How important is building healthy business partnerships to your success and satisfaction as a small enterprise? Business owners need to be just as discerning about a prospective client they choose to work with just as those companies are selective about whom they choose as their supplier for products or services.
For example, I had a promising lead on a client with quite a market presence in Zimbabwe. I had finally met the key person. Whilst this company would have been an excellent look on my company profile I somehow had my doubts given the pace of the procurement process. You see, I had learned my lessons about choosing the right employer some several years ago to my detriment, so why would choosing the right client be any different. According to the article by Sue Simons, National Manager of Drake International, Choose the right employer ‘the key reason for employees leaving an organization has little to do with salary dissatisfaction and is more about incompatibility of goals.’ So, using the same prescriptive insight, how does this differ in choosing the right client? A profit-driven strategy is no longer the key determinant especially when our company’s mission statement is Think Ahead: Sustainability First. Issues such as compatible working partnerships that complement a business model are now more than ever more important than money.
As the industries move to a customer-centric, Age of Consumerism, Martin et al., 2010 organizational model in the 21st century, what does this mean for organization’s strategy with internal customers and/or suppliers? This means that we should also see an increasing trend to building strong supply-chain management; value chain processes for the organizations; in essence, building strong regional economic models. Leading companies in sustainable strategies in the Nordic countries, Germany, UK and South Africa are recognizing the importance of building regionally competitive economic models; as this strengthens value chain process; supply-chain management that business partnerships must deliver value to each other beyond profitability.
In today’s Zimbabwean market, being a supplier of choice has become a key imperative for larger organizations looking to tap into the innovations of small enterprises via various project-partnerships.
So, while you are busy building your small enterprise and building up your portfolio, don’t forget to thoroughly understand your customers/project-partners of how their customer plans to use your services. This enables your business to choose clients that support your value proposition and only deal with customers/project-partners that truly create value to your organization. So, before making your final decision in choosing the right supplier/partner consider the following:
Does your prospective client know what their objective is in the project-partnership? The easy part is identifying your prospective client’s strategy. The hard part is identifying what their tactical plans are in achieving their strategy. It is important to find out how they are currently doing it. I had a situation with a prospective client that when I asked them what exactly is their current TNA (training needs assessment) to achieve corporate strategy; their response was well ‘what do you currently have to offer us’ that can help us out? Unfortunately, I am not in the product-business I am in the service business. That means I can’t sell you my ready-made package consultancy service if I do not understand the nature of your current departmental problem? Otherwise, it will be like selling candy, to a diabetic without a proper diagnosis.
A decision to partner up with a client who doesn’t understand how you fit into their business model will only eat into TIME and EARNING POTENTIAL which are both a resource and an asset to any organization particularly a small start-up enterprise. Indication of this is a long drawn out procurement process, with meetings after meetings of sales-pitching, business lunches, back and forth email correspondence of the next meeting and hoping that eventually everyone’s diaries co-ordinate. This traditional model of procurement in the 21st Century is costly to a small enterprise, and these prospective clients are insensitive to the small enterprise’s income statement.
Solution: Since this is a project-based partnership, a practical approach to testing the longevity of the partnership is to adopt a pilot-phase approach. This way, you and your client are able to manage your risk exposure to each other. It’s like having a marriage certificate with an expiration date that is subject to renewal, should both parties want to continue the partnership.
Is the partnership mutually beneficial to both parties? This is essential, particularly between the partnership of a large corporation and its suppliers (a combination of small and medium sized suppliers). As a small enterprise, the goal is not only to procure the deal but also be to be able to reinvest the profits in the business so as to build stronger capacity. As a large corporation, the goal is to find innovative; thinking out-of-box approaches to execute the project with minimal resources. I am reminded of a supplier briefing I attended hosted by an International NGO and one of the panel tender-adjudicator stated the organization’s objectives for the project-based partnership: ‘we want to support SMEs in Zimbabwe that is why we issue tenders, however our objective is, not only do we want the successful recipient of the tender to deliver good quality reports but also we would like to see that their monetary gain from the project, also has a developmental impact on how they run their business’; in other words, do not remain a small enterprise bidding for the same tenders for year-to-year; grow your enterprises so that you be of better use to our various projects that require innovative approaches.
Solution: Again, as a project-based partnership, does the supplier seek to improve their process’; services in a way that the internal customer/partner benefits indirectly. Are you both ‘growing’ from this partnership operationally and strategically?
Do you like and trust each other? Whoever came up with the adage that ‘business is not personal’ was a scrupulous businessperson, refusing to be accountable to even his own values or moral compass. People do business with people they like and trust. The partnership will not survive if at least your heart is not in it.
Solution: Everybody comes with a ‘price-tag.’ The more desperate you are for business the cheaper you are. Unfortunately, money can’t buy you loyalty and trust. Therefore, it is important to be relationship-builders especially in forming new partnerships. Quick assumptions and unspoken expectations are the quickest way to establishing disappointing partnerships. Consistently, give each other the benefit of the doubt. Who knows, after a couple of projects you will be able to determine whether you like and trust your supplier(s).
In conclusion, starting a business is never easy. So, often you are in full go-mode and any client will do. Should you manage to land that high profile client, would be an added bonus as it will boost the profile of your company exponentially. However, there is ‘no such thing as a free-lunch.’ The question is, as a small enterprise do you have the resources and capabilities to cope with the demands of that large corporation (i.e. expecting to deliver big projects, but they fail to pay your company on time due to the nature of their approval-payment process) or are you willing to choose your partnerships carefully and methodologically, one-success at a time?
