Have you gotten this in your inbox, or uttered this open ended phrase?
“I’d like to find more ways to partner/collaborate/work together (insert your variation here)”
Most of us that work for successful or visible businesses get this a lot, or if you’re a successful individual, you might get it a lot too. However, it’s likely that your target doesn’t have time to simply muse on how they can help grow your business. And let’s face it, many people approaching companies that way are looking for exactly that. They’re saying “I’d like to find out how I can get in your good graces so that you’ll send business our way.”
As my friend Matt was helpful in pointing out as I was drafting this post, most proposals like this are impacted by the source and direction of the request. If you’re a smaller business or individual hoping to gain some steam by partnering with a person or business that has a lot of leverage, momentum, or potential, the burden is on you to create the business case for consideration.
But no matter who you are, if you really want to propose a more collaborative and mutually beneficial working relationship, you’ll approach the conversation like this.
1. Do your research, and get an email address.
Twitter DMs are a lousy way to try and do business, as convenient as they are. Our email addresses are all over the web these days. Take a few minutes to try and find one, or at the very least, use the DM approach to *ask* for an email and have a substantive conversation that way.
Like it or not, most business can be initiated on social networks, but it’s often closed over email.
Also: resist the urge to insist on an “introductory phone call”. People whose time is in constant demand will resist that with every fiber of their being, because phone calls without clear purpose or immediately obvious, earth-moving benefit are perceived as the ultimate time-waster, and we certainly don’t want to take time to hear a pitch this way. A well-thought email really is your best bet, and a phone call later can be a follow up, if warranted.
2. Articulate *exactly* what you’re proposing.
Open-ended “we should partner” means little, especially if your contact knows little about you (and your website link doesn’t give them enough information, I promise). If you’re the one reaching out and proposing that you work together, they’ll want to know:
- What you’re asking of them or their company, specifically, in terms of time, monetary, or referral commitments, or;
- If you have an untraditional or innovative idea that requires other or more than the above, state it plainly.
- What value you believe their business or network bring to the relationship
- What you bring to the table and are willing to commit in return
- Who your customer base is, and your demonstrated understanding of how that compliments theirs
- A *brief* summary of your business, product, or offering.
Be concise. It’s easier to respond definitively if someone understands what you’re proposing. It’s unlikely that an open-ended brainstorming session of how you *might* work together is an efficient start, so do the work ahead of time to actually propose something concrete. If you don’t know what you want, you have research and work to do before you propose something. Put yourself in the shoes of the person you’re approaching, and ask yourself what information you’d need in order to make a considered decision, or at least be willing to take the conversation a step further.
3. Respect official channels.
There may be definitive programs in place for certain types of partners within businesses, and a due diligence or vetting process in place for those.
Respect them, and resist the urge to press for an end-run. If you have an established relationship with a stakeholder in the company, this becomes an easier conversation, but you should still demonstrate your willingness to be part of whatever processes and programs are already in place. If your relationship is a positive one, that person will likely advocate for you internally, or offer to help streamline or shortcut the process if they see value in what you’re proposing.
If you don’t already have an existing relationship, realize that you’ll have to establish a level of trust and credibility as a baseline for your partnership proposal to be considered. Which brings me to….
4. Understand the true benefit in partnerships.
Partnerships and collaboration imply mutual benefit.
Simply offering something as vague as “exposure” to your customer base isn’t substantive enough – unless you’re, say, Apple or Google – for an executive to build a business case around committing time and resources to working with you on things outside of our existing business priorities. Even if you *are* a big dog, they need to understand not just what you’re asking of them, but what advantage partnering with you brings. Is it scale? Filling a gap in expertise? Packaging products and services in a new way or to a new audience?
People also would love to know – honestly and specifically – what you’re hoping to derive from the relationship. Leads? Exposure to their customer base? Joint marketing, content creation, or other time- and resource-heavy commitments that you can’t take on alone? Access to their product or service on some kind of insider basis? Be clear. They know you’re in it for something, and if you’re confident about the benefits you bring, you should also be forthright enough to state your own intentions.
