I recently interviewed Jessica Chapman of Room to Breathe, a professional organizinger in Sacramento, CA in regards to her report The Collaboration Manifesto. In the manifesto she explained the importance of collaboration with associates, vendors, suppliers, and people in other industries that complement a business’s overall need for growth.
Without collaboration a business’s growth simply becomes stagnant between the first and third year of business. They want to grow their business without any help. They watch their competitors grow their sales and client base and they are left behind. Chapman points out, “In a great economy collaboration is a really good idea to do. In a down economy where people are freaking out about money and not sure where things are going to come, collaboration is a necessity. You have to work with people in other businesses and truly let go of the competition mindset and come into a collaborative mindset, because otherwise, it’s you swimming alone in the big old sea and you get tired and you’re frustrated, and you give up the ghost and then you need to go find a job.” Not only your watching your competition pass you by, your business is in jeopardy as well.
How do you become a collaborator in today’s market?
Collaboration usually begins by networking in mixers and other types of events. A person attends an event, they meet a prospective client or partner, gets their business card and then follows up after a couple of days with an email or telephone call. However, many times business cards are thrown away, emails are not received and telephone calls are not returned.
The other option is to develop an online strategy and develop relationships online. With extensive research you can profile your target client by utilizing available free resources. You can start by joining professional groups on Ning Websites, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups, and Twitter. Find a person that complements your business and do the research. Start by seeking an individual’s profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn will essentially give you a person’s full resume and profile. You will usually gain access to their main website or blog as well as any other social media platforms that they might belong to. Next you can start communicating through Twitter with short messages or through Facebook with messages longer than 140 characters in length. With these resources you will save time by targeting specifically those businesses that you want to do business with.
Once you have your specific target clients you will develop relationships and discover what resources they can use from you and vice versa. This is where essentially trade begins and life-long relationships start to build.
