Strategic Alliance
Creating an Effective Strategic Marketing Plan
If executed properly, strategic marketing has the potential to propel your business to the next level of revenues. The adage, “no man is an island” is particularly true in this arena; the more businesses you align yourself with, the greater your network, and the more powerful your revenue earning potential becomes.
Strategic marketing is a term that is thrown around casually and frequently these days, but how many people actually know how to execute it successfully? In this article, I’ll walk you through the basic steps of incorporating this marketing strategy into your business arsenal.
Step 1: Understand Your Target Customer Base
The fundamental goal of a strategic marketing plan is to utilize each other’s strengths to reach a larger customer base, perhaps one that would not be available to the individual companies without the joint marketing endeavor. Evaluate your current base of customers, and envision your ideal mix of clients. Based upon this analysis, you should then consider which companies already possess the customer base you desire. Or, what company is able to work with you in order to help you both obtain a client base that were individually out of reach.
Step 2: Evaluate What Your Customers Need
When you think of your business from the customer’s perspective, it is often quite different than yours. Instead of evaluating what products would be easy for you to sell, consider what products your customers need. This will help you find a marketing partnership that can fulfill those needs. Also, look at the bigger picture. If you were trying to reach a larger customer base, what type of packaged advertising would be most compelling? For example, if you were an accounting firm, then maybe your clients would also need legal service. A successful strategic marketing plan is based upon clients’ needs and not simply what is easiest for your company to sell.
Step 3: Analyze Marketing Tools to Utilize
Marketing avenues abound, meaning that you can carefully pick and choose which marketing tools to use. Will you use offline, online, or word-of-mouth advertising? Decide if you want to create email marketing, PPC, or blog campaigns. Will you collaborate together on publishing articles, or perhaps split a booth at your industry trade show? Would you sponsor an industry event together, or perhaps publish a white paper jointly? The options for traditional and creative marketing are endless. It is important to create a strategic marketing campaign that will highlight the strengths of both companies and effectively reach the target audience.
Step 4: Implementation!
Once you have laid the groundwork for your strategic marketing plan, it is time to implement the excitement! Working together you and your marketing partners can open up new doors of opportunity, in both revenues and market share exposure. Make sure that your plan is well thought out, and that you both are on the same page, and you’ll be ready to push the “go” button on an endeavor that can take your business earnings to the next level.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report
Strategic Partnerships: How to Choose Them for Greater Success
You may not be aware of it, but strategic partnerships are all around us at all times. Think about your own life. Are you married? Committed to a significant other? If so, you are living in a form of a strategic partnership. Both individuals bring something to the relationship that the other values and sees as beneficial. It’s similar in business. A strategic partnership should be a relationship in which both parties bring something to the relationship that each considers a valuable asset.
When you decide you’re ready to take the leap into a strategic relationship, contact your potential partner and go out for a brainstorming session. Decide if you think the relationship will benefit both of you and how. Spell out how each of you thinks the relationship will work, and who is responsible for doing what and when. Strategic partnerships can become a source of discontent if things are not clearly outlined in the beginning. Sometimes, there are people who say they’re looking for a strategic partnership, but they’re really only in it for what they can get out of it.
A strategic partnership is just that ‘ a partnership in which each party brings something to the table and is willing to work to make sure the other partner is satisfied in the relationship. It can either be like a great marriage or a marriage gone badly; either way, it will take work and a commitment on the part of each business involved.
Just like you don’t want to rush into marriage, you probably don’t want to rush into a strategic partnership. Date for a while. Try a couple of projects before you commit to a long-term relationship. Make sure the other party is as committed to the relationship as you are and is willing to do their share. The great thing about a strategic partnership is that, hopefully, you’ll be partnering with someone who has a different set of strengths than you do. Learning to capitalize on each other’s strengths and minimize each other’s weaknesses is one of the reasons strategic partnerships are so valuable. Like a marriage, you can learn to work together when you’ve found the right partner.
Be creative when you think about potential strategic partnerships. Do you do pedicures? How about partnering with a person who sells sandals or women’s clothing? Are you a make up artist? How about partnering with an image consultant? Or having the image consultant partner with a tailor? One cosmetic consultant creatively partnered with a travel agent because she had a product line that would take a normal bag of makeup and reduce it to 4 purse size pieces for the woman who traveled. There are no limits to strategic partner opportunities when you begin to think about who touches a market that is similar to yours.
