| |
| |
|
patsbusiness2.com
|
|
|
|
Growing Your Small Business Through Alliances and Joint Ventures
-- Beyond Cold Calling, "Warm" Calling and Sending E-mails -- Many Solo Entrepreneurs work from a home office. Our only connections to the outside world are the internet / e-mail and the telephone. Cold calling, "warm" calling and sending e-mails may seem like the most obvious way to let people know about us and to generate sales. But, there's another way that works even better. An alliance is usually an agreement between two businesses whose services or products compliment each other. Each agrees to recommend the other's services to their respective clients and to pay a percentage to the other if the referral results in paying work. Let's say you're a marketing expert, but you don't do public relations. However, sometimes your clients require public relations as part of their marketing strategy. You meet with several public relations experts who specialize in different fields, but who don't offer your type of marketing services, and you form 3 alliances. A 10% commission is what you agree on for mutual referrals that result in work. Now, both you and your alliance partners are more "full service" providers. You can offer PR services to your clients and your partners can offer marketing services to theirs through you. In addition you could add them as "partners" on your website, giving your company the advantage and versatility of an expert team. It's a win - win situation. A joint venture is formed when you not only have an alliance but you come up with a strategy to find customers together. Suppose you make custom window treatments. You decide to speak to a local fabric shop that specializes in upholstery and window fabric. If you could be their exclusive referral for customers that need someone to make their fabric into beautiful draperies, and you are willing to pay them a commission for each referral, what happens? They can say they now offer a new value-added service to their customers, which may mean a customer chooses their store above another. You have a steady source of customers. You may even get them to display some of your draperies made with their fabric in your store. They agree to allow you to advertise in their store, perhaps even offer a workshop, and you'll recommend them exclusively to your clients. You may even advertise together. The possibilities are limitless. There are numerous ways to put together alliances and joint ventures. Thinking outside the box and being clear about what benefits both parties would receive are essential. As always, getting the agreement in writing is a good idea, as is being sure the person you're dealing with is honorable and reliable. And try to discover ALL the alliance possibilities that exist for your business. Our custom window treatment business owner above could also contact interior designers, furniture stores, residential real estate agents, home builders sales offices and even paint stores. So, what are you waiting for? Start today by: -- Making a list of at least 5 prospective alliance partners. -- Making a list of 5 ways the alliance would benefit them and you. -- Making a list of 5 ways you could implement the alliance. start making contact! One Final Note - some people have asked whether or not to disclose the partnership to the client. Sometimes it's obvious that you are referring a client to your alliance partner, as in the case of the drapery maker and the fabric store. If it's not so apparent, you may want to simply inform your client that you will be working with your alliance partner who is an expert in their field. For the sake of consistency, how much to explain to a client is something that you and your partner should agree upon up front. Copyright 2003, Janis Pettit ____________________________________________ Janis Pettit member of Team Solo-E (http://www.Solo-E.com) and President of SmarTrack (http://www.smartrack.net), which specializes in improving profit and productivity through small business marketing and growth consulting, business coaching, workshops and tele-classes. Janis is co-author of 136 Ways to Market Your Small Business. Her dynamic Big Vision Roadmap series includes a Mastery Program for small business, Big Vision Roadmap to Sales, Big Vision Marketing and Leadership, plus an upcoming book. In addition to owning four successful businesses over the last 18 years, Janis has worked with scores of small businesses owners and independent agents, as well as larger corporate clients such as IBM and Becton Dickinson. She hosted her own TV business talk show in New York, has motivated hundreds of professionals through public speaking and workshops and her articles have been published both locally and internationally. Janis can be reached at 919-562-2280. ____________________________________________ *********** Find more articles like this at http://www.Solo-E.com - Keeping Solo Entrepreneurs Juiced in Business and in Life. Our team of Solo Entrepreneurs are comprised of small business experts who support others in finding business success with the flexibility and freedom to have a life, too. Network with other freelancers, self-employed and Solo Entrepreneurs in our forums, enjoy our articles and newsletter, and find other online training opportunities. ***********
MORE RESOURCES:
