Grow Your Business: Friends & Strategic Partners

 

Your marketing strategy will be more powerful when you build a network of trusted friends. This is a very different category than personal friends. Many women who get involved with a direct marketing line – as well as many marketing pros – will tell you that the fastest way to grow your business is to make a list of all your friends and family, and then start marketing to them first. But have you noticed that when you try that approach, they rarely seem to want to buy from you? It’s frustrating, isn’t it?

So a trusted friend is different. A trusted friend is someone you hold a business relationship with—and with all the advertising we get every day, this is an important strategy. Think about it! Are you more likely to read that SPAMMED email sent to you anonymously, or an e-mail a trusted friend sent, saying they thought you would be interested? Then imagine your trusted friends forwarding e-mail from you to others. Powerful concept!

Trusted friends are business partners who:

• Know your business and respect what you do

• Understand and value the small business owner

• Believe in relationships and referrals

• See potential clients for you in their own daily business

• Will, if the opportunity presents itself, refer business to you

• Are often willing to advertise you on their web site

• Over time, may package and bundle with you

Another way to describe a trusted friend is as a “strategic partner.” Strategic partners are people who are in alignment with your business, and are not in competition; their customers often need what you offer.

Entrepreneurs struggle with this concept. At networking events where I ask, “Who are your strategic partners?” I often hear, “Everyone who wants to be healthy.” Or: “All women are my strategic partners.” No, “everyone” is a lead or someone who might buy from you. A trusted friend mayNEVER buy from you, but is committed to growing your business in alternative ways.

The key is to build a network of trusted friends. How do you do that?

First, determine who they are, and then you will be able to network by asking to meet them.

Once you have met them, it is time to build and nurture a relationship that will turn into a partnership:

• Show interest and care about what your trusted friends do. You must remember to give!

• Keep in touch on a regular basis. Remember birthdays, and milestones. Don’t forget to send things that they will find informative or interesting.

• Be willing to reciprocate. As you meet people, keep them in your mind, can refer to them!

In late 2007, my coaching and speaking business started to feel the effects of the economy. Many clients were canceling business dates, and contracts were not getting renewed. Then, in January 2008, one regular client, who had over 20 days of business already booked in the coming months, slowly started cancelling them all. Suddenly I had no revenue, and I was worried about paying my team – let alone paying myself.

I reached out to my network of trusted friends. Through working my relationships with them, my business is now better than what it was projected to be.

I commonly hear small business owners say, “I just do not have time for it, Ann.” I am glad I took the time to build a network of trusted friends, because the payoff is tremendous! So make time for it, and you too will benefit!

Source: excelle.monster.com

Does Your Business Have Strategic Partners? Why Not?

Dave Lavinsky, Contributor 

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is trying to do everything alone.  To combat this error, business owners must hire and train the right employees. In addition, they should leverage strategic partners.
So what is a strategic partner? A strategic partner is another business with whom you enter into an agreement that aims to help both of you achieve more success.
Below are several types of strategic partners that you might consider for your business.

Strategic Marketing Partners
Effective marketing is one of the most important keys to a successful business.  Without a proper marketing strategy, customers will never be aware of a business or its location, products, or services.  The problem with marketing is that it can actually hurt a business if done incorrectly (for example, if adverting costs exceed gross margins from advertising).
Developing strategic marketing partners can help you grow your business at a very low cost. For example, if the partner is in a complementary business, you could refer clients between one another. Both partners would increase revenues with no additional advertising costs.

Strategic Financial Partners
Strategic partners can fill a number of financial roles.  They can be accountants, bankers, investors or financial advisers. Their purpose is to help monitor the flow of your business’ money and come up with new solutions which increase the amount of money available to you.
Revenue is the life blood of any business but keeping a constant eye on the flow of money can be a full time job.  This is why financial partners are incredibly important.

Strategic Suppliers
Nearly all businesses will end up dealing with suppliers at some time or another.  These partners can be manufacturers, distributors, or vendors and they will supply your business with everything it needs.  These needs may range from complex raw materials to simple, yet critical every day office supplies.
Developing strategic partnerships with suppliers has a number of benefits.  Working closely with suppliers will ensure that everything is delivered properly and might even lead to special discounts and lower prices. Most importantly, strategic partnerships with suppliers could result in them creating new products tailored to your specific needs that give you competitive advantage.

Strategic Technology Partners
The modern world is heavily reliant on technology and no business can hope to succeed without strategic technology partners.  These can be the people who set up and fix office computers, who design and implement office networks, who create custom software to allow your business to run more efficiently, or even the people who design and run your website.
These partners are incredibly important and developing a relationship with them ensures that your business has dedicated technology experts (particularly if technology is not your core competence) who understand the specific needs of your business.

