A strategic partnership is a combined effort to collaborate in achieving mutually beneficial goals. Building strategic partnerships can strengthen brand value and growth for your business. As cheesy as it may sound, collaboration really is key. When combining efforts with likeminded individuals you provide your business with the opportunity to expand.

Here are four factors to consider when establishing a strategic partnership:

1. Take time to build a relationship – Get to know your potential business partner and their portfolio. Partnerships are strategic. Discover what they excel in and what their partnership objectives are. This allows you to get a feel for how compatible you may be working together and gauge whether they have the tools you look for in a strategic partnership. Seek to know and understand partners as well as they know and understand you. Investing in a relationship shows the partner that you’re dedicated and value their efforts.
2. Build trust – This is something that can be built over time and is fundamental in any partnership. Establishing a trust between partners develops a stronger, more powerful partnership that may potentially lead to more or larger opportunities with this partner.
3. Set clear expectations – Be clear when outlining your partnership objectives. Be precise when describing what you’re looking for in a business partnership. Explain your business strength, values, and mission to allow the potential partner to gain a sense of how you do business and what you can offer in a partnership. By portraying a clear vision of your business, you allow them to understand whether you have common goals and can align with your business purpose.
4. Stay accountable – From beginning to end, communication is critical throughout a partnership. Take the time to learn how your partner best receives information and establish a process for communication. Data to support the value you bring into a partnership is an effective way of communicating your efforts and accountability to the partnership. Some may feel valued by regularly sharing metrics on how the partnership is going. Providing an impact report not only allows you to review the success of a partnership together but also displays the value you each bring into a partnership.

Strategic partnerships offer opportunity for exponential growth. They allow you to expand and scale your business with joint forces. No matter the side or age of your business, anyone can enter into a partnership.

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