Tag Archives: Power Partners

Why Most Small Businesses Need Power Partners

Posted on by

There are many commercials on TV and on the radio these days that say to call in and tell them about your invention idea. It sounds so easy, yet so campy and shifty at the same time. You’ve decided to market your own product. You’ve invested your own money, (and possibly a little of someone else’s if you’ve been lucky). However, you know deep down that you might not have what it takes to insure the success of this business. It’s the same feeling that made you even listen to that campy, shifty commercial in the first place. You know you need help, but you don’t know where to look or how to get it.

Help for Small Businesses with Good Ideas Continue reading →

Power Partners Create a Foundation for Businesses

Posted on by

Keeping a business growing requires thinking about unconventional solutions. Sometimes when seeking a solution, it takes an angle from the other side to give a clearer light on the problem. Being power partners with another business is a great strategy to give businesses a new look at common problems.

Power partners are a great way to secure a consistent revenue flow to insure continued success. Continue reading →

3 Steps to Find Alliance Partners For A Competitive Advantage

Posted on by

As a business owner, you have probably spent a lot of money in marketing campaigns to grow your brand and your business. Do you have the feeling that there is just something missing that is preventing you from getting the exposure you need and the competitive advantage you deserve? Have you ever considered seeking another business to form a partnership?

The key is to find another business that does things you cannot do to combine your strengths to create something very unique and valuable. Let’s look at some important 3 considerations in selecting business partners to give a competitive advantage over time:

Continue reading →

Sales Strategies Heading into 2013

Posted on by

Sometimes it’s difficult not to think of those who work in sales as anything more than the slick late night used car sales people from days gone by. However, much has changed over the last 30 years, especially when it comes to sales strategies.

Heading into 2013 it’s critical for your sales team to understand what factors Continue reading →

Several Reasons Why You Need Business Alliances

Posted on by

As a business owner, you should always be looking for a way to increase your bottom line. There are different strategies claiming they can help you increase your business, but one that is often overlooked is forming business alliances. This term might be complete Greek to you, so here’s a quick breakdown of what it is. Continue reading →

Power Partners: It’s Not What You Know But Who You Know

Posted on by

You may have heard the phrase, “It’s not what you know but who you know.” In most cases that applies to the business world. Developing partnerships and networking to broaden your people base is one important component of being successful in your business. It is defined by whom you know. This is never more true than when building relationships.

Finding your Power Partners is not only about you, it’s about them. Continue reading →

Strategic Alliances: Secrets from Fortune 500 for any businesses

Posted on by

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. When you form a strategic alliance with another company, you get the benefits of leveraging an expertise, product, service or asset that isn’t even yours. Yet, they call on the same customers you do.

Big businesses have been reaping the rewards of these relationships for years. Continue reading →

Collaboration in Small Business: Who Needs It?

Posted on by

Chances are the answer to the above question is easy: we all do. However, what exactly is the benefit of having a business collaborator? Many of us just don’t like other people getting involved in our own business. Too many people having a say in how a business is run can slow efficiency and even detract from business quality. This does not include any personal frustrations from working with people with whom we simply do not like. But small business collaboration brings advantages to the table that make it worth the trouble. That’s why it’s so important to choose your business collaborators carefully.

A business collaboration is a relationship two or more businesses have with one another that benefit all involved. Continue reading →

Business Partners, Joint Ventures and the Win-Win-Win Strategy

Posted on by

Most people are very familiar with the idea of “win-win” in the development of joint ventures. This way of thinking has helped push old world business owners into thinking about the benefits of helping their business partners as well as themselves.

To strengthen business relationships, you need to focus on what would benefit both parties. The result creates more of a unified force. Asking yourself how you can help your business partner will truly make a huge difference in the long-term stability of your venture. A good way to start a relationship is to ask both parties for their Conditions of Success (COS). Then everyone knows what is expected at the end for joint success.

Continue reading →

Looking for Your Next Business Partner

Posted on by

You’re a talented and innovative thinker planning to launch a ground-floor venture. Should you go it alone or bring in a business partner?

As we mentioned in our earlier blog, “Is it Too Much to Ask for the Perfect Business Partner?” a number of business pairings throughout the years have turned into great successes. Primarily because of the skills and traits each partner brought to the pair. However, a lot had to do with the actual relationship between the individuals involved.

Not Everyone Should Be Your Partner

This seems like an obvious statement. However, Continue reading →

3 Questions to Develop Your Channels of Distribution Strategy

Posted on by

When developing a new product or service, one of the first things to consider is how to get it to the end-user. Deciding on what channels of distribution to use is a very important business decision that must be made correctly. Using the wrong channels of distribution costs you money and depletes the value of your product.

1) How does the end-user want to buy?

To answer this, you’ll need to understand your customers and your relationship to them. How does your customer prefer to buy this product? Will they need customization or regular service? Maybe your customer needs other products or services to be able to use your product. Continue reading →

Your Best Power Partners May be Right Down the Street

Posted on by

I came across a blog the other day written several years ago by Al Lautenslager for Entrepreneur.com.

He tells a story of walking into the dry cleaners and finding a $5-off coupon for the pizza joint a few doors away. Deciding to enjoy some pizza, he walks to the pizza place to redeem the coupon and there on the counter he finds a $5-off coupon for the dry cleaner. This might be called reciprocal marketing or, as Al suggests, fusion marketing. Whatever you call it, it makes sense.

Finding a power partner – Continue reading →

How Collaboration Can Save Your Small Business

Posted on by

A small business starting up faces a lot of challenges, and many of those challenges are due to limited resources. Small businesses have to find creative ways to establish themselves as legitimate competition for their often much larger competitors, and somehow reach enough customers to not only maintain itself, but to grow as well. It’s a daunting situation, and according to a recent working paper from Harvard summarizes that it is harder for those just starting to succeed. But those that do succeed show an interesting trend in ideas: a lot of the success comes from some form of collaboration, either in the form of funding or in the form of ideas passed on to beginning entrepreneurs from their former employers.  But collaboration can go much deeper and be much more fulfilling than that.

Kimber Lanning’s “Roosevelt Row” in Phoenix, AZ is one inspirational example of how Continue reading →

9 New Steps for Managing Strategic Alliances That Work

Posted on by

In a recent press release, Hallmark, the world’s leading greeting card brand, announced a strategic alliance with Shutterfly Inc., a leading Internet-based digital photo site. The goal is to have “exclusive Hallmark-designed customizable cards featured on Shutterfly’s new personalized greeting card site, Treat.com.”

According to Investopedia.com, a strategic alliance is… Continue reading →

Power Partners: The Best of Business Strategies

Posted on by

Power Partners is a compelling concept. Simply put, it is a group of businesses that band together to use and promote the products of the other businesses in the group. There is an old song; “No Man is an Island.” No one can do it alone in the business world.

As much as we might want to think that we can win the battle alone; it just does not work that way. No matter what your line of work, you cannot afford to stand alone. You need people promoting your business and helping to build your clientele. Yes, we have many online marketing tools to help us out, but what is better than “word of mouth,” especially when it comes from people you trust.

Find the people your customers trust, and build a relationship with them. Continue reading →