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Quickstart - Boost Your Business with Joint Ventures
Quickstart
Grow a Profitable Consultancy and Still Have Time for a Life
In this issue
Note from Beverley - Take Care of You
One Step Further - Boost Your Business with Joint Ventures
What's Out There? - Strategic Alliances & Joint Ventures
Personal Reflections - Sure I Can!
Note from Beverley
Colds are a real pain. Nothing serious yet they drain energy and affect your get up and go.
Well that definitely happened to me last week. It started on the Monday evening and for the rest of the week I was hot/cold, up/down, sleepy, sleepier and fed up for about 4 days. So guess what, I finally gave in to it, put my feet up, lay on the sofa, watched an awful movie, let the world go by and let my cold take its course.
I also didn't go to a couple of events - a) because I didn't have the energy to give it my all and b) I didn't want to spread my germs. So sometimes you just have to give in and NOT feel guilty. The world can do without you for a few days and you need to just take care of you sometimes.
Have a good week
Beverley
bev@onestepfurther.co.uk
+44 (0) 1344 625713
www.onestepfurther.co.uk
Author of Take Control of Your Time: 7 Straight Shooter Strategies for Success
Upcoming Event
Put this date in your diary NOW - 15 March
You'll want to be there for the next fantastic Business Unusual event. For further details and to register and reserve your place go to www.BusinessUnusual.net
"We have a couple of "normal" networking groups who use Heckfield Place, and the atmosphere between the two was a world apart. As you mentioned Beverley, generally people just thrust business cards in peoples faces, and people start forming there own little cliques. Where as I was impressed with the group participation and the general banter was hilarious!"
Date: 15 March 2006
Time: 6.30pm Welcome reception, canapés and mulled wine
Venue: Heckfield Place in between Hook and Reading just off J11 of the M4
Investment: £27+vat
Grow your knowledge, Share your experiences and get advice and help from your peers, Connect with potential clients and partners and Contribute to your community
Business Unusual - business as usual is NOT what we're about
One Step Further
What is a Joint Venture or Strategic Alliance? My definition is
"A partnership that creates or adds value to the vision and goals of all parties that also adds or creates value for their current or potential customers. The value created would not have been possible if either party had solely operated on their own"
Joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships can all add another dimension to your business. Joint Ventures are one slice of the Attraction Pie I mentioned last week. They can help you grow your revenue, relationships and knowledge. You need creative thinking, good planning and careful selection in who and why you link up with appropriate Joint Venture partners so that both parties gain mutual benefit.
Who might you consider as a Joint Venture partner or strategic alliance?
1. Someone/Company who sells into your market and does something completely different to you
2. Someone/Company who sells into your market and complements what you do
3. Someone/Company that does exactly what you do and has a different slant/different skills
Examples:
* If your target audience/niche is veterinary practices and you offer marketing to that niche a good Joint Venture partner might be someone that offers accountancy for veterinary practices
* If your target market is SMEs and you offer process consultancy you might partner with a HR specialist who niches in SMEs
* If your target market is Blue Chip Software companies you could joint venture with suppliers to those companies e.g. component parts companies
So what types of Joint Venture activities can help you in your consultancy/business?
* Co-host networking events where you invite clients/prospects of both your businesses.
* Co-host seminars where you each speak/teach on your specialist subject
* Share marketing activity by co-promoting each others' products and services
* Provide hot referrals through recommending your existing clients to your joint venture partner
* Do joint calls into prospects
* Produce co-branded materials
* Add each others links/information to your website
And there's loads more...
Multi million pound/dollar companies use strategic alliances to great effect and gain huge profits and profile from those partnerships. Think of oneworld or STAR - 2 airline alliances each consisting of 7 and 15+ airlines which among them cover the whole globe! The Ford Motor Company has a strategic alliance with UPS the global delivery service.
As a solo consultant or SME business owner the urge to be a "lone ranger" is often very strong. However, the advantages of considering forming partnerships and alliances are worth considering for your business to take your revenue, profile and knowledge One Step Further
What's Out There?
As I have focused on Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances, here are some additional resources and thinking on the subject
The Top 6 Rules for Developing Strategic Alliance Partnerships by Chris Barrow - Useful insights especially if you are a coach or even a consultant
Strategic Alliances for SMEs by Dr Hiroshi Yasuda
"...strategic alliances are effective ways for SMEs to get access to more diverse capabilities, to acquire external knowledge, to sustain the ability to learn from partners to internationalise and to be exposed to new opportunities."
Joint Ventures and How Not To Mess Them Up by Andrea J Lee
"One of the most critical components to your online success is your ability to create great joint venture partnerships...but how?"
Building Successful Strategic Alliances by Scott Andrews
"...Some alliances leave one or both parties disappointed in the end-results. This is often because the alliance is not established properly. Properly established alliances can help leverage business and build stronger relationships with customers."
Personal Reflections
In addition to "Sometimes You Just Have to Ask", my other phrase of this year so far is "Sure I Can!"
I first "heard" this phrase late last year when I was listening to a CD of a coaching conference. One of the coaches (whose niche by the way is professional clowns!) was telling a story about when she first started out in business and how that in order to raise her profile, get better referrals and make better connections she adopted a "Sure I Can" attitude. In other words she said yes to everything. Can you speak at X? Sure I can. Can you do a programme on Y? Sure I Can.
For some reason - maybe it was how she said it, maybe it was a message I was ready to hear - who knows, but ever since then, Sure I Can has been a bit of a mantra for me - sometimes said confidently and sometimes said with a fear that you would not believe!. Of course if I were asked to perform brain surgery on someone, I'd probably say that's not my area of expertise! - however, you get my point.
Well adopting this mindset paid dividend last week - with a little help from a friend Chantal Cornelius of Appletree. She has been invited to speak at a Global Teleconference and I emailed here to say congratulations. In a really nice reply she said, would you like to speak too? I'm not sure whether they are looking for more speakers but I'll ask if you want? Sure I said - and didn't think any more about it.
Well last Friday lunchtime I got a call from the organiser saying would I be able to speak - SURE I CAN and not only that, what would I like to speak on and which slot would I like!
I came off the phone thinking; surely it can't have been that easy to get a speaking gig on a global teleconference? Well unless you hear to the contrary - I'm speaking on 7 April at 1630 GMT on How To Leverage Your Knowledge Not Your Time (Working title)
If you want to sign up to all or part of the event go to Global Phone Conference and perhaps I'll hear you there.
What can you say "Sure I Can" to this week?
What opportunities have you dismissed, ignored, forgotten or feared? Think again and make "Sure I Can" your mantra too.
Rgds
Bev
bev@onestepfurther.co.uk
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