Building Strategic Partnerships
The first step to building a strategic partnership is to identify which firms could help you achieve key goals (e.g., get more customers, lower fulfillment costs, etc.) and/or otherwise give you competitive advantage.
Then, start reaching out to these firms. While it will take time, once you secure these partnerships, your business’ revenues and profits can start to grow. And, if you make these partnerships exclusive, you can gain critical competitive advantage.

Source:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davelavinsky/2013/04/02/does-your-business-have-strategic-partners-why-not/

Top 10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader Part I

Part I of II

Having a great idea, and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first step in creating a successful business venture. While finding a new and unique idea is rare enough; the ability to successfully execute this idea is what separates the dreamers from the entrepreneurs. However you see yourself, whatever your age may be, as soon as you make that exciting first hire, you have taken the first steps in becoming a powerful leader. When money is tight, stress levels are high, and the visions of instant success don’t happen like you thought, it’s easy to let those emotions get to you, and thereby your team. Take a breath, calm yourself down, and remind yourself of the leader you are and would like to become. Here are some key qualities that every good leader should possess, and learn to emphasize.

Honesty
Whatever ethical plane you hold yourself to, when you are responsible for a team of people, its important to raise the bar even higher. Your business and its employees are a reflection of yourself, and if you make honest and ethical behavior a key value, your team will follow suit.


Ability to Delegate
Finessing your brand vision is essential to creating an organized and efficient business, but if you don’t learn to trust your team with that vision, you might never progress to the next stage. Its important to remember that trusting your team with your idea is a sign of strength, not weakness. Delegating tasks to the appropriate departments is one of the most important skills you can develop as your business grows. The emails and tasks will begin to pile up, and the more you stretch yourself thin, the lower the quality of your work will become, and the less you will produce.
The key to delegation is identifying the strengths of your team, and capitalizing on them. Find out what each team member enjoys doing most. Chances are if they find that task more enjoyable, they will likely put more thought and effort behind it. This will not only prove to your team that you trust and believe in them, but will also free up your time to focus on the higher level tasks, that should not be delegated. It’s a fine balance, but one that will have a huge impact on the productivity of your business.

Communication
Knowing what you want accomplished may seem clear in your head, but if you try to explain it to someone else and are met with a blank expression, you know there is a problem. If this has been your experience, then you may want to focus on honing your communication skills. Being able to clearly and succinctly describe what you want done is extremely important. If you can’t relate your vision to your team, you won’t all be working towards the same goal.
Training new members and creating a productive work environment all depend on healthy lines of communication. Whether that stems from an open door policy to your office, or making it a point to talk to your staff on a daily basis, making yourself available to discuss interoffice issues is vital. Your team will learn to trust and depend on you, and will be less hesitant to work harder.

Sense of Humor
If your website crashes, you lose that major client, or your funding dries up, guiding your team through the process without panicking is as challenging as it is important. Morale is linked to productivity, and it’s your job as the team leader to instill a positive energy. That’s where your sense of humor will finally pay off. Encourage your team to laugh at the mistakes instead of crying. If you are constantly learning to find the humor in the struggles, your work environment will become a happy and healthy space, where your employees look forward to working in, rather than dreading it. Make it a point to crack jokes with your team and encourage personal discussions of weekend plans and trips. It’s these short breaks from the task at hand that help keep productivity levels high and morale even higher.

Our office is dog friendly, and we really believe it is the small, light hearted moments in the day that help keep our work creative and fresh. One tradition that we like to do and brings the team closer is we plan a fun prank on all new employees, on their first day. It breaks the ice and immediately creates that sense of familiarity.

Confidence
There may be days where the future of your brand is worrisome and things aren’t going according to plan. This is true with any business, large or small, and the most important thing is not to panic. Part of your job as a leader is to put out fires and maintain the team morale. Keep up your confidence level, and assure everyone that setbacks are natural and the important thing is to focus on the larger goal. As the leader, by staying calm and confident, you will help keep the team feeling the same. Remember, your team will take cues from you, so if you exude a level of calm damage control, your team will pick up on that feeling. The key objective is to keep everyone working and moving ahead.

To Be Continued...


source: www.forbes.com

Tom Wujec: Build a tower, build a team

Marshmallow Tower Challenge

Try it with your TEAM!

 

 

Video Source: http://agiletrail.com/2011/12/06/7-short-must-see-leadership-videos/