Why Your Partners Aren't Referring You
(And How to Fix It with a Proper Partner Value Proposition)
Let's be honest for a second. A lot of partnership outreach that happens right now feels a bit icky.
You get a LinkedIn message or an email from someone saying, "Hey, we should jump on a call and see how we can collaborate!" You get on the call, and within five minutes, it’s painfully clear they just want you to sell their stuff to your clients.
That isn't a partnership. That's just unpaid sales outreach wrapped up in friendly corporate (or more than likely AI) speak.
When I built the DANCE framework, I put Discovery right at the very beginning for a reason. If you get this bit wrong - or skip it entirely - the rest of your efforts will fall completely flat.
What is the Discovery Phase?
Discovery is where you ask the essential questions right up front:
Why are we partnering in the first place?
What clients do we want to attract
Who is the “Ideal Partner"?
The ultimate output of answering these questions isn't just a warm fuzzy feeling and a nice document that sits in a folder somewhere - it’s your Partner Value Proposition.
Ideal Partner Profiles
Whilst anyone could be a potential partner, much like targeting an ideal client, only a handful of types will be ideal.
There will always be exceptions to the rule and it's always worth keeping our minds open to the possibilities an opportunity may bring – but your pro-active energies should be focussed on a smaller number of business types who you feel would be ideal partners.
The more the specific you can be the better. If when a broad partner type is selected (such as 'Brand Agencies') if you can find those who specialise in the sectors that match your ideal clients, then your value proposition becomes much stronger.
In an ideal world your product or service will help solve a problem, enhance a service, or provide a logical next step to something that your potential partner is already working with the customer on.
The 4 A’s - Finding Your Ideal Partner Profile
There are four main things we need to look for when looking at this and we’ll start with the most obvious.
Audience
Your ideal partners, of course, need to share the same ideal client profile. But you want to be really granular about this. A potential partner serving someone in the same broad sector as you, but either at a much bigger or smaller size (either at a business or project level), or a completely different role within the business, isn't going to be ideal as they'll either find it hard to provide leads at all, or when they do, they won't be the right fit for your business.
Alignment
This links in with the role within the business, because it's about the conversations that the partner is having with the customer. For example, you have a partner who matches on ‘Audience’ but if they’re selling accounting software to that customer and you want to talk to them about marketing services then it isn't a great fit as you're not speaking about similar things.
Think about those partners where it’s easiest for the potential partner to drop your service or product into their normal conversation.
Authority
Your potential partner needs to hold enough respect with your ideal client that their introduction will mean something.
For example, you could be leading creative strategy at board level, so a provider of entry level training for junior staff, or a more transactional service may not carry enough sway. They might, but they may not.
And on the flip side do you have the authority to be able to partner with the other party? I’ve been a part of plenty of partnerships where we were working with massive brands because we understood the value we delivered, but we should also be realistic. If it’s a huge tech giant no matter how well aligned you are, do you hold enough sway to make that partnership happen?
Ability
The fourth and final A is all about how able you will be to either partner in the first place, or scale your partnerships to the level needed.
On the subject of scale, the consideration is how easy you'll be able to have the volume of conversations you need to have in order to deliver the results you need. For example you may think a coach or consultant would be a good partner type for you. But if you need a high volume of leads then maybe that's just not manageable because you'd need to have so many individual conversations.
Maybe that isn't an issue for you, but it's worth considering.
Customer Value Proposition vs. Partner Value Proposition
Most agency owners have a decent (ish) grasp of their Customer Value Proposition (CVP). They know what problem they solve for their end client, how much it costs, and why they’re good at it.
So when they go out looking for referral partners, they just regurgitate this.
They say: "We build brilliant bespoke websites for £20k, so if you know anyone who needs a website, send them our way!"
Crickets.
Why? Because a partner isn't a customer. A potential partner doesn't care that you build great websites; they care about how introducing you affects their relationship with their client.
Protecting Their Social Capital (The Halo Effect)
When a partner introduces you to their client, they are putting their own reputation on the line. They’ve spent years building trust with that client. If you drop the ball, fail to deliver, or come across like a pushy salesperson, it reflects badly on them.
Your Partner Value Proposition has to answer a completely different set of questions:
How does introducing you make the partner look good?
This is what I call The Halo Effect. When they refer you, they look better to their client because they’ve connected them with a genuine solution. You are there to support the work the partner is already doing, never to compete with them or "steal" the client.Do you help improve the end result that your partner is ultimately going to get judged on?
In almost all instances when a client brings someone (or, in this case, your potential partner) in to work with them, they have an end goal in mind. But your partner might not be able to deliver on that entirely themselves. This is because there are other things that happen once they've finished their work.(For example, a branding agency could be brought in because a business wants to work with bigger clients. That agency can do all their work, but they're not ultimately responsible for the end result because so much more happens afterwards. I call this the “The customer value chain” and is part of understanding your partnership ecosystem. You can read a short article on that here.)
If what you do helps that end result be achieved, then this is the most powerful thing you can have in a partnership: you're ultimately helping the partner have happy clients who stay longer and spend more - and that's a big thing!
Are you a "Safe Pair of Hands"?
Can they trust you to carry zero risk? Will you deliver exactly what is promised so their reputation is enhanced, not damaged?
Uncovering Your Own Partner Value Proposition
A simple way to try and uncover this is to list your potential partners and then first write down the shared end goal you have for the client. What's the objective that when achieved makes you both look great, and everyone happy.
From there make a list of all the different ways you add value to their clients, and then next to it write down why the partner would care about this (try to go a little deeper than your first thought, ask 'and why would the partner care about that' again if you need to).
Within there lies Your Partner Value Proposition. And if it doesn't seem strong enough, then maybe they're not an ideal partner.
Business is Human
At the end of the day, when you’re selling services, business isn't transactional, it's human.
So if you can’t clearly articulate why a partner should risk their social capital to recommend you, don’t be surprised when those strategic partnerships turn into an awkward, frustrating, one-sided silence.
Before you go chasing new partners, figure out who they really should be, and make sure your Partner Value Proposition is a strong one
Want some help understanding who your ideal partners are and what your unique value propositions might be? I can absolutely do that. For a friendly chat about what that might look like, with no obligation, you can book a call here.