It’s a fact we are much stronger when we work together. Forming a partnership with other businesses can help you reach more people in less time and control your overall costs. As business owners, we are always trying to increase sales on a limited budget and with little time to devote to our own marketing – strategic partnerships are key to driving sales faster.

It is important to note that the partnership should be beneficial for both companies. You want to make sure that the company you partner with has the same level of commitment as you do. Often people join referral or networking groups in hopes of getting more business but fail to realize that you really need to be proactive in order for those groups to work. Too many people just go through the motions of meeting every week, doing the typical mini business pitch, and review if there were any “tips” or referrals given out between the members. But are you really getting the maximum “referral” benefits from your group? How much time do you commit towards promoting that group and how many referrals do you really give out for the members?

If you are part of a group, you should look at every opportunity to leverage those members to drive your business. You should be doing more than just going to a meeting every week and handing out the occasional referral. Why not do co-op marketing together to lower your cost? Why not think of ways to get everyone’s clients together in one place to meet the other members of the group? If you target the same type of client and are non-competing, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be doing this. Not to mention that you are wasting valuable time and money by not building and leveraging your network of contacts.

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