Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here.

Today’s edition only takes 2 minutes.

Every business can be a partnership business.

Every business should be a partnership business.

Today we’ll cover:

• Storytime
• Partnership by Co
• The Question
• Make it Real
• Email Template

Storytime

I have a semi-regular catch-up with a partner, and referrals regularly flow both ways. We have also both been customers/suppliers for each other.

He runs a recruitment agency, has a super unique value prop, and is one of the best relationship and partnership builders I have ever met.

During a recent catch-up, I asked him about how he thinks about partnerships - today’s newsletter is based on our discussion.

The Question

Firstly, “Partnership” is one of the most overused words in sales.

We’ve all had cold outreach that talks about “valued partners”, “creating a partnership”, or similar BS.

And while you’re reading the email, listening to them speak, or simply thinking about this “partnership”, you’re struggling to think:

If the answer is “You pay me for my product/service,” that isn’t a partner; that’s a customer.

A partnership is when everyone benefits, and a third party is the potential customer.

Types of Partnership

Actual partnerships can be broken down into three main streams. Each stream can be as big or as small as you want it to be.

Co-Marketing - You share my offer with your audience list, or I share your offer with my audience, or both.

For example, a joint webinar or email-for-email swap.

Co-Innovation - We create something together.

For example, co-branded content, such as a report co-branded by Google and McKinsey.

Or my course for Pointer Strategy, which you can access by signing up here and searching for “Structured Discovery Process (free)”

Co-Selling

You sell a bundle combining both of our products.

For example, a Google Ads Agency selling services and Google Ads or a web design and development agency that bundles services and the Webflow framework

Make it real

As I said in the intro, every business can be a partnership business.

And partnerships are the cheapest and easiest way to scale a small business into a medium-sized business compared to any other method.

But, before you jump straight into finding partners, you need a clear answer to our first question:

Next, work out which form of partnership you want to form - I’d suggest starting with Co-Marketing as it is the simplest.

Then make a list of 10 people/businesses you’d love to do some marketing with. The simplest starting point is to find people with an audience who need content - think podcasters, newsletter writers, businesses with regular webinars.

And work out your unique angle for each:

And for this type of partner, outreach is just like any customer: find a shared connection who can warm you up, or go the old-fashioned way with cold emails, calls, or LinkedIn messages.

Lastly, the most important part. Create an offer just for this audience.

I suggest keeping it simple - create a landing page that captures details from anyone who lands on it in exchange for another piece of content (often called a Lead Magnet). And promote this landing page during the podcast, interview, or webinar.

For example:

And boom, you have the beginnings of a partnership business.

Until next week,
Scott Cowley

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