Becoming a Master Networker - Power Partners

Let’s talk a bit about power partners. Power partners are the secret sauce of the networking world. They can and should be a subset of every networking type group that you belong to and particularly in any leads group. They also function as a standalone networking resource. I’ll start with a true story.

In 2005 I resigned from my last management job. I had been in management positions, with a few short-term exceptions, continuously since 1979. I took about 6 months off to plan my next moves and came to the decision that I wanted to go back to selling only which was something that I had not done in a great deal of time. Additionally, I wanted to work on a commission only program.

Without a doubt, electric signage was my passion as an industry so this is the area that I went back to. New construction (my area of specialty and focus) was hot in Boise in 2006 and I set about to document every new commercial project that I could find in the area. I spent about 30 days of extensive windshield time.

Once I had gathered the information, I looked back at my list and I had something like 500 potential projects to pursue. This sheer number presented a problem as I had no idea as to which of these were actually opportunities and which were not due to any number of factors including perhaps having already pulled the trigger with another company.

I needed answers fast and even explored hiring somebody to make the calls and to try to determine any levels of interest. This meant training people for a one-off project and it also meant giving over a certain degree of control. Neither aspect was appealing, So, I did the only logical thing, I tore the list up. No exaggeration.

Instead, I immediately did two things. I joined a leads group. It was marginal at best but I made it work. Hell, I sold a $65,000 sign to another member who approached me with his project at my first meeting. Next, I began to systematically contact every commercial realtor, architect, developer, and construction company who I had worked with previously on a signage project. These would be my power partners.

Power partners call on the same people who you might call on and who work in similar, yet non-competing, industries. They are in the unique position to introduce you to others who might need your services. These are at the very least warm calls and are more likely referrals. I have personally not made a true cold call since I went out on my own in 2006.

I also mentioned that power partners should be a subset of any leads group. As an example, in our group, NetWorks! Boise, we have a general contractor, a civil engineer, a solar contractor, a concrete services company, an electric sign company, and a company that specializes in construction materials and inspections. They are all in construction related fields so they constitute a construction power partner subset.

Another example might be an accountant, an attorney, a financial planner, a banker, and an HR consultant. This would comprise a professional services power partner subset. Additionally, one person could certainly belong to more than one subset. The possibilities are quite intriguing but there are a couple of things that you must be aware of in order to maximize your results …

This is a two-way street. You know what you want from other members but, what can you provide to them? This can become even more complex when you consider that some people in a group may need to be in front of an opportunity much earlier than other members will typically become even aware of such opportunities.
Your power partners will not spend every waking hour thinking about you. And nor will you of them. This means that you will want to create regular face-to-face interactions where you can build trust and relationships and formally exchange new opportunities. This could be weekly or, I would think at the very least, monthly.
Having multiple power partners from the same industry can be tricky. Who do you give …. this opportunity to? Now, you may have people from the same industry who specialize in different markets (vertical, geographic, etc.). That can work. Otherwise, if it were me, I would determine that absolute best person for each industry and then look at expanding my number of service partners.

In the sign industry, I always considered myself to be a bottom feeder since I generally was brought into projects much later than my other partners. I asked them what other services I might provide them with and came up with a few of my own. Ultimately, and this surprised me initially, the response that I received was that … “We like referring signage to you because we never have to hear about it again from our customers.”

Say what? What this really meant was that they had confidence that, once they referred someone to me, that client would be taken care of appropriately. More importantly, they had no fear that this referral would come back to bite them in the butt. At the same time, they were providing a professional service to their clients by making this recommendation. That’s what. Makes sense. Referrals 101.

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Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!