Originally published on entrepreneursbreak.com
One of the most effective strategies for growing any business is creating strategically valuable and advantageous partnerships. These relationships can be the lifeblood in propelling your business’s growth and provide countless opportunities to expand your enterprise. A long-lasting collaboration must create continuous value and advantages for all parties. How do you create a partnership of this nature? Here, Adam Ferrari – a founder and CEO of Ferrari Energy, provides tips and solutions to apply as you connect with other professionals.
A Win-Win Paradigm
Successful business people are, by their very nature, competitive. A competitive spirit is a crucial element of success. So, creating partnerships with other companies can seem counterintuitive for many executives.
The challenge is to recognize that a win-win arrangement is not the same as compromising your competitive edge, at least not if it’s done correctly. Instead, a well-constructed partnership is a tool designed to improve your position against your competitors.
Both parties in a business partnership must be willing to look out for the other’s best interest. This can be difficult at times and requires the discipline to keep the “long-term game” in mind. Grasping for short-term benefits at the expense of your partner will damage and weaken the relationship just as if you perceive them doing the same, your confidence will be shaken.
Non-competing Goals
The two most critical characteristics to consider when contemplating a potential business partner relationship are complementary goals and trustworthiness.
Whether you are considering a person or a company for a business partner relationship, your priority is to understand their goals. You are looking for a relationship that will complement your goals but are not identical. A company or person with plans too closely related to your own will, at some point, pose a threat and is not the right candidate for a long-term partnership.
As an example, if your goal is to build the best civil engineering surveyor business in your geographical location, you’ll not likely find a valuable partner in other companies with that same goal. However, you will find opportunities with companies that sell surveying equipment or provide excavation services but not surveying. You might also find a valuable partner in a company similar to yours but located across the country.
Look for companies that don’t do what you do precisely but are dependent on companies like yours, such as vendors, suppliers, or downstream services.
Trustworthiness
For any partnership to work, both parties must develop a trusting relationship with each other. You will have to consider what is best for your partners, and you need to know that they are protecting your interests similarly.
A reliable trust usually occurs after the relationship has matured to some extent. To increase the likelihood that trust will develop, be sure to spend time getting to know any potential partners thoroughly. Look into their history, their credit, and debt position. They will understand and will want to do the same for you.
About Adam Ferrari
Adam Ferrari is an accomplished petroleum engineer and is the founder of a private oil and gas company, Ferrari Energy. Throughout various roles in the oil and gas industry, Adam was inspired to learn more about property rights and the inner workings of petroleum exploration and extraction. After gaining expertise in the energy sector, Adam obtained knowledge of the financial industry through his time at an investment banking firm. He then pivoted to bootstrapping his own business from the ground up as he blended his energy and finance knowledge.