Now you know the pain you can relieve, and you’ve got a value statement to concisely communicate that. Let’s move to using those to make some contacts and get clients.

Of course, you should test drive your value statement with prospects and at networking events. But let’s step back a moment on focus on strategic partners.

What are they, and why do we care right now? Strategic partners are those complementary but non-competing businesses who market to the same types of clients you do.

You know what pain you can relieve. But what about the pain you can’t? Do your clients routinely ask for help in areas you don’t serve?

For example, I work with clients on social media strategy. But a good website is key to the strategy for some businesses. I don’t do website design or hosting. Nor can I advise a client on the best way to put together a radio or TV ad. My clients may have those needs, but I can’t help. So I refer it out.

Let’s flip it around. A firm designs which great websites may know their clients need social media strategy, but they may not provide that service. They can refer it to me.

The best strategic partners are those where you can refer back and forth. But even if your partner can’t refer you back, there’s value in the relationship. Having your clients come to you first for pain relief is a nice place to be.

Tags: communication, Referrals, Relationship building

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 at 9:51 am and is filed under Referrals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.