Small-Business - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Effectively Completing the Operations Plan Section of Your Business Plan The Operations Plan is a critical component of any business plan as it presents the Company's action plan for executing its vision. The Operations Plan must detail 1) the processes that are performed to serve customers every day (short-term processes) and 2) the overall business milestones that the company must attain to be successful (long-term processes). 5 Good Reasons a Self-Employed Professional Should Take Vacation So you think you're not justified in taking time away from your business because you're self-employed? Here are five great reasons why you should definitely take a vacation:1. Physical down time You work hard to grow and maintain your business. How To Get Slightly Famous in Print Early in my career, I wrote an article for a small business magazine about self-publishing as a marketing tool for businesses. Because I specialize in helping businesses get into print, the article only took a few hours to write. Contract Cleaners - A Guide for Business Part 2 In the first part of this article I put forward 7 questions that I believed were important to ask of your potential cleaning company. In this article I will explain the relevance of the first two questions and the answers you get to you as a business. Do You Own Your Business Or Does It Own You? What was your aim when you went into business for yourself? Chances are you wanted to be your own boss, be in control of your future, improve your chances of earning a high income, among other things.How are things for you right now? Do you feel in control of your business? How many hours do you put into your business each day? Each week? Will your current business enable you to retire in the next 10, 20 years?Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the administrative tasks involved in running a business? Do you wish life could be simpler?More importantly, if you don't work, does your cash continue to flow (inwards, that is)?You see, if you can't take a vacation for fear that you won't make any money while you're away, or if your business is such that you're paid per hour (meaning that if you're not working you're not getting paid), then what you are is a glorified employee, and your business owns you. 11 Things Small Business Owners Can Learn From Tiger 1. There Are No "gimmes" - They count two-foot putts on the PGA Tour. You Dont Yet Know What You Dont Know Someone new to business ownership recently told me, "Before I opened my business, I thought I was pretty well prepared. I knew how to produce and deliver our product. Leverage The Power of Publicity For Your Small Business Your business is only as good as the number of people who knows about it. For your venture to grow, you need to start spreading the word about your business. Creative Metrification - A Technique to Improve Some things in business are relatively easy to measure - these are the "hard" metrics such as sales volume and profit, production per man-hour, time without an accident, shipments without error, number of customers served, on-time delivery, etc. Other, "soft" metrics, are more difficult to quantify, but with a little creativity, measurement can be made of just about anything. Small Business Secrets: Self-Confidence Can Be Arranged At first blush this idea might be difficult to wrap your brain around. That's because you've been taught that self-confidence is achieved through mastery of knowledge or skills. Creative Business Card Marketing Announcements can be handed out as a business cardAnnouncements can be more than just a press release that lets the world know that something special has occurred at your place of business or to you personally. You can make announcements for almost anything. How to Curb Antique Shop Theft Inexpensively If you have ever had your antique shop or mall ripped off, you understand that it's very hard to detect. There are simply so many items to keep track of, and an item can be missing literally for months and you may not realize it. Competition in the Mobile Car Wash Industry We have all seen the mobile washing units cruising our city, usually they are trucks, vans or trailer set ups with a water tank and a pressure washer unit aboard. They market their services with flyers and business cards, however most of their business comes from weekly repeats and referrals. Arent Small Businesses Lucky? Why? Because they have access to world class public relations no matter how small they are.That's one way of saying, take care of your key target audiences, Mr/Ms small business owner, and they'll take care of you. Look Like Sizzle, Be The Steak You've heard marketing and advertising gurus quip, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." Advertising initiatives best reach their target audience with benefits and the "wow" effect, not the value or features of their product or service. 10 Filler Activities for the Summer Business Slowdown Summer is a time for the outdoors, for that well-deserved vacation, and with everyone out and about, it's also a time that you may notice a slowdown in demand for your products and services. So what can you do during this summer slowdown? Well, it's a great time to do the work that otherwise never gets done during the busy business year. Data Loss - Can Your Company Survive? (Most Do Not) Data. Most people think it is a term relegated to the kingdom of geeks. Setting Prices - Pricing Your Consulting Services THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PRICINGIn case you hadn't noticed, people can react very differently when faced with the same price for a product or service. In fact in most cases, we'll never actually know what is in their minds when they consider a price and then decide to respond to it in certain way. Using Excel Payroll Sheet to Make Payroll System Easier For the employees, payday is the brightest day; they finally get the compensation they so well deserve for the services they rendered. For the employer, this could be nerve-wracking, not because they don't want to pay their employees, but because some employers have a hard time calculating the payroll. 7 Tips To Improve Your Cash Flow Cash is King?That is what everyone tells us and it is true! You cannot function successfully in any business without proper cash flow. So if this Cash Principle is so well known, then why is it that so many businesses struggle? Sometimes the obvious is not always so obvious when you are entrenched in running the day-to-day aspects of your business.
|
|
Small Business Information | Traffic Building Information Powered By: Work At Home With Google - FREE! |
| © 2006 |
