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Education

StreetSmarts SM

Creating powerful partnerships

By Marc Beauchamp a variety of vehicles for establishing relationships.
Bankcard Life But nothing really beats good old-fashioned face-to-
face communication to start the process of building
n my last article, I discussed how important cus- the foundation for a strong business partnership.
tomer relationships are. Another dimension that is
critically important is the ability to form partner- Key actions to building new business relationships
I ships. Whether you’re a large ISO or a small local include:
payments provider, creating powerful partnerships is • Focus on providing genuine assistance to potential
imperative to your company’s success. Some of our great- partners.
est business success stories come from partnerships that
were formed out of a common goal. • Be open-minded.
• Remember personal details.
Here are a few that come to mind: J.P. Morgan and Thomas • Respect cultural differences.
Edison (electricity), the Wright Brothers (first flight), Steve Capital When You
Jobs and Steve Wozniak (Apple), Larry Page and Sergey • Research people and companies.
Brin (Google), Coco Channel and Pierre Wertheimer • Know their goals and interests.
(Channel), Richard and Maurice McDonald (McDonald’s). • Reciprocate.
The list goes on and on. Need It Most
Finding new contacts
These teams comprised individuals who were very
good in their own right. Joining forces made them Many people wear multiple hats; everyone and anyone
even better. The whole was greater than the sum of the could possibly be a potential partner. However, just like Get a residual-based loan from
parts. That’s why it’s imperative in any business to be targeted marketing, the more targeted the networking,
able to form strong personal and strategic partnerships. the higher the chance of success. If you are not utilizing $50,000 to $5,000,000 for your
LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) the first step is to get business today!
Good partnerships are formed by building great online and begin to build your network of business
relationships; relationship networking is simply the connections and subscribing to groups that focus
art of meeting people and benefiting from those on topics of interest. LinkedIn can be an invaluable
relationships. Often the benefit of these relationships is tool when searching for potential partnerships. 844-531-4957
to obtain information, contacts or customers that lead to
further growth of your business. All successful business In addition, try some of these ideas to make new contacts: bocacapitalpartners.com
partnerships are unique and evolve over time. • Join industry specific trade associations or organi-
Building your foundation zations.
• Attend industry related tradeshows.
Establishing new relationships opens new doors.
BOCA
As others have stated before me: often, it's who you • Reach out to current and potential vendors. BOCA
CAPITA
know, not necessarily what you know. You can employ • Focus on newsgroups and topic-specific forums. CAPITAL L
PARTNERS S
PARTNER
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