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Building Your Business Top Ten: Finding the Best Partner

Guest post by: Sarah Gerdes

Article Overview: Entrepreneur’s don’t have a lot of discretionary money to hire a consultant to research, identify and validate the right partner(s). They are too busy hustling new customers, cutting deals with vendors and ensuring a steady cash flow. So they do what every person determined to be the next Donald Trump does—gather data the old fashioned way, by hitting the streets. If you don’t have the time, there are a few other tricks of the trade and their pros and cons.

Building Your Business Top Ten: Finding the Best Partner

10. Hounding trade shows.
Pro: Industry trade shows can be a great way to meet and forward a potential relationship. Con: the cost, time and energy are not guaranteed to produce top-of-the-line results.

9. Local networking events.
Pro: Ability to create a local partnership inexpensively. Sometimes the best for one-person sole proprietorships or small companies (less than five employees) starting service-based businesses. Con: usually not industry or subject matter guaranteed.

8. State-wide resources.
Pro: Resources like the Small Business Administration (SBA) offer Business Information Centers in more than eighty cities across the country. The counselors are in touch with up and coming companies that might be looking for company with a product just like yours. Con: time and money spent in going to the BIC.

7. Industry media coverage
Pro: Positioning your partner strategy to a broad audience so they come to you. Con: you either have to be a PR expert or hire one.

6. Search web sites.
Pro: Expedient search of potential partners by category. Con: Inability to confirm alignment of their partner objectives with your own.

5. Self-posted bots.
Pro: Posting your own partnership needs drives potential partners to you. Con: Announcing your partner strategy to the known universe.

4. Vendors.
Pro: Those individuals who know your business undoubtedly have an opinion about how you can be doing your business faster and more efficiently. Tap into their perspective once in a while. Con: The vendor is not in possession of your own partner strategy, and will need to be told what you are looking for in order to send you qualified potential candidates.

3. Suppliers or dealers
Pro: same as above. Con: Your own dealers, once in possession of your partner strategy, might go over to the potential partner, thus turning that entity into a potential competitor.

2. Customers.
Pro: Those who purchase your products or services are in a great position to know what products/services might be best marketing, sold or serviced together. Con: Disclosing partnership strategies to customer’s causes uncertainty and concern that you might be changing your processes and procedures, or worst, increase costs.

1. Partner development bulletin board.
Pro: Seeking and qualifying potential partners in specific industries quickly and cheaply. Con: Taking the time to develop a partner portal.

More information for the entrepreneur can be found at www.bmginc.com or at www.MyBizHomepage.com

Related Articles
  How To Make Business Partnerships That Work
  Choosing the Right Business Partners
  Successful Networking: Traits to Look for in a Business Partner
  How Do I Find the Right Business Partner?
  "We Can't Communicate"

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