Growth Consulting 101

When we are brought on for growth consulting, there is one strategy that we explore in almost every case.  It involves the use of
Affinity Partnerships.  The most well known Affinity Partnership is that of IBM and Intel.  In almost every job IBM procures, they use Intel’s chips, and in almost every job that Intel takes on, they ask to see if IBM can have first right of refusal to do the hardware.

In this partnership no money changes hands, per se, but it is definitely a partnership.

Affinity Partnerships are more like business friendships.

When speaking to Chambers of Commerce I like to have all the business owners do a show of hands if they joined the Chamber to see if they could sell other Chamber members their goods or services.  I ALWAYS get a 100% showing of hands.  I than ask for a show of hands of how many people in the room have given thought to selling their services to the other chamber members’ clients.  Most of the hands drop quickly.

Affinity Partnerships involve a sharing of not only leads, but of client bases.

The best picure I can draw for an Affinity Partnership would be to have you picture the ideal business that your company could partner up with and literally share in their customer base.

Let’s take the example of an Insurance Company and an Accounting Agency.  If I am brought on to consult an Insurance company I’m going to beging to look for a large accounting firm and possibly even a mortgage company that we can partner with.  I’m going to see if we can begin a “Strategic Partnership” section on each others websites.  In this “Strategic Partnership” section we are going to give a strong recommendation for our new-found partners.  The goal is to create harmony between 2 or three companies and begin to get a series of referrals going back and forth.

Once the referrals begin, the relationship between the companies grows much stronger and much faster.  Many business opportunities come out of well thought out Affinity Partnerships.   These opportunities may have never come up, had they not started partnering up and referring business back and forth.

This is really the heart of why Chambers of Commerce began.  Affinity Partnerships can cause a business to lurch forward, in good economic times, and rocky economic times.

I challenge everyone reading this to form one simple Affinity partnership in the next 90 days.  Interview 2 or 3 companies.  If you are a sales rep, partner with a sales rep in a different industry and share leads.

If you are a printer, have lunch with a web designer.  Share clients and ideas for growth.

If you fabricate nuts and bolts, ask the sales rep that sells you your detergents who else he sells to.  Call a few of those companies and form a partnership.

If you make and sell a snack food product, get with a coffee company and go penetrate accounts together.

The brainstorming ideas will be endless when you partner up with a different company and look at business growth from a different perspective.

Once your partnership begins, try these quick ideas…

1.  Give each other a prime section on your websites
2.  Go through your client lists to see who may need your new partners’ service.
3.  Find out how they advertise and see if you can partner in their next round of advertising.
4.  Host a client get together including both sets of clients.  It’ll be a great networking session for your clients as well.
5.  Make some calls on new accounts together.

Hope these ideas help.

-Ken
Growth Consulting for Today