For example, if you just moved into a new part of town and your new neighbor recommended a specific dentist or doctor, would you be more or less inclined to use their services? Of course, you would. In fact, you probably wouldn’t consider looking at any other options.

And yet despite the fact that referrals and endorsements have a major influence on most people, very few businesses actually have any type of formal strategic partnership program set up to nurture these valuable relationships. It’s extremely important to build relationships with your vendors… and those around you can bring in new customers/clients and increase awareness of your company branding.

The people you work directly with on your products and services are really the ones with the most to gain when you find success. By taking the time to get to know them, you’ll find a whole host of opportunities you didn’t realize were there. Look for great ways to offer your vendors rewards for helping grow your business and everyone wins.

One of the ways you can do this is by offering performance-based incentives that are much larger than their normal charges.

Here’s the step-by-step process to putting together a partnership with a vendor:

1.  Approach all the vendors you work with and offer an incentive based on performance.

2. Put the generous incentive plan together from their perspective, even take suggestions.

3. Develop a clear, concise and easy to track incentive plan – this will increase competition between vendors and therefore higher performance levels.

4. Encourage subsequent sales instead of focusing only on the initial sale. By doing this you can give away more of the profit from the initial sale to your vendors and make higher profits off the back end products.

Encourage

·     Future sales
·     better and more profitable upselling of your products/services
·     Cross-selling to additional products

Create an incentive plan that’s irresistible to your vendors by offering generous, exclusive compensation.

Think of all the vendors you work with and the creative ways you can put together an incentive plan that entices them to be part of your business. Use their talents, capabilities, and connections and you’ll both be winners.

Every business, no matter what its size, should implement a formal strategic endorsement program where they earn profits by recommending other businesses products or services to their prospects and customers. And in turn, they should have a formal program in place where they earn profit from other businesses recommending their products or services to their prospects and customers.

This is an excellent strategy that any business can instantly employ to gain access to other business’s customers that fit your target customer profile and immediately begin to generate more leads and attract new customers.