Partnerships Can Be Awesome.
There’s no question that business partnerships can be absolutely advantageous, and allow companies to scale, innovate, and do things that they simply couldn’t do alone. Most people – myself included – are open minded and interested in possibilities, because we want to make our own businesses as successful as possible. Collaboration and partnership are a compelling way to do that, and I’m a big fan.
But if what you’re looking for is merely a leg up or to leverage our business to propel yours, that’s not a partnership. There are times and places for that, too. But call a spade a spade and know what you’re asking for.
So. Are you a collaboration seeker, and are you making progress with your approach? Are you getting requests like this, and what’s working or not working for you when you get them?
I’d love to talk more with you in the comments.
Well said, Amber, especially #2. I get requests like this all the time, and while I try to remain open to any and all proposals, I just don’t have time to play games and puzzle out what the other person wants. Yes, we are talking about forging a partnership, but it’s not dating. Don’t be coy or play hard to get. Just tell me straight out what you’re proposing and we’ll proceed from there.
At your service,
Michael
— Michael E. Rubin, Social Media Strategist, Fifth Third Bank
Disclaimer: I work for Fifth Third Bank, and this is my personal opinion.
As a huge efficiency fiend, I appreciate this post. It is exceedingly timely (thank you twitterstream kismet). What’s essential about effective partnerships is being selective and strategic in your “pitches.” I never contact anyone for anything unless I believe that a mutually beneficial result is anticipated. It’s not only courteous, it’s sound business. As an aside, congrats on today’s @Radian6 news! Exciting things are afoot at the Circle K, dude. 🙂
This (being approached for partnerships, or more specifically, the “let’s find a way to work together” ideas), is happening to me more and more often. Thanks for sharing some thoughts on HOW to think through and ask for a partnership. For me, there have to be mutual benefits and the work philosophies (why you do what you do, and for whom) must mesh… and it has to be compelling enough for me to decide to divert scarce resources (time and energy) toward making it happen.
I’m in the process of negotiating a potential partnership and I really appreciated this post – it helped me feel like we really are going in the right direction as we have answered almost all those questions! Thanks for giving me a feeling of comfort knowing that we are working in the right direction.
I couldn’t agree more, Amber. I can’t tell you just how many of these emails I get. I’ve probably sent my fair share as well.
I find that a number of the senders of these types of emails haven’t properly thought through the value proposition as it benefits them. Not only does it look bad on them, it’s borderline insulting.
If you can’t make the time to find out what I do and what I bring the table, how do you know that I’m the right person you want to work with? It’s all about doing your due diligence BEFORE hitting the send button.
Things I’ll be doing (I kid you not): offering a direct link to this in tomorrow’s blog. Hell yes. Thank you. Please continue to be brilliant.
That’s a great topic, Amber. Still, it’s hardly touched upon in spite of its unquestionable importance.
If there’re few things I could add to your well thought of points is that it’s always healthy to put yourself in other people’s shoes.
“How would I feel if I received a VAGUE partnership proposal from a complete stranger?” If people take a minute to ask this simple question, they would definitely approach partnerships in more effective ways.
Now let’s get to the “complete stranger” part. People don’t tend to trust complete strangers either online or offline. So, don’t be a complete stranger to your target partner. Thanks to social media, there are so many ways to become a familiar face before approaching others for partnership/collaboration ideas. For example, you can comment on their blogs, follow them on Twitter, retweet their tweets, send them PMs (without overdoing it). How about trageted Twitter chats? they present a very natural and interesting way to mingle with like-minded people and probably find a potential partner as well.
The bottom line is, before pitching your partnership proposal, become a familiar face and the rest should be easy. To our success!
This information is going to be so helpful to me. I did the one “No-No” already, ask for a phone conversation. Now I will try the correct way, with specifics in an e-mail. Thank you.
Phyllis