There are several types of business-to-business partnerships that a business owner can undertake to improve their business. The main goal behind most business relationships is to find new leads and convert them into higher sales and revenue for both participating companies. Consider these four main types of business-to-business partnerships to achieve your goal of increasing sales and revenue, including: vendors, customers, resellers, or companies with significant sales channels and / or existing suppliers. Each type of association has its own unique set of benefits and challenges to successfully implement and maintain, therefore it is important to evaluate each type to understand which one is best for you.
Providers
Building business relationships with vendors often makes great financial sense and can lead to unique business opportunities. Many suppliers are in a very competitive environment and constantly have to find new channels to sell their products. As a general rule, vendors will be willing to award special pricing to a business partner, expedited customer service, and business referrals when opportunities arise that are beyond their reach. However; There are some downsides to aligning too much with a single vendor. It is recommended that you keep your supplier partnership agreements as open and flexible as possible to allow multiple partnerships to exist in the same space, thus avoiding price spikes or product unavailability due to unforeseen partner issues.
Customers
The best types of business referrals come from existing clients. Provide a revenue share or special price for customers that can deliver leads who become new customers. Developing an incentive program for referral clients is a win-win situation. Often times, a simple discount can keep your business at the forefront of the customer’s mind when meeting with someone who is tailored to your target market.
Resellers or agents
Many companies that have large databases of potential customers will actively sell a product through their sales channels for a fee and / or a share of the revenue. Partnering with resellers can quickly grow a company’s ability to go to market. Resellers will invest time and resources to market their partners’ products and put their sales force to work selling the product. Small businesses with limited staff to actively sell can benefit greatly from these types of partnership deals.
Vendors
Finding other vendors that sell a complementary product is the right partnering solution for a business that alone has a product that is not the complete solution that a customer is looking to buy. An example is a computer hardware manufacturer associated with a company that makes software to perform unique tasks that a customer needs.
As a business owner looking for additional deal flow, it is important to evaluate all business-to-business partnerships that are possible for your company. Regardless of whether the focus is on existing vendors, resellers, suppliers, or customers, successful business-to-business partnerships are one of the best strategies for business growth.
