01 Nov Strategic partnerships
When you hear entrepreneur or self-employed the visions of a “Lone Wolf” come to mind but in reality we are never really functioning alone. Everyone has a boss. When you are a child and going to school your bosses are your parents, teachers and coaches. As you get those first jobs baby sitting or cutting grass your boss is your customer. As you transition into the workforce your boss is usually pretty obvious, it’s who you report to as well as their supervision and on up the line. Somehow the idea of being self-employed has conjured up the image of someone sitting alone in their office all day long with no contact with the outside word and not one to report too. As a self-employed person, nothing can be further from the truth. My ultimate boss is my clients. If they are not happy they can take their business elsewhere and they do not refer me to other clients. In some circumstances, unhappy clients can cost you additional business through poor comments to their friends and poor reviews on websites like yelp or by contacting the Better Business Bureau.
As you look to build your business I suggest to you the importance of developing strategic partnerships. In Steven Schussler’s book It’s a Jungle in There he tells the story of how he developed a relationship with Maxine Clark, the brains behind Build-A-Bear and suggested that they create a strategic alliance between their business and his T-Rex establishments. Both companies would profit from the relationship and T-Rex would not have to reinvent the wheel. Build-A-Bear spent half a million dollars to retools their operation so that they could create a Build-A-Dino retail outlet that would be placed in the T-Rex retail space. According to Mr. Schussler “Approximately 25 percent of our total restaurant sales come from our retail operations, and, at T-Rex, 50 percent of all retail sales come from one product: Build-A-Dino.”
When developing a business relationship it is important to focus on developing relationships with people and business where you can create a win-win situation. Both companies should benefit at the end of the day. Jason Wakeam who wrote the article The Five Criteria of a “Strategic” Alliance for Ivey Business Journal indicated the following top areas to focus on when you look at potential business relationships:
- Critical to a business objective
2. Competitive advantage and core competency
3. Blocking a competitive threat
4. Future strategic options
5. Risk mitigation
There are lots of ways one can look to build those business relationships. You can join a local business group like my local Weaverville Business Association. You can also join national groups like AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants). In a day of the digital age, you can make connections via social media platforms to include LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Instagram, and Pinterest to name a few. Potential business clients and referral sources are everywhere. You just need to put on your thinking cap and figure out who they are.
No Comments