Three Proven Ways to Maximize Your Alliances!

Communicate with alliancesOnce you have made the essential connections necessary to develop alliances and ignite your business, it is important to maintain them! As with any relationship, your alliance must be nurtured to be successful. Regular monitoring required! Continue reading

Business Alliances: What you need to know

Business Alliances - need to knowWhat is a business alliance? Are you thinking of starting an alliance? Here
are questions to ask about alliances. Continue reading below to learn more.

What is a business alliance?

According to Chron, a business alliance is a formal business relationship between two or more organizations to make collective business goals. Continue reading

The Importance of Strategic Alliances

Has your company has achieved a peak? You have been wondering what comes next. Create strategic alliances. A strategic alliance will help you achieve your next set of objectives; the ones that you cannot achieve on your own. With a well-structured alliances, 1 + 1 = 5.

To add a new product or market, there are three ways: Build it, Buy it, or Partner for it. Continue reading

Marketing Effectively within Your Channels of Distribution


When you are in business, you need all of the help that you can get. This includes being strategic with every move. The channels of distribution need to be considered when you create marketing campaigns.

There are three general types of channels. Continue reading

Channels of Distribution Must Be Ready — Or Else.

How important are channels of distribution?  According to David Semerad who is the co-founder of STRV (a mobile app development company), “You can have the best idea in the world, but if you don’t invest in distribution, then you might as well flush it down the toilet.”  In his article titled When It Comes To Startup Success, Distribution Is KingContinue reading

3 Keys to Success for Your Channels of Distribution

Your prosperity as a supplier hinges in upon your ability to pave a clear path for achievement for your distributors. You provide your distributors with guidance and a framework for success. Below are three keys to success for your channels of distribution.

1) A strong online presence. With the majority of product searches now beginning on the internet, active online presence required. Provide your distributors with educational information, as well as product data for their website. A strong online reputation can be created with the help of the following:

  • A comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) campaign
  • The inclusion of useful content on your distributors’ website
  • A well-designed website that is responsive and easy to navigate

2) Accessibility. Customer expectations for speed of service are higher than ever. If your distributors are only available for support on weekdays between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., you will lose market traction. Even worse, prospective customers may immediately turn to one of your competitors, if they get the impression that your distributors are not accessible. Choosing distributors with 24/7 accessibility will foster higher levels of customer satisfaction and help your business thrive.

3) Robust product training. Your distributors need to be armed with tools that will help establish them as industry experts. Your distributors serve as the frontline responders to customer inquiries. Information provided to them assists them to win over new customers. Here are some ways to ensure that your distributors are well-trained on your products:

  • Use a learning management system (LMS) to enable distributors to train online at their own speed
  • Incorporate content quizzes into your training regimen to ensure trainees have absorbed content
  • Use a multi-media approach to ensure that participants are engaged in the training process
  • Revamp your training initiatives on an annual basis to ensure they are current

On a closing note, remember that consistency is key in promoting your brand through your distributors. If you focus on what it takes to make your distributor a successful business, you will have a strong relationship. We invite you to contact us to learn more about fostering success among your channels of distribution. We look forward to hearing from you!

Are Your Channels of Distribution In Line With Your Business?

Your channels of distribution create the main connection between the value proposition of your products and your customers. Hence, your distribution channels are integral to your business model and marketing position.

Young companies focus on their first 5-10 direct customers. Your next task, how to reach 100 or 1,000 customers. Continue reading

Managing Channels of Distribution with Strategic Partnerships

Starting or expanding a business takes more than just a good business plan and product. It also requires avenues for getting your products to the right customers at the right time. Finding channels of distribution that allow you to accomplish your business goals involves building deep strategic alliances with the right partners.

Strategic alliances create a quicker path to growth. Continue reading

5 Key Alliance Management Tips

Consider this phrase: Alliance Management. On the surface, it sounds like a good idea, right? You want to carefully maintain your alliances. On the other hand, how exactly does one go about this? By the very nature of the word, you do not control – or entirely manage – those with whom you are allied. They work for another companyAlliance Management 700x400 with different management, different goals and different products.

