I recently had two organizations attempt to create a strategic alliance with BNI and the Referral Institute and I got two substantially different results.
The first company (which shall remain nameless on the grounds that they like to attack folks they are not happy with via the media) contacted me and wanted to speak. With them, it was a case of “Glad to meet you—let’s get married!” I really got the sense that they wanted to GIVE me the privilege of sharing my entire database of contacts with them based on who they were and how amazing it would be for me to even say I had stood in their shadow! Get the picture?
When I explained our corporate philosophy and my own personal belief system that deepening a business alliance and building a relationship with a partner business took time and effort before getting to the “let’s get married” stage, they abruptly ended the call and (I’m sure) moved on down their computer-generated list of businesses to call.
By contrast, here is how the second organization (Brian Tracy University) approached the same issue: Brian Tracy himself contacted me and 
started the conversation by asking me what our company goals were. I shared with him that we recently set the goal of “92 in ‘12” (9200 chapters by the year 2012). The next statement from him was, “We want to help you achieve that!”
From there it went from “Glad to meet you” to “Let’s get to know each other better!” Brian shared with me that he had ideas that could help us achieve our corporate goal and help our members do better business at the same time. When I explained, as I had with company X, that our philosophy as a networking organization was one of mutual cooperation and that our belief was that anything that would really be of value to either of us would take time, he completely got it, respected it, and supported it!
If you want to create strategic alliance relationships with other companies, be sure you work with organizations that are willing to work with and respect your corporate culture and make sure to understand that the process takes time. If you do, you will have great success with a business alliance.
Our relationship has developed organically and we are now offering a very special program through the Brian Tracy University (www.briantracyu.com) to BNI members and Directors. I’m not sure how company X is faring; I don’t hear so much about their program anymore! I wonder why? Hmmmm . . .
Looking back over two decades of building an international company, I can clearly see that no one person or company brought something to the table that launched my company to the next level. Instead, it was the cumulative effect of many people, many strategic alliances, and many well-nurtured relationships with companies that were willing to get to know us and gradually, over time, build each other’s businesses through combined efforts. Each contact, each opportunity to reach out to each other and each mutually beneficial activity served as just one more spoke in the wheel as we rolled up the hill toward success.
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 3:45 pm and is filed under BNI, Collaboration, Ivan Misner, Networking, Referral Institute. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.2 Responses to “Strategic Alliances The Right Way!”
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February 14th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
There is a typo for the Brian Tracy University web site. The correct link is http://www.briantracyu.com.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:13 am
As PA to the National Director in South Africa I had cause to read the above and am very thankful for the suggestion that I do so.
Ivan, your guidance is indeed valuable. Brian, I am a devoted fan.
Sincerely
Solveig