Written by Partnerships are a great way to transform your practice. It requires some caution and discipline. But it can be one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do for your practice. Just make sure you keep the following things in mind as you move forward.
Partnerships with the right people
You’ll want to align yourself with people who will have joint rights and responsibilities in the projects you create. There is nothing more frustrating than working with someone who is not prepared to do their share of the work and leave you holding the major share of the work while they take all the glory.
It’s also important to partner with people who have a vested interest in your success. Someone who is interested in a long term relationship with you and want success just as much for you as they do for themselves. You’ll want to stay away from people who are only interested in shoving their business card in your face and asking for referrals….whether they pay you for those referrals or not.
That is not a partnership. That’s an affiliate agreement. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, it’s not a partnership.
I’m talking about real, honest to goodness partnerships that have you both working on projects that elevate each of your practices.
Maybe you could partner with someone who does what you do, but in and industry that you’re working to break into? Or, maybe they work in the industry you do, but in a position that compliments your own.
For example, as a Marketing Consultant, I have partnered with some great consultants who focus their attention on Operations Management. They are great at helping practitioners find the weak spots in their operation and developing a game plan for fixing them. As a Marketing Consultant, it does me no good to be marketing a practice that has major problems with their operations. All that will do, is to publicize and market their weak spots.
Adversely, an Operations Consultant who is able to help a practitioner fix their operations problem will naturally want to help the practitioner grow their practice through marketing once the problem has been solved.
It’s a natural fit and one can complement the other very well. When we work on projects together, we both win.
Partnerships with Growing Projects
Just as your practice is always growing, the projects with your new partner should too.
Ideally, you’ll want to start with projects that are smaller in scope and responsibility and grow from there. The reason for this is, you’ll find that it takes time to learn a person’s work ethic, strengths and weaknesses. Better to find that out early on smaller projects then wait until there is a lot of money and resources hanging in the balance.
As the size of your projects grow, so will your time energy and responsibility.
Partnerships with Goals
It’s critical that you are both very clear on what you want out of the partnership from the beginning.
At the end of a project, you must be able to look back at those clearly defined goals and ask yourself, “How do I know that I’ve accomplished my goals?”
Some of the more common goals I’ve found that encourage people to employ partnerships are:
• Financial Gain
• Increased Exposure
• Credibility in the Marketplace
• Attachment to an Industry Influencer
Whatever your goals are, you must be able to measure your success and look back knowing that you’ve accomplished your goals and how. While gaining a new best friend is wonderful, it will may not grow your practice.
Partnerships That Lead to Smart Growth
The best partnerships will lead to growth for both parties. But it’s important to know, on the front end, how you’ll handle that growth. You’ll want a strong infrastructure in place that allows you to handle that growth. For example, do you have enough people in your practice to help you handle that growth? How will you handle the overflow of clients? Is your office big enough? Do you have the right equipment?
While you don’t necessarily have to have these items in place today. You should be planning for them now. Start making that business plan that spells out the steps of your growth and how you’ll handle it.
The last thing you want to do is to try and figure these things out when your phone is ringing off the hook and you have more clients than you know what to do with.
Growing a successful practice can be stressful under the best of circumstances, not having a plan for that growth can quickly lead to chaos. And turning clients away or providing sub-standard service can quickly equate to a bad reputation in the market place. In the long run, you’ll save yourself and your practice a lot of heartache by developing your plan for growth now.
We’d love to hear how you’re partnering with other professionals to grow your practice. What has been the key to YOUR success?
Need help finding partners to help you grow your practice? Click here to schedule a free discovery call.