As in any relationship, you may hit a few bumps in the road, but if you’ve done your homework and chosen someone who is like-minded in their philosophy, you will be able to weather the storm and make your partnership work for you.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report
Profitable Strategic Alliances
The most enduring and profitable strategic alliances are those in which each company brings something to the table the other company lacks. There are certain situations when it simply makes sense to form a strategic partnership. For instance:
- Partner when one business lacks wide access to the market, and the other has a large customer base or access to the market, but needs more products or services to bring to its customers.
- Partner when one business is highly specialized or has a strong niche skill. Large businesses often outsource to smaller businesses that specialize in certain areas.
- Partner when trying to break into a new market, while keeping costs contained.
- Partner in government contracting situations in order to win the contract. A larger company may partner with a smaller enterprise in order to qualify for certain contracts that are reserved for minority-owned businesses or small businesses. Sometimes the smaller company will need the resources of the larger business in order to adequately fulfill the government contract requirements.
Also, consider strategic alliances when there is a need to access the market quickly. By focusing on your core competencies, weighing the options of creating a product or service versus finding someone who already offers the same thing, you can bring a potential opportunity for partnership to a company with whom you would like to work. Keep in mind that you need to think about how all the parties in a partnership benefit, not just your company. If you are only out for yourself, your alliance will fail.
A strategic alliance can also take form in finding profit by cutting costs. For instance, two small businesses might find a way to reduce rent by sharing space in a warehouse or office complex. Or perhaps you can share the cost of a database subscription or business group membership with a strategic partner to help defray the costs. Small businesses can also lease space from larger companies. One woman runs her small coffee shop out of a local gas station. Her lease monies were more than the retail profits being generated by the few items that were selling in the space. She had a steady stream of clientele so both businesses found the arrangement profitable.
Think ahead when looking to develop profitable strategic alliances. You can increase market share, reduce costs and keep more money in your pocket by partnering with large or small firms. Whatever you decide, keep your partner’s best interest in mind and you’ll be able to develop partnerships that create a better business environment for everyone involved.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report
Strength in Strategic Alliances
A strategic alliance is really just a business-to-business collaboration that can be formed for many reasons. As a small business owner, it’s important to understand the strength and benefits of utilizing strategic alliances, which may be overlooked during the process of developing new business and creating additional streams of revenue.
Small Business Alliances Produce Great Results
Alliances between small businesses can offer additional benefits aside from an increase in sales. For instance, small business owners within a strategic alliance who proactively approach large corporations on behalf of their membership base can secure better rates and additional services as a result of the alliance they’ve formed. If you’re a small business owner looking for products or services to enhance your business, chances are other small business owners are looking for similar opportunities. Why not form a strategic alliance and approach the product or service provider as a group to show there is a need and a market you are aligned in, with the hope of doing business with larger companies who are willing to work with you.
Capitalize Upon Merged Resources
Small businesses can combine their limited resources in order to appear in high traffic advertising areas than each business could afford to do on its own. For example, one small business-networking group decided to participate in a high traffic tradeshow on behalf of the businesses that chose to be involved. Using the banner of their combined membership, the group was able to absorb the tradeshow fees and cost of staffing the event, with each participating company taking a time slot and promoting their business, as well as the alliance that they had formed. Not only did the participating members increase their company’s visibility and gain new business, the networking group added new members that were unaware of their activities, which only served to increase the strength of the alliance by providing a larger member base to include in negotiations.
Synergetic Referrals
A business group of marketing professionals found strength in forming a strategic alliance amongst themselves in order to offer a more comprehensive service package to large clients than any of the independent businesses was able to offer on their own. While they had to deal with some service crossover, it was determined the size of the potential contracts outweighed what any one business would give up in revenue if crossover did occur. To handle the situation, it was written in the alliance contract that the company who brought the business to the table would have the last say in who would work on each contract and what the final compensation would be in the event of a crossover situation. The business owners were like-minded in that they all agreed to act in the best interest of the alliance’s clients first in order to provide a service level above and beyond the large marketing communications firms with which they were competing. By operating as a virtual team of experts, this alliance was able to increase business for all participating. They understood the strength in approaching large clients with a more comprehensive offering than any of them could offer independently.
