Stop wasting time on the wrong conversations

If you want to make sure you’re having the right conversations with the right partners, then you need to understand your Partner Ecosystem.

What do I mean by a partner ecosystem and why should you care?

Well, in this instance it’s all about who can easily provide you leads, and who can you easily provide leads to.

Having this clear in your mind will allow you to stop wasting time having the wrong conversations with the wrong people.

So, how do we map out this partner ecosystem?

It starts with what I call the customer value chain.

A customer starts with a very broad problem they want solving, or an opportunity they want realising. Typically they will visit multiple companies along the way to ultimately get them to achieve their goal.

You may have heard the analogy about people don't buy a drill, they buy a hole in the wall. Well, they're probably not even buying a hole in the wall, they're buying the shelf being put up. And maybe not even that, they're buying the satisfaction of the completed work.

Lets use a business example.

A company wants more leads into their business, but they’ve realised their branding needs looking at first.

That conversation maybe started with a coach, investor or other advisor.

Next in that chain is a branding agency.

From then maybe it’s onto a website builder, followed quickly by copy writing and video work.

And then finally we’re onto social media and outbound messaging.

Maybe even someone to work on their nearbound partnership and referral strategy :) 

So there's a natural progression.

Let's say you're the website builder. The businesses that come after you, like the copywriters and the video producers, you're going to be able to pass leads to them really, really easily. But they're not necessarily going to be able to do so the other way in the same volume - because by the time they speak to clients they’ve likely already got the website sorted.

The same with the branding people that sit before you. They're able to pass you leads but you’re probably not going to be able to pass quite so many back up the other way.

The same is true for people that are too far away from you in the chain. so let's say it's the advisor conversation that starts that decision-making process, they're probably not leaping all the way to the social media piece, for example.

So it's the people immediately before and after you that you’ll typically find the most value in working with.

Once this is mapped out you're able to start having the right conversations with the right people, be it other agencies or be it external organisations, who are actually going to be able to provide you leads on a consistent basis.

(By the way, those people that come after you on the value chain, they're still great to have as they help you deliver a better service, and the end goal everyone’s judged on, for the client)

And if you help those referral partners to understand the entire customer value chain, and the role that you play in delivering that, you're able to craft a really strong partner value proposition - communicating to the partner that you're helping them deliver value to the customer rather than just trying to use the partner to sell to their clients.

So, three things that I'm going to suggest you do following reading this article:

1./ . Think about the overall objective that your customer or potential customer has. What are they ultimately looking to do? They are probably not just looking for some great copy, or a website, or a new logo design.

It's part of a broader process. So, think about what that ultimate objective is.

2./ Next, map out what that journey of support looks like. Which businesses are the customers likely going to be speaking to along the way to that ultimate end goal? And where do you sit within that?

3./ And then the final step is to look at your existing partners, or your existing network and relationships, and review where in that chain they sit.

Once you’ve done this you'll have much more focus around where to have your conversations, and what those conversations should look like.

You won't feel resentment towards the people that aren’t providing you as many leads as you’re providing them as you’ll understand they're just not having the conversations at the right time to do so. And because of that your relationships will change. They'll become more enjoyable, and more impactful.

And when you are going out looking for partners, you'll be able to have greater clarity around the types of people that you want introductions to.

Wins all round.

If you put this into practice let me know how you get on and the impact it makes.