The Top 5 Benefits of Building Strategic Alliances

If you are working within the professional services sector (i.e. accountancy, marketing and HR) then the likelihood is that whilst you have been providing your services to a client or customer, you have come into contact with another professional or agency providing one of the other services.

You don’t work directly with these departments, and yet neither do you work against them or in competition with them. In fact, your services are usually equally as necessary for the client to run and grow their business successfully. In essence, both parties have the potential to help the same target audience without causing detriment to the other.

So why aren’t you taking advantage of this?

Strategic Alliances, or alliance partnerships, happen when two or more entities come together and share resources to achieve a common objective. A successful strategic alliance is mutually beneficial, but what are some of these benefits?

Here’s a list of the top five.

1. You can get more clients.

As mentioned, if you form a strategic alliance partnership with a company that offers non-competing services to the same audience, the chances are that both companies have clients that need what the other can provide.

For example, if you are an accountant for an electrical contracting business they may ask you about the best way to grow their revenue. If you are in alliance partnership with a marketing agency, you are able to refer their services to your client, helping them and your alliance partner.

In turn, the marketing agency refers you to one of their clients who is struggling to manage their finances. Quid pro quo.

Your alliance partner’s clients are more likely to trust you because you’ve been recommended by someone they already trust, and the potential for positive word-of-mouth to spread from there is limitless.

2. Your customers will value you more.

As mentioned, when your alliance partnership is up and running you should be regularly recommending the services of your partner to your clients and vice-versa.

This has an added benefit for your relationship with your customer. Not only are you helping your alliance partner by referring them business, but the client being referred also gets the impression that you genuinely care about their business and are trying to help them grow any way you can.

This moves you beyond just a company they get a service from, and increases both trust and customer loyalty. They’ll see you as being just as interested in growing their business as you are your own. As a result, they will start to reciprocate.

3. Helping your customers grow helps you grow.

As your clients learn more and more from both partners in the alliance, they will start seeing a positive effect on the bottom line of their business.

It’s only natural that when they begin to expand they have more of a need for your services.

For example, if you are the HR representative for a company that is now hiring more staff as a result of a growth in profits, you will get more work organising training and staff wellbeing etc, which means more business for you!

4. It gives you an edge over competitors.

Your alliance partner’s clients are in need of your service, there’s no doubt about that.

The question is: who will provide it? If you are operating in a local area with many competitors, having an alliance partner who is actively referring you to everyone they come into contact with can help eliminate that competition and put you at the forefront of your local marketplace.

It also helps to establish your reputation as a respected business if other businesses work with you to provide clients with a service or information.

5. It increases your brand awareness.

Becoming an alliance partner with another company provides you with access to all of their marketing channels.

This means that a lot more customers, clients and prospects will be aware of your businesses and your services.

Even if this audience isn’t ready immediately to buy from you or use your services, the fact that you are now in their brains means that the next time they do need your services, yours should be the name they recall.

Are you looking to build your strategic alliance network? I am currently looking for bank-to-business relationship managers, accountants, marketing companies, HR companies, business insurance providers and trade organisations to host events with me for a shared client base.