Establish Complementary Partnerships for Your Small-Business Success
“No man (or woman) is an island,” is an old saying with a lot of truth behind it. If you’ve been in any kind of business for some time, I’m sure you already know that who you know is sometimes much more important for your business than what you know or what you sell/do.
One of the best ways I know to catapult your business to a higher orbit of success and profitability is to establish non-competing and complementary partnerships with other similar-minded small-business owners. There is strength in numbers, especially if those “numbers” have something to give that the others would be pleased to take.
For example, let’s say you sell vacuum cleaners and cleaning products. Obviously you do not want to form partnerships with another vacuum dealer since your interests would clash.
But what about that pet hospital nearby?
A pet owner would patronize both businesses: she would go to the vacuum cleaner store to buy a carpet cleaner to get rid off the pet stains and pet odor. She would also stop by at the pet hospital to take care of her pet’s ailments.
So what could be more natural than these two complementary businesses referring and sending customers to each other? It’s a win-win arrangement made in business heaven. Both for example can offer each other’s “10% OFF” coupons to their own customers.
Another example... how about a car wash establishment and a florist?
“What’s the relationship?” you may ask.
My hunch is most people who have their cars washed (especially at those hand-wash and detail shops) are on their way to an important meeting or occasion. And the chances are wherever they are going they can use a flower bouquet as a gesture of love or goodwill to their “important other.” Thus someone who buys a car wash may be the ideal customer for fresh flowers, and vice versa.
Analyze your own business and make a list of all the businesses with which you can possibly share the same clients or customers. Then send those businesses a partnership offer for mutual gain.
Don’t forget that most of the time your customers would appreciate the ease of doing business with both of you, especially if they are saving money in the process through coupons and special discounts. At that point the arrangement becomes a win-win-win equation.
No business is an island. Establish your bridges to other businesses and prosper.
Ugur Akinci is a small-business owner who shares his writing-for-success techniques at http://www.How-to-Write-Anything.com
One of the best ways I know to catapult your business to a higher orbit of success and profitability is to establish non-competing and complementary partnerships with other similar-minded small-business owners. There is strength in numbers, especially if those “numbers” have something to give that the others would be pleased to take.
For example, let’s say you sell vacuum cleaners and cleaning products. Obviously you do not want to form partnerships with another vacuum dealer since your interests would clash.
But what about that pet hospital nearby?
A pet owner would patronize both businesses: she would go to the vacuum cleaner store to buy a carpet cleaner to get rid off the pet stains and pet odor. She would also stop by at the pet hospital to take care of her pet’s ailments.
So what could be more natural than these two complementary businesses referring and sending customers to each other? It’s a win-win arrangement made in business heaven. Both for example can offer each other’s “10% OFF” coupons to their own customers.
Another example... how about a car wash establishment and a florist?
“What’s the relationship?” you may ask.
My hunch is most people who have their cars washed (especially at those hand-wash and detail shops) are on their way to an important meeting or occasion. And the chances are wherever they are going they can use a flower bouquet as a gesture of love or goodwill to their “important other.” Thus someone who buys a car wash may be the ideal customer for fresh flowers, and vice versa.
Analyze your own business and make a list of all the businesses with which you can possibly share the same clients or customers. Then send those businesses a partnership offer for mutual gain.
Don’t forget that most of the time your customers would appreciate the ease of doing business with both of you, especially if they are saving money in the process through coupons and special discounts. At that point the arrangement becomes a win-win-win equation.
No business is an island. Establish your bridges to other businesses and prosper.
Ugur Akinci is a small-business owner who shares his writing-for-success techniques at http://www.How-to-Write-Anything.com
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