Building Alliances

• Working with an automobile dealership, we challenged their sales people to find marketplace alliances to drive traffic to the showroom as opposed to waiting at the front with their noses pressed up against the glass. One sales pro made an alliance agreement with a successful home builder in the area where every time a new home was finished, when the builder delivered the keys to the new owner he would also mention there was a surprise in the garage. When the homeowner opened their new garage door they were pleasantly surprised by a brand new auto from the dealership. Inside was a note from the salesman inviting the homeowner to enjoy the car for a few days and to contact him to arrange its return. Of course the home builder looked like a hero and created quite a buzz and the auto salesman had a new prospect.
• A medical practice successfully stimulated new traffic without advertising by personally meeting other local physicians that practiced related but different disciplines. My client took the time to explain and promote his expertise to his colleagues, took the time to learn about their specialties and made agreements for mutual referrals.
• A real estate agent made a concerted effort to approach landscapers, home painters, carpet sales people and the like with the purpose of finding the “higher end” service providers in each category. The agent assembled a resource list of service providers to former and future clients and easily negotiated an agreement with each service company to feed her leads for homeowners that indicated that they might be thinking of a move.
• A chiropractor networked with area massage therapists and developed an obvious referral crossfire where his clients were encouraged to find a massage therapist that fit their liking while the doctor enjoyed regular referrals from therapists that knew their clients needed more than a back rub.

The best case is that you’ll tap a one-to-many relationship that can drive a new, abundant stream of traffic to your business.

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