Why some strategic alliance meetings go nowhere and what to do about it.

Over the past few weeks I have begun working closely with a new strategic alliance partner. We have found a number of fantastic opportunities to work on together and begun to develop enormous respect for each others abilities and values and suddenly the possibilities seem almost unlimited. Yet I have known that person for almost as long as I have been in business and during that time, despite numerous meetings and potential opportunities, until now nothing had developed. Often great connections and strategic alliances take time to develop, other times you may be flogging a dead horse, but how do you tell the difference?....

For most of us some relationships click almost instantly while others take a while to develop. The potential for great strategic alliances is no different. Sometimes you will have a first meeting with someone, the potential and the opportunities will be obvious to both of you right away and everything will fall into place. At other times you will have a first meeting and nothing happens.
The most important thing to do is to do is to work out what went wrong.

First and most importantly – were they a good potential strategic alliance for your business in the first place? Did you have something tangible in common as the basis for your meeting? One of the first mistakes many new networkers make is trying to create strategic alliances with almost everyone they meet. So ask yourself:

Did the other person share your target market?Was there a close enough match or were you really clutching at straws?Do they have a product or service that your clients would love? (or vice versa?)
Was there some other tangible connection between you and the other person?
Shared geographic location? Both support the same charity or community group?Both use the same resources?Was the some potential for a bartering relationship?

The bottom line is - was there a good enough reason for the meeting in the first place? If you are having too many cups of coffee that go no-where perhaps you are not having the right cups of coffee. Make sure you are really clear on what you are hoping to achieve before you make the appointment.

Secondly are you properly prepared for your strategic alliance meetings? Before you start:
Make sure you are clear on what you want to achieve.Do you have some ideas on how you might be able to work together?Are you clear on what you are able to bring to the alliance?
Next make sure you fully understand what the other person’s goals and objectives are. Find out what they are hoping to achieve. Make sure that you understand what they are able to contribute to the relationship and what any limitations are.

Third make sure that you explore all the constraints and difficulties and that you are open and honest about them. Make sure the timing is right for both of you. Perhaps you are concerned about the cost in either time or money. Are you 100% confident about what you will need to contribute?Are you 100% happy with what the other party will be contributing?

Remember a WIN WIN doesn’t have to be the same for each of you but both parties must be happy that their objectives are being met.

Number four – does the chemistry feel right? Sometimes, no matter how good the business potential you just may not feel right about a relationship. Under those circumstances it is better to walk away.

Finally never leave a meeting without a clear set of action steps to move forward. Even if the agreed next step is to do nothing, or to keep in touch every few months until the timing is better or you are both clearer about what you want to achieve from the relationship.

Networking - It's All About The WIFT Not The WIFM

When you go to a networking event have you taken time out of your busy schedule, spent money on the ticket and driven half way across town because (i) you want to find someone to SELL you something? or (ii) because you are looking for new clients and more business?When I ask this question at networking events more than 95% of people tell me the second. Fair enough too - networking is an investment in growing your business and it should provide a positive return on investment. But therein lies the problem. Look at it this way - if everybody is there to sell and nobody is there to buy - who is going to have their goals met? So how do you create a WIN WIN outcome?

Networking is all about the WIFT NOT the WIFM.
Networking is about building long term WIN-WIN relationships NOT about making a quick sale. Who are you the most likely to want to do business with on an ongoing basis or to refer a valued client or colleague to? The person who was only interested in your problems so they could sell you something, or the person who was genuinely interested in finding out more about you and your business and who cared about the problems and issues you were facing?
So the next time you are at a networking event why not try focussing on the WIFT (What’s In It For Them). Instead of telling people you meet about your business, what you do and how you could help them or their clients and colleagues, find out about THEM.

Ask them about:

• what they do

• what makes their business special

• who their target market is

• what their goals are and what challenges they are currently facing in their business

• what they are hoping to achieve from the networking event.

And most importantly don’t do it from a perspective of looking for an opening for getting in there with what you have to offer. When you ask questions be genuinely interested in their answers. Look for ways that you may be able to help them, perhaps ways you could work together to grow both of your businesses, people you know that you could connect them with to help solve their problems.

If they do have a problem that your products or services could help them solve the networking event is NOT the time to go into sales mode. Ask for their card and follow up with them later.

Try it next time – you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.