See how to partner with other businesses for growth.

When seeking opportunities for business growth, consider a strategic alliance with a business that complements yours. Here are the basics for getting started.

It’s more than an exchange

Successful alliances grow from collaboration. Both partners bring something valuable to the table and together something new of value is created. It’s more than an exchange. For example, the pairing of Barnes and Noble with Starbucks creates a customer experience that draws in coffee and book lovers in a way neither company could do on their own.

What makes a good alliance partner?

A good alliance is formed when the parties complement each other and each has a healthy business on their own.

Identify organizations that have similar values as your business; this automatically provides common ground on which to build a foundation. When BMW created a co-marketing campaign with Louis Vuitton, it made sense because both companies highly value craftsmanship and travel.

Get to know the other party first

Like personal relationships, business alliances take time to develop. In the beginning you get to know each other. If there’s mutual agreement to continue, you start drawing up proposals.

Along the way you’ll likely discover each side has different ideas about how to move forward and collaborate. If you work out your differences, wonderful! You commence with the partnership. If you fail to agree on next steps, that’s okay too; you walk away with a better sense of what you want in an alliance partner.

How we build alliances

Here at Consumers, we use alliances to offer members things like insurance, payroll, member perks and investing, in addition to multiple business services. We find it’s worth the effort to build strategic partnerships so we can make life and work better for members.

 

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