When Brad Dennison
joined nFocus
Technologies Inc., he needed to boost revenue for the
slow-growing business.
The business solutions provider
had a lot to offer and boasted a
healthy client base, but it needed to counteract its economic
stalemate. By implementing a
plan to work with customers
who shared lateral growth goals,
he produced new products while
learning from other experts,
allowing all parties to grow.
“Linking the company name to
another industry requires careful
planning with familiar and reputable companies,” Dennison
says. “Keep in mind your goals
and choose wisely.”
With his plan in place, the
managing director initially drafted a few companies with the
same ideology and then gained
momentum by adding more
than 40 partner companies to
his arsenal.
Smart Business spoke with
Dennison about how to grow
your business by partnering
with your customers.
Q. How do you decide which
customers to partner with?
The goal is to create a virtual
product development team that
builds the next generation tool.
You can choose a partner company in any industry or business
that has good leadership, employee retention plan or ideas to
increase revenue, then you implement their knowledge into your
company to suit your industry.
All partners benefit as the
product is tailored to each of
their needs, benefiting from each
other’s strengths. The process
includes a little risk-taking. All
partnerships may not be as profitable as initially thought,
but to keep on doing the same
thing while expecting different
results is the definition of insanity. Ultimately, the plan propels
success.
Q. How do you approach
customers with the offer of a
partnership?
First, you must find a customer that has similar growth
goals, is respected in their
industry and has something you
can learn from. Make
them an offer that also
serves as a contract
explaining the details of
the partnership.
Give them special
incentive pricing on your
products. Once an agreement is made, be sure to
keep the lines of communication open. Any company can make an agreement incentive by emphasizing that the partners
will be learning from
other experts by sharing
their knowledge.
