Sellers and presale engineers have limited time and the cost of chasing bad business confines them from growing their existing accounts or developing new ones.
Collaboration is critical, and will yield the best return. Be sure to document your findings, create a formal action plan with ownership and metrics for measurement.
Our CIO is a member of Mensa, which means his IQ is in the top 2 percent of the population. There are approximately 110,000 documented Mensa members in the world, so when he talks, we listen. He is always stretching our minds.
In 2011, I attended my company’s leadership meeting to plan for 2012. Our chief intelligent officer (CIO) arrived and told us what every business owner would love to hear, “I believe I can grow revenue 30 percent without hiring anybody.” People sat up in their chairs, a few choked on their coffee, but everybody had the same look on their face and you could tell they were thinking, “tell us more.”
As a practicing “facilitator of excellence” and as a workshop facilitator, I have been exposed to hundreds of stories related to partnerships. The examples highlight partnerships that have worked very well and stood the test of time, but just as many of them have broken up like a nasty divorce.
A facilitator of excellence builds trusted partnerships and embraces a partner-collaborative business model to expand revenue and become more strategic to their clients.
Five years ago, I sat next to an interesting guy on a plane and we peacefully shared the same armrest. Through our conversation, I learned that he started a business a few years prior and worked in an industry complementary to mine.
Have you ever built a house? Have you ever tried to find a great architect or a competent plumber? When you’re building a house, you count on your contractor to deliver the house on time and within budget, but also to have assembled top-notch tradesmen to assure the quality is second-to-none. You judge the contractor’s value not just by their technical skill, but by how reliable their trusted connections are and how thoroughly they help you reach your goals.