Leverage the strengths of a strategic alliance on behalf of your business and tap into clients and resources you may not have thought previously available.
Increasing Your Revenues Through Strategic Alliance Partnerships
Strategic partnerships are a great way to increase revenue without significant out of pocket expense. Many small businesses offer a limited product line or service and find that while they have happy customers, their customers don’t need to purchase the product or service on a regular basis, especially when it is not a consumable product.
With that in mind, what can you do with the customer list you already have and how can you tap into more of your target market? Simple. Find another business with the same target market, and partner with them to share the resource of your leads.
For instance, suppose you sell high-end furniture. Since people don’t need to purchase furniture every week, your clients may be happy, but regular repeat business will be difficult to generate. How about partnering with a high-end interior designer who has access to the same market you are targeting? You can make referrals of your clients to the designer, and the designer can offer your product line to her clients. You can take your partnership a step further and include each other’s information on your websites or informational pieces in order to maximize exposure for both businesses.
Another example of a strategic partnership is a small travel agency that approached a luggage store in her city. Both companies look for people who travel. The luggage store was happy to include the agent’s information when they sold a piece of luggage and the agent provided luggage tags to her clients when they booked a trip. Both companies benefited from the alliance and their customers received an additional value added service.
One real estate agent formed a unique strategic alliance with a pizza shop in the area in which he focused on selling real estate. In return for sending business to the pizza place, the agent negotiated a reduced rate on the pizzas he purchased. When a client was moving in to their new home, the agent had a pizza delivered, with a magnet congratulating the client on the move. The magnet included the pizza shop number and the agent’s contact information. The pizza shop was introduced to the new resident, the agent was cemented in the mind of the customer and the customer didn’t have to worry about what to fix for dinner during the move. It was a winning combination that continues to this day.
Strategic partnerships are a great way to move your business forward without significant out of pocket expense. Think about businesses and people related to your industry and decide if there are some strategic alliances that are just waiting to be formed. Then pick up the phone, tap into your business network, and see if there are any warm leads you can pursue. If your network doesn’t turn anything up, pick up the phone and make a few cold calls to see what businesses would be interested in a strategic partnership with you. You may find some that are not interested or who already have relationships in place. This is completely normal. Move on to the next until you find one that works. Then commit to the relationship and watch your business grow.
Understanding the Core of Strategic Partnerships
The definition of a strategic partnership is “a formal alliance between two commercial enterprises, usually formalized by one or more business contracts, but short of forming a legal partnership or, agency, or corporate affiliate relationship.”
Whew! Does it really have to be that hard? Absolutely not. You form strategic partnerships all the time without even realizing it. A strategic partnership simply takes the resources that a person or company has to offer and combines them with equally valuable, but differing resources in order to save time, money and energy.
The Easy Analogy of Strategic Partnerships
Have you ever borrowed something from someone? A power tool, a ladder, something you didn’t have, but didn’t necessarily want to spend your time and resources acquiring because you weren’t sure you would need to use it that often? Well, that’s a simplified form of a strategic alliance. The neighbor provided you with a resource you didn’t have or necessarily want to acquire based on the premise that you would reciprocate the favor in some fashion at a later time.
Typically, when two companies form a strategic partnership, each business has a particular asset the other company isn’t interested in spending time and energy developing. For example, manufacturing companies will form strategic alliances with designers and inventors. The manufacturer provides the raw materials, production costs, and distribution channels, while the inventor or designer provides creative and technical expertise. This is a win-win situation for both parties because it saves time and money, while allowing each party to focus on what they do best.
Finding a Strategic Partnership Balance
Strategic partnerships are often seen between companies who are in the same industry, but who are not in direct competition with one another. For instance, a small car dealership may develop a strategic alliance or partnership with a bank that offers auto financing. The dealer wins because he doesn’t need to be licensed for loans and the bank wins because they receive customers they did not have to actively solicit.
Think about service and product providers in your industry who are not in direct competition with your business. Who offers a product or service that could be beneficial to your business that you don’t have the time or resources to develop and what would be an area of your business that could be beneficial to their company?
