The Company Your Keep

People perceive us in part based on who we hang around with, who we point to as 'friends' and associates. That's why all these sayings apply to business and life!

Birds of a feather flock together.
A smart man surrounds himself with smart people.
You are only as good as the company you keep.

Customers perceive us based on our own merits, and often those of our partners.

We must be thoughtful about our partners, and how partnerships affect our own business. The right partners accelerate our market efforts, lending credibility, resources and just plain market pull.

The wrong ones drag us down.

I'm not saying we should run out and partner with every 'big' company we can find to prove our credibility. That's kinda like having a study date with the most popular girl in school (or boy). Everyone knows the date is because you're the smartest kid around and said 'date' wants to pass that chemistry test.

There's no credibility to be found from non-productive or name-dropping partnerships. Customers see right through that.

We must pick our partners carefully based on true customer value - and then deliver that value. Lists of partner logos with no demonstrated results are transparent to our audiences. Informed buyers will gloss right over those meaningless lists just like they do chest thumping claims.

So how do we pick the best partners?

First, start with a few basic questions:

• What do we offer each other? Good partnerships bring a mutual WIN/WIN before we get started. When one partner gets lots of value and the other one doesn't, the relationship is doomed to failure.

• How is the sum greater than the individual parts? Good partners create higher value together than on their own. If that's not happening - go back and find a way to add value, or find a more appropriate choice of partner.

• Where's the synchronicity? You'd be amazed how many clients I find with partners who really aren't a match. Sure they play in the same big sandbox. But they aren't addressing the same target markets, they don't create solutions together, they don't sell together, they don't even really talk to each other except for those quarterly meet 'n greets. So why partner? Partnerships cost us valuable resources in time, money and effort. We wouldn't spend those resources on a poor product concept, so why chase a poor partnership?

• Where's the skin in the game? If both parties aren't willing to invest in the partnership, then there's no partnership.If we're out selling our hearts out and our partner isn't there to support us - how good is that relationship? Mutual logos on each others' websites is not skin in the game.

• How's their product or service? Make sure the partners we choose have demonstrable, proven value. One of my clients was viewed by their industry as the leading integrator of the toughest solutions. Partners came out of the woodwork to work with this client. Why wouldn't they? My client tested, diagnosed and fixed their not-so-ready-for-prime-time technologies. For FREE. The partners (and there were many) laughed all the way to customer success while my client funded their final product testing and support. My client? Well, they loved being the most popular girl at the dance - but it cost them dearly.

Then there's the most important question.

Is this partner passionate about customer success?

Partners who aren't focused on customer success can and will take us down. We're depending on them. If they aren't solving customer issues, are making up excuses, short-changing the customer or worse yet ignoring them - that reflects back on us. After all, we chose to partner with them - which in the customers' minds means we must be like them.

Be smart about partners. You'll soar with the right ones. The wrong ones, well, they'll leave you standing there holding that ugly bag.