Partner selection, how easy can it be? Some companies do make it very “easy”. They follow the following approach: one executive meets another and they feel their companies should work together. Then, when they come back into the office, you are assigned the task to make it work. You do get some kind of executive support from them, but not exactly the support we mean when we talk about executive sponsors.
Many of these ad-hoc alliances are destined to fail.
So, what’s the alternative? Do we need a bureaucratic partner selection process to make it work? Well, not exactly, as that won’t really help either.
A practical applicable selection process
The best processes are the ones that guide you around the pitfalls in such a way that you feel helped. The best partner selection process is the one that helps you in finding the most optimal partner to realize your value proposition with. A partner that will be working with you in a partnership that ideally lasts for a long time. In other words, the best partner selection process is a practical applicable selection process.
The 4-step process as described in my book is such a process. It takes you by the hand and provides you with practical tools to guide you through the partner selection process.
Hands-on partner selection
You might think that you already have many partners in place and hence you don’t need to work the process. I would say that even then, you do still need to work the process. In the Alliance Masterclass, the partner selection discussion always leads to eye-openers for alliance professionals with existing partners. See it as a kind of re-evaluation of your partnerships for an accelerated future success. The process helps the participants to understand their existing partners better and helps to identify specific areas for improved alliance management.
During exercises in the Masterclass, we apply parts of the process to uncommon alliances. These exercises are there to help you to get out of your comfort zone thinking. Thinking outside of your own context will help you to practice the learnings and to see new possibilities for your own partnerships.
How about your alliances; have you ever re-evaluated your existing partners?
- Peter took us on an exciting journey through the world of alliances. His hands-on approach gave me a backpack full of ideas on how to make alliances work for my business.
- This training was very thorough, highly interactive and provided an excellent basis for my later success.