a coffee with these businesses. I like to ask questions around what their best clients look like, identify some of the problems they are having and tell them a bit about myself, how we work and the types of clients we assist.
You want to ensure firstly they have the clients you most want and they align with your values and beliefs. From there the conversation can be quite simple. Suggest that you are both looking to grow and at the same time look after our current clients and uphold our brand reputation.
Depending on where the relationship goes from here could be varied but should be a win-win for both. Meaning if you’ve got a truckload of clients to refer to them you might be interested in a referral fee and the same applies the other way around. Or another example could be they are open to trialling your product then marketing to their list using an affiliate link which easily allows you to track any sales they have generated and any commissions payable to them.
Honestly, I’ve had conversations where the other business are happy to refer any potential clients our way and don’t want anything in return….which I’ve happily accepted.
If you’ve had any partnerships wins let me know in the comments below.
