You’ve had great initial meetings.

Met for lunch, bonded and formed a close personal relationship.

You’ve been in and spent time with the wider team.

Everyone agrees about the level of synergies and the size of the opportunity.

Everyone’s excited.

The partnership is kicked off.

Then nothing.

Still nothing.

Nope.

The excitement is long gone, and the potentially beautiful relationship fizzles out.

I hear this all too often.

When I delve deeper sometimes there’s a logical reason, and despite the parties involved liking each other a referral partnership had a slim chance of success.

But all too often a great partnership on paper doesn’t come close to the promise it once held.

And it’s all about activation.

We all seek confirmation on what we are doing and sometimes approval too, from what we are wearing, to what decisions to make, to what we are doing in our businesses and where we should go on holiday. How do we get this confirmation and recognition as to whether what we are doing is working or not?

We measure! We look at the facts and figures to gauge success. This blog explains just how as we look at …

If you want to build really strong relationships that deliver long term, successful, partnerships, then communication is key.

Your communication processes can make or break a partnership.

Some comms will need to be factual, and some more inspiring. Some will be generic to all partners, others more personalised. Some will be scheduled, regular, maybe even automated, and others will be (or at least appear to be) adhoc.

And that’s where we need the systems and processes to make sure these things happen when they should.

It’s the N in the Collaboration Junkie DANCE framework for partnerships (N stands for Nurturing) and it’s a hugely important step…

This is my moment, my 5 minutes of fame right here, in this moment. The man stands proudly as the wind rushes through his glorious blond hair-

*Record Scratch*

Actually, we mean business triggers and moments in time…

Here's 5 reasons why being curious about what’s going on in our strategic partner's (or anyone’s) world is a good thing:

It’s estimated that 95% of our decision making happens subconsciously.

In collaboration discussions it's vital we connect with that part of our prospective partners decision making if we want to easily form high value partnerships that deliver results for all parties concerned. It's something I often refer to as 'The Real Why'.

But that doesn’t mean we can ignore the 5%. It's the logical bit that reassures our head this is a sensible decision.

And whilst not as exciting, this is why the commercial foundations of a strategic partnership should not be overlooked. And by that I mean potentially paying a commission to your partners for customers you've gained through their introductions.

Look you all know how much I love a bit of a boogie, so don’t tell me you’re surprised that I’ve managed to work dancing into my business blogging. They’re two things I love: collaborating and celebrating and there’s no better way to celebrate life than on the dance floor.

I want to explain what the similarities are between dancing and partnership programs but first I need to start by explaining why we need to be strategic (luckily I love a challenge too so here goes…)

If you run your own business, you’re in the enviable position of being able to dance to your own music. Providing you have a plan, a goal and something you can sell, you get to create the business – and the life – you want.

I’m a massive fan of this approach because, as I often say, if you’re not enjoying it, you’re not doing it right. My dream has always been to create a life for myself and my family which lives up to this mantra and, in order to do so, that business needs to help others to also love what they do.

If you’re the owner of a growing business, I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with referrals. The act of recommending people is the oldest form of marketing but it’s often done on an ad-hoc basis and doesn’t have any strategic thought behind it which, in our experience, means many leads not being introduced.

A strategically designed Partnership Program can be hugely beneficial to business growth and they are used to great effect by the biggest brands (such as AirBnB or Uber) through to small start-ups.

If a business isn’t aware of the inherent value of a partnership program, they may resent investing too much time, money or resources into it. However, those who are aware will appreciate what a dramatic effect a lucrative program can have on business growth.

According to statistics published by Thinkimpact.com, 78% of B2B referrals create viable customer leads for the business and referrals end up creating 65% of new business opportunities.

However, as I hinted earlier, the most likely difference between a successful or failed partnership program is the strategy behind it.

It’s been tough times for many sectors over the last year or so, but one of the positives that I think we can take forward has been how much more collaboration between businesses we’ve seen – with new or improved services being offered that has enabled businesses to not only survive, but in many instances thrive, despite the climate.

That’s the great thing about collaboration and partnerships, you can create something far greater than the sum of its individual parts, meaning the long-term benefits are huge.

But one of the hardest hit sectors has clearly been hospitality, they’ve had to jump through more hoops than most, and yet have still had the harshest restrictions placed upon them.

And they’re not traditionally great collaborators.

What have you missed most over lockdown and the ongoing restrictions?

A pint with friends?  Maybe you’ve not been able to see loved ones? Perhaps you’re a real gym bunny or have missed your regular pamper sessions?

For me it’s been live music.

Whether it’s gigs, festivals, or the dance floor; live music feeds my soul – and I’ve been hungry for far too long now!

So, the recent news about it being likely that live events won’t need to implement social distancing following the June open up date is one that put a huge smile on my face.

As more and more gigs get postponed for the 2nd year running, I was starting to dread that the festivals I have planned for the end of the summer had no chance of going ahead (it really hit me hard last year and put me in quite a dark place without realising it) and so this news gave a nice ray of hope.

You’ve got a great product or service. You know who you want to work with to help you generate leads, and you’re certain they’re the right type of strategic partner. You’ve also got all the systems, processes, and materials ready to support them when they come on board.

So now it’s just a case of going out there and getting them.

But it’s where many people fall down. Often due to poor targeting of potential partners, and more often than not because you haven’t positioned the opportunity in the right way.

I’ll take you through some top tips to help you overcome this, so you’re never having to sell a collaboration again.

Things are good at the moment. Actually, they’re great.

And there's a more positive vibe about in general.

As I write this at the start of March 2021 the weather has been much sunnier, spring is in the air, days are noticeably longer and we’ve had a positive picture played out to us for being able to resume normal life.

Oh – and in our household we got a new puppy last week. His name is Gary and he’s as cute as he looks. In a very mischievous way.

Referrals.

They’re almost certainly the best type of lead your business can receive. Pre-sold on the quality of your service, and already trusting you and your brand.

And yet so many of us, even those who are highly referable, don’t ask for them.

Some of you reading this may be lucky enough to receive them anyway, which is a great testament to the quality of the product or service being provided. But if that’s the case, or if you’re someone who only asks on occasion, then don’t you owe it to you, your business, and the potential recipients of your amazing service to be doing more?

Hint: The answer starts with a Y, has an E in the middle and a S at the end :)

Over the last 15 or so years I’ve set up hundreds of partnerships with both big brands and small businesses alike. The majority have focussed on lead generation in one way or another, reaching close to a million business owners with the resulting collaborations.

I’ve had success at varying levels. However, I’ve made or witnessed many mistakes, even within the successful ones, and I’ve learned much more from them than the wins.

These mistakes typically fall into a few similar areas, and so I’m on a mission to help other people avoid them. There’s not much worse than the feeling of regret from a missed or wasted opportunity.

With that in mind, here’s my top 5 reasons why partnerships either fail, or never reach their full potential and fizzle out.

I talk a lot about collaboration and partnerships. All my success in business has been built on them, even if not all my collaborations have been successful.

But most of my personal development has also been anchored around collaboration and community. And, for as much as I talk about the business benefits of an opportunistic mindset, and the practical skills required to lay the foundations of successful partnerships, sometimes the most powerful thing about working or living in this way can be the emotional boost it gives us.