The value of partnerships
- Justin H
- Nov 4, 2016
- 2 min read
Everyone who’s anyone in a business has heard of networking in a business capacity. We aren’t talking about stringing wires across the building to get computers to talk to one another, but really getting various companies working together or at least becoming aware of one another. Networking is one of the primary revenue generators in today’s business world. People like to buy from people or companies they trust, and when you have the capital a business is capable of spending, you not only want to trust someone who you are getting services from, many people may also want to get to know the person as well.
That’s where networking comes in. BNI (Business Networking International) groups are scattered across the country in an attempt to get people with various backgrounds and service offerings together in order to facilitate those business offerings with one another in mutually beneficial partnerships, as well as use the calling lists of the various members of the BNI group to expand their own sales. I’m not sure how clear that reads, but it makes sense in my head… Network with an insurance guy, and he might contact you for a loan if you were a loan officer as long as you bought your insurance through him. Network with a car guy and if you buy his cars, he might buy your janitorial services, and so on. The value a business can attain from networking can result in an exponential return on investment (buzzword!) as well as synergies (buzzword!) on the relationship.
Beyond the obvious potential for sales growth when you network, once you form a partnership with a customer or other business as a result from networking , you can start to reap benefits and add value to that partnership. You can save your customer money, or offer them additional levels of service, save them time, or be their problem solver for anything within your service range. This solidifies the relationship and ties both of you closer together to make it much less tempting for your customer to go looking elsewhere for services.
If you haven’t already, give networking a shot to find some customers, and once there, create that partnership and foster that sense of trust so that your customer isn’t tempted to leave you.
Justin
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