Strategic Alliances are the most powerful marketing and business development strategy available to small business owners today. But exactly what is a strategic alliance and how do you implement one?
Put simply a strategic alliance is two or more business owners working together on a project or strategy to produce a WIN WIN outcome for all parties. Some examples which are familiar to most of us would be the Coles Shell shopper docket alliance and the McDonalds Disney Pixar Alliance.
According to Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Trendsetter Barometer 49% of the top one hundred fastest growing privately owned companies surveyed are planning some form of strategic alliance or joint venture in the next 12 months.
However strategic alliances are not only the domain of large corporations and super businesses. Strategic alliances are without a doubt the most powerful business development strategy available to small business owners and entrepreneurs and they can be implemented even with no list and no money.
So let’s have a look at two examples of strategic alliances in action.
Case study 1 – the dentist and the massage therapist.
In this case the massage therapist had a new business and wanted to fill her diary. She approached a dentist in the same shopping precinct and invited him to have a complementary massage – complete with champagne and strawberries dipped in chocolate. After the massage, when the dentist was feeling extremely relaxed and happy the massage therapist offered to provide a similar experience for him to give to all of his clients who responded to his six month check up reminder letter.
In this case the dentist improved his return bookings by more than 50 percent. The massage therapist then extended her offer to other businesses in the same shopping precinct. There was initially a cost to the massage therapist – her time, the strawberries and champagne and massage oils (the dentist paid for the offer letters as he was sending out reminders anyway). However the cost was significantly less than an advertising campaign and by providing an unforgettable experience she completed filled her diary with repeat business within 3 months.
If you have a new business what would it mean to you to completely fill your diary within 3 months?
Case study 2 – the accountant and the business consultant.
In this case the business consultant, who wanted to expand his business, approached an accountant with an established database of small business owners. First the business owner offered to provide the accountant with a complementary marketing analysis valued at $300. He then asked the accountant if he would like to give his top 100 clients the same analysis as a “Thanks for being a client” gift – no strings attached.
Of the clients who accepted the gift, 39 went on to purchase services from the business consultant at an average dollar sale of $2000 – $78,000 worth of new business for the consultant. Of this he paid $14,000 to the accountant as a finder’s fee. However the accountant then went on to purchase $8,000 worth of services from the consultant.
What impact would it have on your business to generate $72,000 of new business in just two weeks?
Perhaps you already have an established business and you are wondering where the win is for the dentist and the accountant – after all they didn’t get any new clients out of this. Remember the services provided to the clients in both these cases were completely “no strings attached” gifts simply to say “Thanks for being a great customer!”
One of the most important things businesses need to do during a recession is to protect their existing client base. When was the last time you gave your loyal clients a thanks for being a customer gift? What do you think the impact would be? After all if your accountant gave you a high value “Thankyou” gift every year how likely would you be to stay with them and furthermore how likely would you be to refer business to them?
