Who are you partnering with?

No one doubts that as sole traders we provide a fantastic and personable service to our clients, which is enhanced by expertise, knowledge and the development of strong, long-term business relationships. However, what I am seeing more and more, and indeed what I am doing more and more, is partnering or setting up strategic alliances, with other businesses who offer services which are complimentary to my own. This allows me to be able to promote a more comprehensive range of tailored solutions to my clients.

At Fuel, I specialise in delivering high quality strategic marketing consultancy services. Clients use me because of my professional experience and relevant knowledge. But occasionally some of my clients require other marketing services, namely telemarketing, PR, design, print, social media, website design and branded promotional items.  In order to satisfy their needs, and of course help them to think the best about me and my company, I recommend and them introduce them to some of my business partners whom I know can support what I do and deliver a successful extension to my service.

Whilst I hate the phrase “one stop shop” that is in effect what I aim to deliver to my clients and the benefits of partnering are clear to see:

  • Flexible access to specialist resources
  • Increased capacity
  • Cost saving – don’t have to employ full time staff or contract additional resources
  • Ability to strengthen long-term relationships through collaboration on short-term projects
  • Help to grow your business faster, increase productivity and generate greater profits
  • Potential for referrals coming the other way
  • Access to new markets

So where do I find my partners – well networking has been the best way to date, together with some brilliant referrals. And I never recommend a partner until I have experienced a working knowledge of how they operate and can trust them implicitly. In addition, we spend time ensuring that the aims and objectives and their role is clearly defined. Plus, even when they start working for my client, I remain 100% involved to ensure that the consistency of the relationship is maintained, the project progresses in a mutually satisfactory way and that I am on hand to help if needed.