How can you make this work, then? Continue reading

Managing Channels of Distribution with Strategic Partnerships

Starting or expanding a business takes more than just a good business plan and product. It also requires avenues for getting your products to the right customers at the right time. Finding channels of distribution that allow you to accomplish your business goals involves building deep strategic alliances with the right partners.

Strategic alliances create a quicker path to growth. Continue reading

Not All Channels of Distribution are Created Equal, Some Are More Creative

No man is an island applies to the relationship between manufacturers and partners in their channels of distribution. Whether manufacturers choose wholesalers, distributors, value added resellers (VARS), agents, dealers, or retailers, they also need to consider that not all channels of distribution are created equal for their particular business objectives. Not only does a company need to choose the right distribution channels, but they need to know how to use them to get the most out of their product. A creative approach always comes in handy. Continue reading

6 Questions to Ask Before Developing Strategic Alliances

Strategic alliances can increase market share, reduce competition, improve expertise, and open the door to new funding opportunities – but not all strategic alliances are created equal. The truth is that sometimes a strategic alliance can cause more harm than good if the partner company has different goals, gets more than it gives, or otherwise fails to live up to its side of the deal.

Before you set up a strategic alliance, ask yourself these questions first: Continue reading

Increase Channels of Distribution with Better People, Processes and Products

Channels of distribution are some of the most important parts of your business.  If you have positive momentum in distribution, your product/service is constantly in demand and you are making money. If you cannot get distribution, finding customers is difficult and costly and your business is overwhelming.

Fans of The Profit are familiar with the 3P’s of business: People, Process and Product. Continue reading

Deming Management and Business Alliances: Quality and Efficiency

As those familiar with W. Edwards Deming know, Business Alliances are the most important part of supply chain management. For those not familiar with Deming, he was an American economist who rebuilt post-war Japan and came back to the United States in the 1980s to address why Japanese manufacturing had beaten American manufacturing. Total quality control is his most well-known ideas, but one of his 14 points addresses the need to develop strategic partnerships with suppliers.

In Out of The Crisis, he points out that Japanese companies learned early that “the best  Continue reading

3 Steps to Vetting Alliance Partners

Alliance Partners bring unique strengths to your business. Each partnership can bring support, innovation, resources, and intelligence to your business. With so much on the line, how do you decide who is your best alliance partner?

In any relationship, there is a vetting process which takes place before you commit to the relationship. Business alliances are no different than any other relationship in the vetting process. A young couple begins dating with discovery, exploration, testing, and more. Shouldn’t you be doing the same when you create an alliance?   Continue reading

Channels of Distribution Slowing You Down?

Channels of Distribution are key alliances a business can enter into. As pointed out by Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary on almost every episode, not getting distribution kills a company. Channels of Distribution move your product to potential customers.

For manufacturing companies, your distribution channels will be wholesalers and retailers Continue reading

Alliance Building in a Sharing Economy

Alliance development and management used to be simple. Find the group of potential allies you wanted, find where they meet, and get involved there. In the sharing economy, allies have become easier to find and encounter, but harder to know. With mega-gurus like Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Daymond John taking to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media sites, alliances bridge geographic and sociological boundaries. Linking and touching others has never been easier, but is that an alliance? Continue reading

Succeeding with Business Alliances

Why enter into a business alliance? The main motivations include cost reduction, the improvement of service or capture more customers. Here are 5 kinds of business alliances that business-oriented minds need to know about: Continue reading

Use Alliance Management to “Get it Right”, because Alliances Have Limitless Potential

If your business is stagnant and needs a fresh and new division, product or service; or if you’re a new business and you need credibility or access to an established customer base, an alliance is a great way to get where you need to be.

Why Use Alliance Management?

Continue reading