You’re leaning towards a productive partnership when there’s great ‘chemistry’ and a well-thought-out starting point.

No man is an island – that goes out to every entrepreneur, too. Creating a successful partnership is a huge undertaking. It requires a significant effort, perseverance and faith. If you don’t know the building blocks, all your efforts will just go down the drain.

Michael Griffiths’ article on Flying Solo hits the right notes on how to carve out a strategic partnership to boost your network and number of referrals. In line with our theme of the month and for our valued readers, we have reposted his article here:

Business can be a fun place, a lonely place, a happy place, a frustrating place, a rewarding place and most importantly … a place full of opportunities. However, opportunities come to those who both look for them and have the mindset to accept them.

To me, there are two ways to bring new opportunities into your life:  the hard way and the easy way.

The hard way includes searching for new opportunities by yourself, finding new prospects to fill the funnel, and working in isolation with very little help or collaboration.

The easy way includes finding new opportunities through your network, having people passing you referrals consistently and partnering up with others who can lead you to new business.
You’ve heard it before and I’ll say it again: people want to do business with those they know, like and trust. Which means it’s time to build strategic partnerships to increase your referral capabilities and grow your network. How do we do this?

First, we need to know who to partner up with. I always suggest you consider the following questions in order to help you create business partnerships:

“We need to understand what we want from the partnership. Partnerships only work if you have a clear set of outcomes and goals that are mutually beneficial to both parties. “

1. Who has the same sorts of clients that you have that you could partner with?
2. Who has the right mindset and can work with you?
3. Who has credibility with their clients and network so when they speak to them they listen?
4. Who would you be excited to work with?

Next, we need to understand what we want from the partnership. Business partnerships only work if you have a clear set of outcomes and goals that are mutually beneficial to both parties. So you need to think about:

1. What you want to achieve from the partnership.
2. What guidelines the partnership needs, if any.
3. How the partnership will work.

Finally, you need to do two things.

The first is to work on building the relationship and strengthening it. The people involved in the partnership need to spend time with one each other so they understand each other’s goals, skills, and interests. This will ensure the partnership works.

Secondly, you need to meet regularly to plan how you can help one another. There is no point having referral/business partnerships if you don’t actually do anything to help one another.
What’s the end game if your partnership is a success?

A steady stream of new clients who know you’re the right fit for them. Imagine the impact that could have on your business!

Happy partnering!

This post was originally authored by Michael Griffiths of Referral Marketing Guru and published by Flying Solo.