Strategic Alliances

What a great idea! Have you ever thought about setting up some form of strategic alliances for your business?

I am staying in a Travelodge hotel this evening and on checking in, I asked if the receptionist if he could recommend a local pub where I could have diner. He said "Of course sir, here is a card for the pub and it has a map on the back so that you can find it. I have also blown the map up here (as he gave me an enlarged map) as it makes it a bit clearer that on the back of the card!" WOW, I was impressed.

I asked the receptionist if they had some for of arrangement with the pub where either he or the hotel made a commission from referring people to the pub. He said, there was no such arrangement in place; it was merely due to the fact that the landlord of the pub had dropped into the hotel one day and asked them if they could recommend his pub to their guests!

Such a simple idea and a stroke of genius on the part of the pub landlord, and dare I say it a missed opportunity on the part of the hotel, as I am sure they could have made a small, although not insignificant income from an introducer fee or commission from the pub.

How could you set up some kind of relationship with another local business whose customers may be able to benefit from the services that you have to offer and vica versa?

Happy hunting for your strategic partners.