In one example, a company that specialized in marketing strategies developed a strategic alliance with a design firm because they included collateral development as part of their service. The marketing company did not want to develop their own design department as they felt it wouldn’t be cost-effective given their strategic niche. The design firm on the other hand, often had customers looking for more comprehensive marketing strategies than what they offered. Obviously, this was a strategic partnership that worked well for both companies.
Take a look at your business and begin to think about areas that are not your focus, but for which you continually hear customer requests. Next, find a company that services that particular niche. You may need to “try out” a company or two before you find the right fit, but when you do, it will have been worth the time and effort.
Marketing Counseling 101: Your Strategic Alliance Relationships
As strategic alliances continue to grow in popularity, with small and large companies alike, many people write asking me about the different types of strategic alliances available. Indeed, like all relationships, there are different ways you can structure your strategic alliance. Whether you want to keep it casual or prefer a committed, long-term relationship, there is a wide range of options when it comes to strategic alliances.
Developing the foundation of a strategic alliance
Fundamentally, a strategic alliance is a partnership between two or more partners, who share the same customer base and carry synergistic products and services. For example, if you own a graphic design firm, then you could partner together with a web design firm. You would share a similar base of customers: businesses that are looking to start or re-vamp their image. The services you provide have synergies with each other, while simultaneously being complimentary from the customer’s perspective.
Taking the strategic alliance to the next level, there must be inherent value built into the relationship. The benefits you offer your partner, and vice-versa, must be lucrative enough to allow the strategic alliance to rise to its full potential. Whether you create a commission or cross-promotional relationship, the key is to develop value for each partner.
With some creativity, the potential for strategic alliance relationships are endless. However, the key is to find a close fit, as the more niche your common customer base is, the more fruitful the strategic alliance.
How to format the strategic alliance partnership
There is a wide variety when it comes to formatting your strategic alliance partnership. First, you must determine whether the partnership will be a one-way or a two-way street. Will you provide them with the benefit, or will the benefit go both ways? For example, will you be offering a commission for each sale they recommend? Or, will you also recommend clients to your partner, resulting in a two-way commission structure?
Once you have determined if the strategic alliance will be a one-way or two-way structure, it is time to ascertain what methodology you will utilize in the partnership:
1.) Shotgun announcement: Your partner sends an email or letter out to all of their customers with an exciting offer from your firm, such as a discount code, free shipping, or credit towards purchase.
2.) Tortoise speed: Sending out the announcement or promotion in smaller batches can be a great strategy, especially if the partner has a very large client base. In addition, this can allow you to tailor the promotion to each particular audience, as well as any current trends in the marketplace.
3.) Customer appreciation sale: When your partner’s customers make a purchase, they are offered a “bonus,” customer appreciation product, which comes at a discount.
4.) Giveaway offer: You can jointly offer a free giveaway promotion, choosing a product that has very low-cost for you both. This gives you an ability to increase exposure, branding, and a greater client list.
There are many other creative ways to structure a strategic alliance, but these are the most popular and time-tested methods. Remember, each industry can benefit from a targeted, niche approach, and with planning and the right partnership, your strategic alliance can take your current business to the next level of sales.
Discover Underutilized Assets In Your Business
Which one are you?
A Business Owner?
An Employee?
A Consultant?
A Single Parent?
A College Student?
A Grand Parent?
Regardless if you have an existing business, are an employee of another business, are a consultant, or you’re someone who’s considering starting your own business, Joint Venture Deal Making can be one of the most profitable ways available to you to create “Income at will”. You don’t need any special education or lengthily training. You can start putting deals together with just a few hours a week. Once you understand the fundamental mind set of doing Joint Venture deals, you may just rethink the way you do business or create income for the rest of your life. It’s that powerful, diverse, exciting, and profitable.
If you’re a business owner, you can implement a Joint Venture Marketing strategy to create new profit centers with little to no money or risk. If you don’t have an existing business or you’re an employee of another company you can broker deals with your employer or create an additional profit center outside your full time job.
Let me fill you in on an overlooked and underutilized fact about 95% of all businesses out there (this is were you come in). It’s something so fundamental that it’s often overlooked and not given nearly the amount of attention, care, and time that’s needed to create additional profits.
