A Partnership for Success

They say no man is an island, and the same could be said for businesses. Many business owners fall into the trap of thinking they’re always in competition. While all businesses face competition, it’s a smart business owner that can see beyond this and look at creating ‘win-win’ situations.

Here are top tips on creating profitable partnerships for success.

Cross promotion opportunities in Aligned Sectors

What about contacting local electricians, plumbers, letting agencies, or other service providers and asking them if they would be willing to promote you? In turn, you would promote their services.

So, for example, you could have an agreement with a local electrician company that, if any of their clients use your services, they will get a percentage of the sales.

Also, you would receive a percentage of their sales if you recommend any clients to them.

This kind of marketing is brilliant for 3 reasons:

It’s ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing – We all know that this is the best kind of advertising. In fact, all these different social media platforms we have now, such as Facebook, are really just a way of trying to imitate good old fashioned word-of-mouth. Getting other respected professionals to recommend your services is a great way to get new business. It’s free marketing – It literally costs you nothing to set up an agreement like this with other professionals and can be more lucrative than any other types of marketing. It creates a much better customer experience, which in turn leads to more repeat business and good word-of-mouth. Many customers will have complex tasks they need completing. For example, someone may be renovating their home, and need the services of not only a gas engineer, but other professionals too.

We live in a time-poor world now, and many of your clients would value a person who can recommend other professionals so they can get their projects completed.

When you can give them recommendations, you are giving them an ‘above and beyond’ service… You save them the time and hassle of finding other professionals and save them the headache of dealing with unknown tradespeople.

This kind of ‘joined up’ service is welcomed and loved by clients!

Cross promotion opportunities with other Gas Engineers

Remember, it’s a smart business owner who can see beyond competition, and envisage lucrative win-win situations.

For example, if you specialize in “Servicing”, why not set up a cross promotion agreement with a gas engineer who specializes in “Installations”?

Or if you have a good network and lots of leads in another area, why not go in agreement with another gas engineer in that area so you can cover other areas and make most of every lead you get.

The benefits of this are just as profitable as looking at cross promotion in other sectors:

Again, you are gaining coveted ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing. Again, it’s completely free marketing that costs nothing more than a phone call. Again, the customer experience is drastically enhanced. The added benefit of looking within the gas engineering sector for partnership opportunities is that it allows you to grow fast as a business. Many small businesses and ‘one man bands’ would love the opportunity to branch out into offering further services to their clients, but are constrained by costs.

Looking for partners within the gas sector allows you to target services that you do not currently have the ability to offer.

For example; if another engineer offers power flashing and you don’t have the equipment to do it, you can offer their service and get paid from it.

Note: This Article is Originally Published in Registered Gas Engineer Magazine – Issue 108, March 2018