By Tambu Ndoro, Strategist/CEO-Founder at Hanga Consulting (PVT) Ltd, ©2011. Website: www.hangaconsulting.com Email: tambu@hangaconsulting.com. First published on Hello Harare online magazine - www.helloharare.co.zw
For example, I had a promising lead on a client with quite a market presence in Zimbabwe. I had finally met the key person. Whilst this company would have been an excellent look on my company profile I somehow had my doubts given the pace of the procurement process. You see, I had learned my lessons about choosing the right employer some several years ago to my detriment, so why would choosing the right client be any different. According to the article by Sue Simons, National Manager of Drake International, Choose the right employer ‘the key reason for employees leaving an organization has little to do with salary dissatisfaction and is more about incompatibility of goals.’ So, using the same prescriptive insight, how does this differ in choosing the right client? A profit-driven strategy is no longer the key determinant especially when our company’s mission statement is Think Ahead: Sustainability First. Issues such as compatible working partnerships that complement a business model are now more than ever more important than money.
As the industries move to a customer-centric, Age of Consumerism, Martin et al., 2010 organizational model in the 21st century, what does this mean for organization’s strategy with internal customers and/or suppliers? This means that we should also see an increasing trend to building strong supply-chain management; value chain processes for the organizations; in essence, building strong regional economic models. Leading companies in sustainable strategies in the Nordic countries, Germany, UK and South Africa are recognizing the importance of building regionally competitive economic models; as this strengthens value chain process; supply-chain management that business partnerships must deliver value to each other beyond profitability.
In today’s Zimbabwean market, being a supplier of choice has become a key imperative for larger organizations looking to tap into the innovations of small enterprises via various project-partnerships.
So, while you are busy building your small enterprise and building up your portfolio, don’t forget to thoroughly understand your customers/project-partners of how their customer plans to use your services. This enables your business to choose clients that support your value proposition and only deal with customers/project-partners that truly create value to your organization. So, before making your final decision in choosing the right supplier/partner consider the following:
Does your prospective client know what their objective is in the project-partnership? The easy part is identifying your prospective client’s strategy. The hard part is identifying what their tactical plans are in achieving their strategy. It is important to find out how they are currently doing it. I had a situation with a prospective client that when I asked them what exactly is their current TNA (training needs assessment) to achieve corporate strategy; their response was well ‘what do you currently have to offer us’ that can help us out? Unfortunately, I am not in the product-business I am in the service business. That means I can’t sell you my ready-made package consultancy service if I do not understand the nature of your current departmental problem? Otherwise, it will be like selling candy, to a diabetic without a proper diagnosis.
A decision to partner up with a client who doesn’t understand how you fit into their business model will only eat into TIME and EARNING POTENTIAL which are both a resource and an asset to any organization particularly a small start-up enterprise. Indication of this is a long drawn out procurement process, with meetings after meetings of sales-pitching, business lunches, back and forth email correspondence of the next meeting and hoping that eventually everyone’s diaries co-ordinate. This traditional model of procurement in the 21st Century is costly to a small enterprise, and these prospective clients are insensitive to the small enterprise’s income statement.
Solution: Since this is a project-based partnership, a practical approach to testing the longevity of the partnership is to adopt a pilot-phase approach. This way, you and your client are able to manage your risk exposure to each other. It’s like having a marriage certificate with an expiration date that is subject to renewal, should both parties want to continue the partnership.
Is the partnership mutually beneficial to both parties? This is essential, particularly between the partnership of a large corporation and its suppliers (a combination of small and medium sized suppliers). As a small enterprise, the goal is not only to procure the deal but also be to be able to reinvest the profits in the business so as to build stronger capacity. As a large corporation, the goal is to find innovative; thinking out-of-box approaches to execute the project with minimal resources. I am reminded of a supplier briefing I attended hosted by an International NGO and one of the panel tender-adjudicator stated the organization’s objectives for the project-based partnership: ‘we want to support SMEs in Zimbabwe that is why we issue tenders, however our objective is, not only do we want the successful recipient of the tender to deliver good quality reports but also we would like to see that their monetary gain from the project, also has a developmental impact on how they run their business’; in other words, do not remain a small enterprise bidding for the same tenders for year-to-year; grow your enterprises so that you be of better use to our various projects that require innovative approaches.
Solution: Again, as a project-based partnership, does the supplier seek to improve their process’; services in a way that the internal customer/partner benefits indirectly. Are you both ‘growing’ from this partnership operationally and strategically?
Do you like and trust each other? Whoever came up with the adage that ‘business is not personal’ was a scrupulous businessperson, refusing to be accountable to even his own values or moral compass. People do business with people they like and trust. The partnership will not survive if at least your heart is not in it.
Solution: Everybody comes with a ‘price-tag.’ The more desperate you are for business the cheaper you are. Unfortunately, money can’t buy you loyalty and trust. Therefore, it is important to be relationship-builders especially in forming new partnerships. Quick assumptions and unspoken expectations are the quickest way to establishing disappointing partnerships. Consistently, give each other the benefit of the doubt. Who knows, after a couple of projects you will be able to determine whether you like and trust your supplier(s).
In conclusion, starting a business is never easy. So, often you are in full go-mode and any client will do. Should you manage to land that high profile client, would be an added bonus as it will boost the profile of your company exponentially. However, there is ‘no such thing as a free-lunch.’ The question is, as a small enterprise do you have the resources and capabilities to cope with the demands of that large corporation (i.e. expecting to deliver big projects, but they fail to pay your company on time due to the nature of their approval-payment process) or are you willing to choose your partnerships carefully and methodologically, one-success at a time?
By Tambu Ndoro, Strategist/CEO-Founder at Hanga Consulting (PVT) Ltd, ©2011. Website: www.hangaconsulting.com Email: tambu@hangaconsulting.com. First published on Hello Harare online magazine - www.helloharare.co.zw