Ready…
“The majority of all business’s have underutilized assets”
That may not be very exciting at first read, but let’s dig a little deeper. These underutilized assets represent huge opportunities for additional income for you.
Let’s define what an “asset” is.
A quick Google search defines an asset as being:
1. Anything owned by an individual or a business that has commercial or exchange value.
2. A possession of value, usually measured in terms of money.
3. Valuable items, encumbered or not, owned by a person, corporation, or entity.
So it’s basically something of value that a person or business has that is not being optimized. Now remember I just told you that the vast majority of business owners have “underutilized” assets. This is where it get’s interesting. This is where you can provide a way for these business owners (and yourself) to create income from the sale of their existing products or services by combing other complimentary type companies “assets” with their “assets”.
Let me give you some background and a quick example of what an underutilized business asset is.
“Simon opened his Web Design Company with a passion for creating websites, logos, and custom graphics for his clients. Simon was a skilled graphic designer, but his sales and marketing skills were based solely on theory and what he learned from a few books he had recently read. Simon wanted to do a promotion offering 25% off his services for new clients. Simon and I had a conversation about this promotion and asked me my advice and thoughts on this type of promotion. His objectives were to find new clients quickly without spending a lot of money on marketing. I told him that he had two primary objections to overcome since his business was new, he currently had only one client and his competition in the Web Design space was fierce and while competing strictly on a discount price point may work, I suggested he use a Joint Venture Strategic Alliance to keep his prices at a competitive market rate to obtain new clients.”
So we see that Simon has an underutilized asset, his time and his Graphic Design services. He’s only got one major client, which is a dangerous thing for Simon if that client decides to go elsewhere and stop using Simon’s services.
Remember when I said that a Joint Venture deal is about combining underutilized assets? Well, in this scenario lies your opportunity to make extra, recurring, residual income.
Let’s continue with the story.
I suggested Simon call local printers, illustrators, and web programmers in his area. I had him pick local vendors (so he could actually go meet these other business owners, which builds rapport and trust) that work in complimentary, not competitive businesses. Simon contacted a local print shop, introduced himself and offered to provide a “Web Design” division to the print shops existing base of over 300 clients. Within one week, Simon and the owner of the print shop wrote an email letter to his existing clients announcing the new service. Within two weeks Simon gained an immediate influx of client requests with an acquisition cost of zero!”
So you can see how Simon used his underutilized asset, his time and Graphic Design services to incorporate into the printing companies underutilized asset, their existing clients. This is only one type of Joint Venture scenario that can generate additional income very quickly. Simon only did this type of deal with a single company. What if he did it with 5 other companies that offered similar type services?
If your thinking, “Christian, that sounds all good and interesting, but how does that effect me or my ability to make more money?” Good question. This is why I asked you at the start of this conversation about “Which one are you?” You see, it doesn’t matter if you have an existing business or if you’re an employee, a student, or even if you’re currently unemployed.
Please take what I’m about to tell you very seriously…
“Just about every business owner is silently begging to find new clients”
Read that 5 times.
Business owners are constantly trying to increase their profits from their existing clients, yet they’re so busy running their companies, they don’t spend nearly enough time on this. This is where you can earn extra money, possibly a lot of money if done consistently and executed correctly.
Take a look around you and see if you can find any businesses that you know of that have underutilized assets that you can recommend to other companies. As I said, just about every business out there either needs or has assets that other companies can benefit from. You just introduce the two companies and make a profit for structuring the deal.
I hope this has gotten you intrigued about the possibilities of using Joint Ventures to create additional income for yourself in a very short amount of time.
I’ll be showing you many, many more examples of how to create these types of profitable relationships in the days to come.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report
First Steps to Forming a Strategic Alliance: Identifying Your Target Market
If you have an Internet business, particularly a small one, forging partnerships with companies in related markets is an important marketing strategy to raise awareness for your business and to expand your own client base.
This may sounds like a fantastic idea, but how do you go about building these partnerships? It seems so daunting . . . if you’re just a small niche market business, how can you help anyone else and why would they want to partner with you?
These are valid questions and concerns, but forging a strategic alliance isn’t as difficult as it may initially appear to be. The Internet is full of small, niche market businesses, so while daunting, it is not a far fetched idea to think that a company of a similar size to yours would welcome an alliance with you, and that you would be able to help one another.
