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6 Tips on How to “Partner” with a Corporation

Below are steps to consider, with suggested reading material, concerning building partnerships with corporations.  There are many more factors involved than are described here, which present themselves through the suggested reading material.  And for transparency, this post was influenced by another post ...

Safeway Foundation: 6 Tips on How to “Partner” with a Corporation

http://thirdsectortoday.com/2013/09/09/partner-safeway/#comment-19

Step 1 - Marketing - identifying your suspects, making your target audience aware of your organization's goals, through initial / personal contact letters. Those looking to understand in greater depth what suspects, prospects should read: - "Crossing the Chasm" (1946), Geoffrey A Moore, ISBN 0-88730-717-5. - "Little Black Book of Connections" (2006), Jeffrey Gitmoer, ISBN 1-885167-66-0. - "Online Marketing Research" (2001), Joshua Grossnickle and Oliver Raskin, ISBN 0-07-136114-6 - "Strategies for e-Business" (2005), Tawfik Jelassi and Albrecht Enders, ISBN 0-273-68840-5

Step 2 - Breaking the Ice - connecting with your prospect in person, and engaging in a discussion about what motivates / drives them. When where why and how do they choose to engage in an alliance, supporter role, sponsorship or a partnership with another organization. And most importantly, how can your organization help them with their fund raising and marketing efforts? - "The Art of Mingling" (1992), Jeanne Martinet, ISBN 0-312-08316-5 - "Questions that Sell" (2006), Paul Cherry, ISBN 978-0-8144-7339-9 - "Power Questions" (2012), Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas, ISBN 978-1-118-11963-1

Step 3 - ReUse, Rinse, and Repeat Step 2 again, and again in successive meetings. This builds familiarity and confidence in both organizations. "I can trust you can be there, you can trust that I will be there." Sales people loose patients. Marketers know that it takes 7 different meeting points before a suspect will become a prospect. Also, during this time you can "Qualify" your suspect - "Make sure they are a fit for partnership with your organization." You may find that they have a dirty little secret that could damage your organization.

Step 4 - Small proposals - Using information gleaned in Step 3, write a strong proposal for your prospect. Proposals describe the prospects current situation, desired results and benefits that will receive when they complete the project. Each proposals is tailored uniquely for a particular prospect. No two proposals are identical, since each client has their own set of hot button issues and evaluation criteria. Propose a small project to test how well both of you can work together. Can "YOU" co-coordinate a project? - "Writing Winning Business Proposals" (1995), Richard C. Freed et.al., ISBN 0-07-021924-9 Step 5 - The First commitment – To prepare, start by reviewing books on fund raising, project management, motivating followers and leadership. John C. Maxwell makes a good point in his book, "When you can lead a group of people who have no reason to follow you, you are a leader" - "The Everything Fund Raising Book" (2003), Rich Mintzer, ISBN 1-58062-953-9 - "PMBOK" (2004), Global Standard, ISBN978-1-930399-45-8 - "Organizational Behavior" (2007), Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A Judge, ISBN 0-13-189095-6 - "Motivating & Rewarding Employees" (1999), Alexander Hiam, ISBN 1-58062-130-9 - "1001 Ways to Reward Employees" (2005), Bob Nelson, ISBN 0-7611-3681-9 - "Leadership 101" (2002), John C. Maxwell, ISBN 0-7852-6419-1,

Step 6 - Joint rights and responsibilities - Who is responsible for what when where and how? Many of the books above will prepare you for who needs to do what, this is part of Project Management. One point here is that of Cross Marketing. The organization you are partnering with is helping you to raise awareness and/or funding for you, and you are raising awareness of how they are helping you, which will bolster their bottom line ... In other words, if you help them sell more product, you help them pay you more money. It's a simple reciprocal equation. - "Contracts" (2010), Richard Stim, ISBN 978-1-4133-1281-2

Step 7 - Meeting Regularly & Mixing It Up! - No one likes change, and no one likes repetition - it becomes stale, dull and boring. This is similar to Step 3 - ReUse, Rinse, and Repeat. Each organization's situation changes, and it is important to stay on top of these changes and how they will affect both organizations. You will need to continue using Step 3's wisdom to insure that Step 4's proposals are relevant.

Think of three people you know well. How would you rate them in terms of cooperation, collaboration, and teamwork?

If your tendency is to describe others in positive terms is an important indicator of the positivity of your own personality traits. Judge others as enthusiastic, happy, kind-hearted, courteous, emotionally stable, and capable and you're likely to be the same way.

The same goes for the flip side. A huge suite of negative personality traits are associated with viewing others negatively. The simple tendency to see people negatively indicates a greater likelihood of depression and various personality disorders.

Change the characteristic of interest to find the people you are interested in. "Think of 3 people who are ... ", This is an old sales trick, where the sales rep asks you to think of 3 people in your life like you who could use his services. It narrows the field down so that you aren't thinking globally, but very locally.