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Thoughts on forming successful partnerships in 2024
As I lazily shuffled down the jet bridge to board the Southwest Airlines flight at 6:10 AM in Las Vegas after three hours of sleep the night before, I found my mind traipsing to the harried activities of the previous five days. After one week in Sin City filled with oxygenated air, walking well over 10,000 steps daily, forging new relationships while strengthening old ones, speaking at four different engagements, recording a podcast, receiving the PPAI Icon Award for Distinguished Service, hosting a Promocations event, wondering if the $7.00 bottles of water contained the dreams of small children to justify the cost, and enjoying time with clients and friends, I was quite ready to get back to Nashville.
I collapsed in my seat, unpacked my charger and earbuds, and used my feet to shove my backpack underneath the seat in front of me. It was then I thought about many of the conversations I had with people and the ones I overheard over the week. As I reflected on the discussions, I realized that far too many toss-around terms that sound great but are rarely backed up by any substantive action. Some of the words and phrases that come to mind are:
Partner
Strategy
Engagement
Tactical
Implementation
Turn-key solution (my personal favorite)
If you want to really dazzle people with meaningless buzzwords, they can be combined to create new, even more empty phrases like "strategic partner" or "tactical engagement." However, I wouldn't recommend it as, through experiences, we have learned that these words are worthless marketing terms designed to do little more than create a false sense of contentment. It's time to accept buzzwords, and buzzphrases are useless when evaluating potential business partnerships. Instead, make your appraisal much easier (and more accurate) by realizing there are two types of partners in the world: those who are involved and those who are invested.
Involved
Pass the buck – either internally or externally – when something goes wrong
Speak in vague generalities
Simply respond to communications and inquiries
Create a wildly inconsistent experience for their clients
Express happiness that they have paying clients
Invested
Display ownership of the entire process
Are both direct and candid
Drive communication
Deliver a dependable experience for clients
Seek to solve problems before they happen
Express gratitude and seek to build a mutually beneficial relationship
Our shared industry has many excellent distributors, suppliers, and service providers. As such, the question you should ask is simple: do you want to work with the ones who are only involved, or do you want to create relationships with those who are invested?
Choosing to partner with distributors, suppliers, and service providers who are invested in forming relationships will lead to a dramatically higher positive experience for all involved – not the least of which is the end-user client.
When it comes to involvement or investment, there is no choice. Speaking of choice, after a week in Vegas, I'm choosing to nap before this plane lands and fight the snow/ice mix on my drive home begins.
Here's to working with invested people in 2024!