Hollywood movie studios, fast food restaurants, and soft drink bottlers do it. Often, all three do it in concert. It is possibly the most powerful marketing strategy ever created — joint venture/strategic alliance partnerships.
Almost every family-oriented movie launches with the help of strategic alliance partners. The recent blockbuster “Iron Man” featured partnerships with 7-Eleven, Audi, Burger King, Estee Lauder, Foot Locker, and LG mobile phones. And the “Indiana Jones” movie opened in June with the help of partners Burger King, Dr. Pepper, Kellogg’s, Harley Davidson Motorcycles, and others.
For the Hollywood studios, these strategic alliances reinforce the films’ presence in theaters by offering special ticket discounts and create a demand for merchandising toys based on the movies’ key characters. The retail partners benefit by offering special menu items and contests related to movie themes that drive store traffic and product sales.
Essentially, these strategic alliances work because the partners have something of value to offer similar target markets.
For life and health insurance agents interested in building their ability to attract prospects, the strategy of creating strategic alliances can be very effective. There are five simple steps to making strategic partnerships work:
1. Identify specific markets you would like to target for your business.
2. Brainstorm other business categories, industries, and professions targeting the same markets.
3. Identify business professionals within those categories with whom you would like to work.
4. Create a win-win value proposition with which to reach out to those prospective partners.
5. Reach out to those prospective strategic partners.
Case study in strategic alliances
About a year ago, Jeff Breen of the health benefits consulting firm Breen Consulting Group and property and casualty agent Chris Clark of Sprague & Killeen Insurance created a strategic alliance. Since the beginning of their partnership, each has grown their business by 15 percent from activity relating to their joint venture effort.
“With this approach,” said Clark, “I bring Jeff to the meeting with me as a value-added resource who can provide a no-obligation review of (the client’s) health insurance, and he will provide recommendations for improvements, regardless of who they use in the end.”
Breen added, “We’ve also done cold-calling together where we drop in on prospects we’ve each been targeting. Whereas it’s a chore to do those things on your own, we have fun with it and keep each other motivated. ”
Breen and Clark’s approach has them cross-pollinating their clients in a powerful partnership.
Finding and using your partners
Life and health producers may also target strategic alliance partners such as commercial printing companies, locally owned office supply companies, commercial banks that do not yet offer insurance services, chambers of commerce, and CPA firms.
It’s important in creating these joint ventures to have a deep level of trust with those with whom you are looking to partner and to make sure personalities are a good match. “Our relationship evolved over time,” Breen says of Clark. “In early conversations, I recognized Chris’ integrity. I could tell he had a similar care for his clients and I knew my clients would be in good hands. Now it’s more than just adding value to each other’s clients; it’s helping us create instant rapport and credibility with someone we’ve just met.”
By investing time and energy in building mutually beneficial strategic partnerships, you can build your business exponentially while helping a business colleague build theirs. It’s more fun, it’s more productive, and it’s a more valuable use of your time, energy, and resources than trying to build your business one cold call at a time.
Skip Weisman is founder of Weisman Success Resources Inc. For more information, please visit www.weismansuccessresources.com.