While everyone would like to be all things and do everything for everyone, that is impossible. There are only so many hours in a day, and one person can only do so much. It is virtually impossible to excel at everything. Team building, strategic alliances and partnerships are great ways to increase your capacity and diversify your offerings to your clients. Small business owners who recognize that strategic partnerships are critical for an organization’s growth are far more successful and tend to have longevity over those who are try to be all things to all people. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you focus on your niche and determine what areas you should find a strategic partner to compliment your current efforts.
Many small businesses view each other as competition instead of looking at ways to collaborate and even strengthen each other. Instead of focusing efforts on how you will put a competitor out of business, why not look for ways to collaborate? In most cases, not everything you do overlaps and there is plenty of work to keep everyone busy. Building a company on the principle that partnerships strengthen relationships and enhance capabilities, allows everyone to win. These relationships have to be done strategically, based on open and honest dialogue, and with agreements of partnership (written) for the mutual benefit to all.
Things to consider before sharing the love;
- Conduct a SWOT analysis of your company. Determine where strategic arrangements could fill gaps and benefit everyone involved.
- Evaluate potential team members on their capabilities, performance, cost structure and history of successful working relationships with others.
- Look at their core values. Do they align with yours? Will you get the same level of dedication, quality and management commitment?
- Establish clear policies and procedures so there is no misunderstanding that will affect the project, processes, budget, quality of product, or the client.
As small businesses, teaming with other small businesses who also understand the issues and challenges inherent to small businesses is important. But that doesn’t mean you can’t successfully teamed with larger partners. Sometimes you have a niche specialty that is appealing to larger business, just create your collaboration strategically. When all the stars are aligned, all the boxes are checked and the match seems to be made in heaven – why not?
If you have been approached by a larger company to fulfill a specific need on a government proposal, for example, that requires a percentage of the project to be done by a “woman-owned or minority-owned” business, the same guidelines listed above apply.
If you need help seeking like-minded companies or organization to partner with for the purpose of increasing your capacity and diversifying your offerings to provide the best possible solution for your clients, we are here to assist you. Stop by the office or contact us today.
