Partnering: Finding Your Strengths and Weaknesses

By:Joshua Feinberg

In partnering, the first thing you need to do is figure out your strengths. What it is that you do best? What does your store enjoy? What’s financially viable? What you’re planning on doing for the next six months to a year? You really want to make sure that you’re not partnering with someone that’s going to be a direct competitor of yours and vice versa.

What's Your Specialty?

It might be network consulting for small dental offices. It might be document imaging solutions for small law offices. Maybe it’s point of sale networks, BOS systems, for small restaurant chains. Whatever it is, once you’ve figured out where your real strength is, the best, most productive kind of partnering that you can possibly do is with other non-competing technology providers in your area.

Make Sure You're Not Partnering With Competitors

Double underline and highlight the “non” part. Otherwise you’re going to be terrified that you’re going after each other’s prospects and clients. One of the scariest things for a lot of people when they get first get started with partnering is that this company is going to go aggressively after your business.

In order to be sure that you are non-competing, you need to move past "business card BS." Know exactly what it is that they do. Most of the companies that you’re going to want to partner with and most of the companies that are going to want to partner with you need to know more about what your real strength is beyond hardware, software, LANs and service.

Move Past the Business Card Terms

Everyone says the same thing on their business card, their yellow pages ad and their direct mail piece. Most people list PC hardware, software, and networking and services. But it’s really important when you’re partnering with a company to figure out what their core competency is. What’s the best thing that they do? What are they known for? What is the one thing their customer prospects come to them for?

Make Sure Your Partners Have Completely Different Niches

You need to look for highly technical people; deeply niched IT consultants who are already out there. Look for consultants who don’t want to touch the stuff that you do every day.

In other words, if your staff has good skills that can get you simple dedicated server installations but things like Microsoft Exchange Server or SQL server or VPNs throw you for a loop, that’s where it pays to look around for some consultants in your area that would be good to partner with.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consultants Secrets. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: partnering, business partner, business partners

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Joshua Feinberg has helped thousands of computer consultants get more steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too. Sign-up now for Joshua's free Computer Consultants Secrets audio training at www.ComputerConsultantsSecrets.com/blog/

Top Small Business Articles
1). Taking Business Phone for Granted By : Kingston Amadan Located in Manhattan, my company occupies a small space in the basement of a upper east side brownstone. Because the space is so limited, we store our servers and phone equipment in the boiler room. I know what you're thinking, and you're absolutely right. It's not a good idea to put your most expensive equipment in a tiny room that feels like the foyer to hell.
2). Categorizing Business Plans According To Types By : David Gass Lists the different types of business plans and stresses the importance of planning.
3). Small businesses main problem? They need more customers. By : W. Dave Free In September of 2005 our company sponsored a survey of small businesses in the service areas. The purpose of the survey was to ask the business owners, many of them franchise owners, what their significant business hurdles were. The key areas of the survey were customers, growth, technology and research, and employees. You can see the complete results at http://seedsofgrowth.
4). Preparing Your Business for a Bird Flu Pandemic By : Bird Flu How would your business operate if half your work force were out sick? Would your business continue to function if several of your top key employees died? How many employees are cross-trained in other positions? A recent study showed the threat that most preoccupies the world's business leaders is a global influenza pandemic. This is why you need to start asking these questions now so your business can be prepared for a possible bird flu pandemic.
5). Phone Sales not Ready to Yeild to the Internet By : Kingston Amadan There is no question that the internet has revolutionized business. Many people are not only paying their bills online, but also ordering products and services at an ever expanding rate as well. Businesses with a web presence have opened themselves up to new market where many consumers take advantage of the ease of shopping from pages visually no different from a catalog.
6). Small Business Computer Consulting: Additional Qualifications for the Sweet Spot By : Joshua Feinberg To find the ideal clientele for your small business computer consulting, you want to target small businesses by their number of PC's, (10 to 50) as well as their revenue. Generally, companies that have anywhere from 1 million to 10 million in revenue are the sweet spot of small business computer consulting. In this article, you'll learn why you should target this type of business.
7). Small Business Strategies - Four Critical Success Factors By : Leanne Hoagland-Smith With many companies being small businesses, understanding what takes your company to the next level is critical. These Four Success Factors will help you gain that advantage.
8). 4 times your account is in trouble!!!!! By : Jack Chevalier 4 times your account is in trouble!!!!!
9). New Vending Machines – Where And How To Buy Them By : Peter Crump When you purchase new vending machines, you are getting the latest models with all the bells and whistles that make them attractive to customers. However, you do have to look for the cheapest prices so that you can save as much money as possible in the investment of getting started in the vending machine business. This is one of the businesses that is easy to get started with and you can determine the type and number of vending machines you do want to start with.
10). Interview with a Vampire - The High Cost of Recruitment to the SBO By : Dana Wallert Many small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t anticipate how much the actual hiring process can cost them in both cash and time. It can really suck them dry of their resources!

New Small Business Articles
1). Make Your Extra Cash Walking Dogs By : james lowe Here is a creative income venture for you if you like dogs
2). How to Choose a Watch Wholesaler By : Dustin Cannon Choosing a watch wholesaler is not quite as easy as it may sound. Sure, you could just find a company that offers this service and get started. But do you really want to take the chance of getting mixed up with the wrong people?
3). Get the Most Out of Tradeshows By : Shannon Cherry Learn how to make your tradeshows the most successful.
4). Things You Should Know Before You Attempt to Work From Home By : Ray Mann The idea of working from home has often been on the minds of many people today find how
5). Reasons Why Home Businesses Fail By : Terence Young The decision to start a home business can often be one of excitement and promise. There are many reasons why people start a home based business but to fail is not one of them.5 Reasons Why Home Businesses Fail
6). How To Turn Competitors Into Allies By : David Gass Gives strategies for turning potential competitors into allies, who can help you grow your business
7). 4 Things to Avoid When Marketing Your Small Business By : John Edmond Opening a new business is fraught with difficulty, not the least of which is just keeping up with 1001 things that need to be done. This article explains why marketing your small business should be of the highest priority.
8). Buying Your First Company By : Dave Kauppi This article gives some helpful hints on how to approach your first business acquisition as an individual investor.
9). Understanding The Need For Small Publishing Companies By : David Gass Explains the need for small presses in order to fill special niches in the publishing market.
10). How To Get Your Website Indexed In MSN For Free In Just 24 Hours By : Karin Manning There are many inexpensive and even free methods to get indexed in search engines almost immediately. This is great news for small businesses looking for affordable seo techniques. Today I am going to focus on the search engine MSN.