Small business owners who seek to build business partnerships with large companies to reach more customers and grow their business needs to evaluate a number of things before being involved with Fortune 1000 companies about creating partnerships. Ask yourself some important questions; “What competitive advantage is brought by my business to the table?” “Is my company able to support the request that a well-established business can be brought?” These are just a few important points to consider. Small business owners are sometimes too eager to dive into large business transactions just because it is difficult to not be excited about it, especially if the larger company is the one who started the discussion. The following ideas are very important to understand before building business partnerships to maximize opportunities and have a team in place to implement a plan.
Competitive advantage – understand the true competitive advantage of your business and why your company will make interesting partners for larger organizations. Each company will have its own unique benefits; It will generally revolve around intellectual property behind your product. If you have developed a new product, make sure you have taken the time to secure a patent that correctly correctly if not, a barrier to get into other companies to develop similar products is very low and significantly reduce your competitive advantage.
Expert knowledge – Many small businesses can build a very profitable partnership just because they have a monopoly on expert knowledge in a very specific niche in the industry you serve. Uniting your team and on a ship for the long term will ensure that you don’t lose talent that makes the business deal with your company interesting.
Continue to innovate – to maintain and strengthen your business partnerships after they are formed, continue to innovate and improve on core products and services related to your business relationship. By displaying partners that your company is consistently at the forefront of new ideas for your product type, they will tend to leave and form partnerships with your competitors or re-negotiations with you lower the overall value of your agreement.
Building and maintaining a strong business partnership as a small business owner is not a simple task and requires a significant time investment by the executive management team. By focusing on energy on what Fortune 1000 companies are seen as reasons to form partnerships with your company and continue to expand your products and services you will be able to take your small business to new heights with a bigger return than what will be experienced. To make transactions with small businesses and other regional players in the industry that you serve.
