When you run a small business, it’s always time for individual achievement. Isn’t it? You have to keep yourself motivated to make sure you deliver quality products and services every single day. And of course you need to sell every single day - which makes us all salespeople by the way.
But what happens when your customer asks for something you can’t deliver well on your own? You have three options:
- to turn the business away,
- to deliver a poor product, or
- to work with a partner.
Now, I’m a big fan of turning business away if you can’t deliver a quality product. Poor products or services have the potential for creating irreparable damage to your business, both in the short and long term – particularly in professional services where quality product and strong lasting relationships are essential.
So could partnering be a sensible solution?
For an example, consider a web designer whose client asks for help in writing a marketing plan. Now the designer’s core skill is in building websites, but he doesn’t want to turn the work away. So, he cobbles together a marketing plan, with a range of traditional advertising and online tactics which he thinks will do the job OK. Fair enough, he can charge a little extra for the marketing plan, but will he have delivered a quality product that will delight his customer? It’s probably unlikely – after all, marketers these days are degree educated, with specialist qualifications and often lots of valuable experience.
So how do you know which option to take? Forget about profit for a minute and ask yourself ‘what’s best for my client?’. If you need to work with partners to deliver what your customer needs, then that’s best in the long term, even though it may mean you lose some margin now.
To develop a good network takes time and trust, but the harder you work at it the stronger the relationships you’ll build. Write some standard terms and pricing schemes and importantly ensure your network shares your values on service quality.
Partnering, where possible, is surely always better than turning business away.
