April 5, 2010

Everybody needs a little help from their friends. Businesses large and small can benefit greatly from the partnering mindset, particularly hyper local businesses.

The partnering mindset is simply a business point of view that suggests a great deal of the organization’s marketing mix will involve seeking out and activating business partners with the same ideal client target.

Understand that this thinking in full form takes in a bigger view than simply referring business to each other.

A total local partner mindset is an approach that starts with your product and service offerings and carries through to both making and give referrals as a total team effort.

There are a number of components involved in the creation of an effective program.

• Recruit and introduce – the first step is to recruit your team and introduce them to your program and business. One of the best ways to identify good teammates is to ask your current customers to name other businesses they like to buy from. You don’t want just anyone as a partner, these need to be people you can also confidently refer business to.

Next, send them a letter outlining your plans and inviting them to tell you the best way to introduce their business to your customers – that usually gets their attention.

• Create content opportunities – Invite your partners to contribute to your newsletter, act as a guest on your podcast or blog. Giving your partners exposure by way of content gets them exposure and you content. Consider taking this up a notch and create a group blog optimized for all of the partners.

• Conduct video interviews – Set a meeting with your partners and use the opportunity to record an introduction video so you can have content to run on your website letting the world know about your partners. This will show you mean business.

• Acquire special offers – Get your partners to contribute a product or service that you can use as a way to enhance your offering. Free business cards for every logo purchased or free flowers when you make a reservation for dinner, free tickets to give away in y our marketing, or free HVAC check-up when you get some plumbing work. This is a great way to promote your partners while adding real appeal to what your marketing. Make sure you create real perceived value here.

• Make referrals – Make it a habit to consciously go out of your way to refer business to your partners. Don’t wait for people to ask, do it as part of your Monday routine. This is how you become someone that lots of great providers want to partner with, but you also increase your value to your customers by consistently helping get what they need in every aspect of their life.

• Rate and review – If at all possible become of a customer of every one of your partners. This will make you a much more authentic referral sources (as a user) and allow you to test and filter the truly great experiences. Follow-up on this by actively writing reviews and ratings on Yelp and other online sites.

• Create events – Figure out how to bring your partners together to network and create deeper engagement. Let each partner have a day where they educate everyone in the network. Create workshops and offer to conduct them for your partner’s customers. Develop a day devoted to topics that your partners can present useful information on and have everyone promote the event.

With just a little bit of creativity any organization can tap the awesome power of a partner network as a substantial lead and customer generator.

Image credit: Merelymel13

John Jantsch is a marketing and digital technology coach, award winning social media publisher and author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine.

Join the conversation ( 4 )

• Jenn McGroary 1 year 10 months and 10 days ago

  

  John,
  
  This is the exact thing I'm looking to set up in my area. There is very little in terms of networking groups around me so I was looking to start my own, but deep down I knew I wanted it to be more than just your typical networking group like BNI.
  
  When I read this article, it was like a lightbulb went on and I knew that this was the direction I wanted my new group to go. Thanks so much for outlining ideas that will help me develop my new Partner Team Program.
  
  I'll keep you posted as to the results. :-)
  
  ~ Jenn

• SUZANNE VARA 1 year 10 months and 11 days ago

  

  John
  
  It really does. As a small biz owner resources are limited (esp when it comes to employees) and finding people that you trust and can keep around you so that when you need their services it is an easy phone call. It is always easiest to refer someone that you do business with than someone you do not. I just see this article so useful and a big lesson for small biz owners who struggle with growing their business. Sort of gives meaning to looking at what is in your backyard.
  
  Suzanne

• John Jantsch 1 year 10 months and 12 days ago

  

  Hey Suzanne - I often tell small business owners that this single approach could be used to build a tremendous business.

• SUZANNE VARA 1 year 10 months and 12 days ago

  

  John
  
  A great list here for sure. Small business owners need to give this article a three or four over and really understand the value of building that local army. We all want clients/customers and pulling together for the betterment of business in general goes a long way. When we are thinking of hiring someone we immediately ask others for a reference, do a search for them to get more information and see what others are saying about them. A local army covers all these and really promotes good business.
  
  @SuzanneVara