Partnering for Success
by Mike Freedman

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You'll find amazing synergy in approaching other businesses in your neighborhood to work together - especially if you can find partners who're after the same types of clients you serve but who don't really compete with travel sales. Here's a short list of examples: Wedding planners, photographers, banks, clothing stores, bookstores, restaurants, and car dealers, among many others. Once you start thinking, you'll come up with a long list of potential partners.

Follow this checklist to develop productive marketing partnerships with other local businesses:

1. Make a short list of your top partner prospects. Don't go crazy - whittle down your possibilities to, say, the top three prospects on your list to approach (e.g., a community bank or credit union, an independent bookstore, and a wedding boutique).

2. Pick your # 1 idea for working with each business. Before you contact these local businesses, decide in advance how you'd like to work with them. You'll achieve more success if you have your ideas settled before you walk in their doors! For example, you could promote the bank's 50-plus depositors club to your clients if the bank will let you plan the club's upcoming trips. Or, you could host a travel night at the bookstore each month and do presentations on various destinations, if the bookstore will give its patrons a bookmark or flyer to customers about your services.

3. Approach these local business owners and seal the deal. In today's economy, you'll find many more local entrepreneurs eager to work with you. Follow up your meetings with a confirmation letter spelling out who's doing what in the partnership.

4. Take care of customer responses, and turn them into sales. Many entrepreneurs can come up with lots of marketing ideas - it's the follow through (or the lack thereof) that kills the deals. Respond right away to emails, phone calls, and other contacts from customers who're drawn to you based on your partnership marketing with other local businesses.

Do you have examples of successful local partnerships you've had with other businesses in your area? Send us an email describing what you've done, and we may feature you in a future issue of the "OSSN E-Agent!"

(Credits: Warburn, Svik, Coolcaesar)