Do you know one thing that hurts revenue?
Downtime.
The time between projects or slow periods of activity.
Having to ‘hunt’ for that next business/project.
Surprisingly, many businesses in this position aren’t proactively nurturing strategic alliances with potential referral sources.
What is a strategic alliance?
It’s when two businesses share the same or similar buyers but provide two different products/services.
I gave the example in the previous article about a pool cleaning company creating a strategic alliance with an outdoor screen enclosure company.
They share much of the same client base but are not in direct competition.
By sharing business back and forth, not only do you provide additional value for your existing client base by referring them to a trustworthy vendor partner, but you also have the opportunity to generate lots of business from a single relationship.
Here’s a quick action item list:
DO:
- Make lists of companies that service your same client base but are not in direct competition.
- Take time to think about your pitch from their perspective and all the variables of how the conversation could go.
- Nurture the relationship with your referral sources with care.
DON’T:
- Making alliances with companies that aren’t trustworthy
- Rely on only one referral source for 100% (or even 40%) of all your business
The Bottom Line
Don’t rely on dinks and dunks, load up your pipeline by partnering with vendors who provide adjacent services or big companies that sub out the work you do regularly.
Share your experience
Are you attempting to create strategic alliances, having trouble, or have a cool experience you’d like to share?
