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Attracting a new business partner can be difficult and frustrating at times. Although you’re offering a fantastic opportunity and essentially a win/win situation, people may not always be in a position to accept your proposal. We’ve put together 7 useful tips in how to attract new business partners and grow your business.

1. Create your ideal partner profile

First things first, it’s important to picture the type of business you’re looking to partner up with. Having a good idea of what your perfect partnership looks like will help you better understand your required demographic, visualise success and avoid potential roadblocks in the future. Below are a couple of useful questions to ask yourself to help identify your ideal partner profile.

• What do customers need before they need your products and services? Thinking about what situation your customers are in before making a purchase to your business can give you a good idea of how to speed up the customer journey. For example, let’s say you work for a reputable television network such as Sky or Virgin and you’re looking for partners. You may benefit from partnering with a specific TV company (LG or Samsung for example). Before purchasing their cable from you, a customer may need to first purchase the television itself. When LG or Samsung sells the TV to the customer, they can then upsell them into purchasing your cable service as part of a bundle offer.

• What do customers need after they’ve had your products and services? This is essentially the reverse of the above, and customers may first come to you for a service which can then be progressed onto your new partner. Both partnered businesses are then helping each other by promoting both services for increased business sales.

2. Do your research

Before you start thinking about contacting businesses and sending out emails, it’s vital that you perform in-depth research on your potential partners and shortlist those of interest. Start by looking at their website, social media pages and marketing campaigns. If they have a newsletter subscription, join the mailing list and see what they’re offering their customers and how they market to them. Think about when you go for a job interview - you need to impress and learn as much about the company as possible to show that you care and have taken the time to understand their values. You should also start to think about the journey you’re expecting your clients to take, and whether this falls in line with the potential partners’ way of communicating. Once your primary research is complete, start to interact with your shortlisted businesses on their social channels. When the time comes for that all-important first email, they may already be familiar with your business from previous tweets, comments and likes.

3. Find partners that complement your own business

It’s essential to find partners who share your business values, goals and personality. If they don’t, it won’t take long for the whole process to fall apart. Don’t be afraid to remove organisations from your shortlist – even if everything else looks perfect, if you don’t share the same principles, you’ll only be wasting a lot of time and money on a sinking ship.

4. Create an email nurture sequence to build trust

It’s important to avoid the hard sell when it comes to attracting new business partners, and respecting their time and energy is key to gaining their trust. The first email in the nurture process should remain short and sweet. Include a gentle enquiry with references to their own business and your matching core values and goals. You can then add more information on how each business can benefit one another.

5. Don’t waste time on uninterested contacts

In most cases (depending on their situation), businesses are either ready for a business partnership or are not interested at all. There’s no need to try to convince unengaged contacts towards a business partnership as you’ll just be wasting your time. Instead, focus on those initial email opens and clicks and build on the people who have actively engaged with your content.

6. Call the company you’re pitching to

Once your introduction email has been sent and you have a list of potential partnerships, it’s time to strike while the iron is hot! Making a quick follow up call to engaged contacts can make all the difference in winning a new partnership and losing one. Use this opportunity as a friendly reminder of how much you appreciate their organisation and how working together could deliver fantastic results for both businesses. Don’t be afraid to enquire further about their organisation at this point, and maintain a professional, light-hearted approach when providing more information about your own business.

7. Continue to engage with potential partners

Whether you’ve acquired a new partnership or waiting for confirmation, make sure that you’re still actively interacting with (potential) partners on their social media profiles and occasional email campaigns. Although a business might not currently be able to join a partnership with you, it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t want to. Keep a good, engaged relationship with them for future opportunities. If you have successfully started a new business partnership, this is when you can discuss the next steps and build your venture together.

If you are interested in partnering with us or would like to learn more about the Telecoms World Channel Partner programme, please don’t hesitate to call our UK-based partner support team for a friendly chat on 0800 043 4383.