I was up early yesterday morning enjoying a cup of coffee at our kitchen bar, watching a light flurry of snow coming down outside–wife and kids still sleeping–and surfing the web on my iPad.
I almost always read something every morning that makes me tick, and today was no different —— here’s what I read…
I read a case study in a major newspaper about an established and successful company. The context isn’t that important, except they wanted to decrease their spend on marketing and increase profits and revenues at the same time…(sound familiar?)
After we learned about the company and their specific challenges, the paper had various “experts” weigh in. Three or four experts provided a laundry list of different ways they could “attract” new clients to grow.
That’s when I was starting to get frustrated…
Believe me, every business needs new clients to grow. I’d be crazy to suggest otherwise.
But the experts didn’t even touch on one of the most obvious ways for them to accomplish their goals.
I kept waiting for it…
If you want to reduce marketing expenses and increase profits simultaneously, one of the best ways to do that is through strategic alliances and joint ventures.
All the experts provided “innovative” and “cool approaches”, but not one expert asked the following questions – or the right questions:
1) Who has clients and contacts they could profit from?
2) Who could profit from their clients and contacts?
3) Who has distribution channels they could use?
4) Who has resources they could use?
5) What resources do they have that others could use?
Anyways, the kids eventually woke up and I was able to bring my blood pressure back to normal.
How often is your organization looking for strategic alliances and joint venture opportunities?
