How do you make sure you have the business solutions or services that your alliance partner needs?

You can only make sure that what you have to offer a company fits into their goals and mission if you do your research on what drives that business. If you go in "cold" you are not likely to win any business as you do not know enough about the company and they certainly do not know enough about you. You should never go to a cold call under any circumstances. You should find a way to learn more about what solutions they are looking for and get introduced to a few of the key people of the organization. A business relationship needs time in order to solidify. If you do not know enough about the inner workings of the organization, you will not likely be able to form an alliance with that organization.

You must be able to learn about their business pain in order to find the solution, or a solution, to help them along the path. You may also have to offer some free advice or service in order to become part of their business and learn more about their business model. Once you have gained trust (and you should be trustworthy), it will be much easier to form an alliance that benefits both parties. The important thing to remember is that you need to get to know the other company first and then work a solution into the relationship.

Research is one key to making sure you have the appropriate solution. Other considerations are to conduct an assessment of the company's customers. We talked about assessments earlier in the chapter and I want to emphasize that you will find out more about a company through assessments than you will through employees of that firm. Once you have your results, you can then take an integrated approach on how the two companies can form an alliance. You will be able to weave the fabric of a good business relationship.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people