Building a trusted partner relationship with another company is essential to maximizing your firm’s strength. This is true of relationships that are forged between friendly competitors, as well as those forged with a vendor/partner. When you build a trusted partner relationship, resource and information sharing, lowered costs, and increased brand awareness – when managed properly – can help the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts.
Why Are Trusted Partners One of Your Company’s Potential Assets?
The obvious answer is that trust is important. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve company goals when relying on a relationship with a partner that has yet to earn your trust. However, there are many more ways in which working with a trusted partner can benefit your company.
How a Trusted Partner Can Benefit You
Pooling Resources
One big advantage of a trusted partner is the ability to pool resources. As the old adage goes, “Two minds are better than one.” Whether two companies are in the same field or not, there will always be some level of overlap, and the expertise of each party in the relationship, when combined, can add up to a greater whole. Sharing of information, solutions, experience, troubleshooting, and even market research can help both companies achieve that which they would be unable to achieve on their own.
Cost Savings
Cost savings can also be a benefit to working with a trusted partner. Depending on the nature of your trusted partner relationship, two companies may be able to combine capital, or even manpower, to help meet the needs of projects that would be impossible to attempt alone. It’s common for construction companies to team up and bid on larger projects together, but it’s also possible for other companies to do this, even if on a smaller scale.
There is always a cost inherent in working with a new company. The two companies may not cooperate well, or the goals of the companies may not align. Every time you work with a new company, there is always a risk that the time and money spent building the relationship may end up wasted. Working with a trusted partner ensures stability, increasing productivity while lowering the costs associated with growing pains.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness can sometimes be improved through working with a trusted partner. Whether talking about consumers or industry professionals, brand recognition is critical. When you partner with a company, their name becomes attached to yours in the public eye. Because of this, your partner company’s strengths can be subconsciously viewed as your strengths. Their achievements may seem tied to your achievements. This can also apply to advertising, where two trusted partners can share ad space by linking both names to a marketing effort. This can lower cost for both parties while providing the same level of brand awareness and multiplying the marketing impact.
Perspective
The perspective that a trusted partner can provide is also invaluable. A partner is likely to have some level of familiarity with your company’s products, services, and market. The perspective they can offer as an outsider can be beneficial to your company. As a trusted partner, they know that your growth will also help their own company, and because of this, they may be willing to share information, analysis, data, and insight that other companies would not be willing to offer.