Getting Started
The first step towards embarking upon a strategic marketing alliance is to select a company who is not a direct competitor of yours, that wouldn’t serve either one of you very well, but to choose a company whose interests run similar to your own, without being a direct competitor.
The first step to figuring out what these businesses might be is to assess your own target market. You must know whom your business appeals to before you can embark on deciding who might be interested in a similar client base.
You first must ask yourself a few simple questions:
- What is the average age of your clients?
- What are their occupations?
- What is their income range?
- What other interests do they have?
- What are some other products or services that are compatible with mine?
If you don’t have immediate answers to these questions, it is time to create a market survey to address these questions, or to simply inventory your client roster and compile some basic data. The occupation and income range may not be relevant information to your business, if you deal in luxury goods, it will of course matter, but if you deal in refrigerators or stoves, or something that everyone at some point needs to purchase, income is a less telling metric. Questions 1, 4 and 5 may be the most helpful in targeting potential partners for smaller Internet businesses.
The Next Step
Once you have identified your target market, and a product or service that may be a good accompaniment to yours, what do you do next?
Let’s say for instance, that your company rents designer wedding gowns. The occupation and income, as stated above, are less important considerations than questions 1 and 5. It naturally follows that someone in need of a wedding dress may also be in need of a caterer, photographer or wedding planner. In this instance, question number 5 is the most important consideration, but the age of your clients may also be important. Will a young couple prefer a young photographer? Will an older couple prefer an older more established photographer? Perhaps.
In this case, your next step will be to contact some photographers, caterers and wedding planers to propose a referral agreement, or even to exchange mailing lists and client lists. It is also important to seek alliances with a variety of companies in terms of age, and establishment: some clients will distinctly want an experienced photographer, while some will be willing to take a chance on a newer professional.
Forming a strategic alliance can be an integral part to the marketing and ultimate success of your business. The first step is to know your client base, so you can target and appropriate partner. Don’t be intimidated by approaching companies with which to forge an alliance, ideally this is a partnership - something from which both parties will benefit equally.
Think Ahead - Strategic Partnerships
When you start thinking strategic partnerships, think about what you don’t have that you need to move your business to the next level. For instance, if you’ve developed a unique product, but lack a mass distribution system, what companies would have a distribution system that could be utilized to get your product into the hands of the masses? You may need to give up a bit of your revenue per sale, but when you weigh that against the time and money it would take to build your own distribution system, you will most likely decide that it is a small price to pay.
Protect yourself and your ideas
Before you approach a larger company about a strategic partnership, make sure you’ve thought ahead and protected yourself and your product with the necessary patents, trademarks, and non-disclosure agreements. This is an important and necessary step for you to take. There is more than one tale of woe of an unsuspecting entrepreneur sharing an idea or product prototype only to see it on the market a few months later. Your attorney can help you draw up the necessary paperwork.
Research pays off
Make sure you research your potential strategic partner ahead of time. Find out all you can about the company. Study their offerings and determine if your product is a good addition or improvement to their current offerings. Ask people in the industry what they know about the company. A company with a reputation for treating strategic partners poorly in more than one instance is most likely a company to be avoided. On the flip side, a company with a track record for treating their partners fairly can be a great find. You want to partner with a company that has a great reputation, because you’re tying your reputation to theirs.
Plan for contingencies
Once you’ve decided to work together, think ahead to the “what ifs” of your agreement. What if things don’t work out as you planned? When you draw up your agreement, make sure that you have an “out” clause, just in case. Perhaps you’ll want to run a trial period to see how many units of your product your new partner can actually move, or how well they are able to fulfill orders. By putting a time-line or quantifying number in your contract, you’ll be better able to gauge whether the partnership is working how you had hoped or not. If not, you can move on in your search for a new strategic partner.
Long-term relations
When looking at a potential strategic partner, you should take into consideration your future product offerings. Look ahead to what you want to accomplish as a company. Before you form your strategic alliance, know where you want to go with your company. Think ahead to the possibilities. Will your potential partner be able to help distribute other products into the marketplace? While you don’t need to lay all your cards on the table when you’re forming a strategic alliance, look for the strongest possible strategic partner so that you can work towards to developing a long-term working relationship once you’ve made it through an initial project or two.