Think Win-Win-Win

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been on a huge push to move back to one of my favorite ways to grow my business. It’s through collaboration.

I know, that’s nothing new and exciting.

It’s not the next “How to make millions on Facebook” type of thing. It’s a simple thing that we all know about. The question is how to make it effective and really use it. Many times I think people forget the actual meaning of it and that it’s not all about how them.

You can talk about referral partners, joint ventures, etc. They all mean the same basic thing… Like minded people working together for a common goal. But, there are a few principles that I think get lost a lot in the translation of building these kinds of relationships.

Any time I go into a relationship with someone I look at the 30,000 foot view. Of course, I want to get something out of it. Even the great feeling I get from helping someone else out is a win. But you’ve got to look at it from a “Win-Win-Win” scenario.

When I’m looking to work with someone, I want to look at what’s in it for them? What do they get out of the relationship?

Just yesterday, I had a joint workshop with another great business owner here in the area. We know each other from our local Chamber and we talked about doing a workshop together that we could cross promote with.

When I think of things like this, here’s my thought process:

He wins, because he gets to share his knowledge with people in the room that don’t know him already.

He wins because he has an opportunity to get new clients

I win because I’m helping share new information to the people on my list. They see the value I add by working with him.

I win because I also get in front of new people to share great information and potentially get new clients.

Then… The most important part:
The attendees win. They get additional knowledge from both of us. They now learn something new that they likely didn’t know yesterday.

Everyone walks away with some kind of value added to their lives. This is always the most important part of any collaborative project you do.

Some times we tend to forget that it’s not just about us.

I get people all the time that want me to promote them. I know a couple of guys that are consistently pushing to get me to promote them. They think that the whole reason I’d promote them is that I’d make a lot of money from affiliate commissions.

Problem is that money isn’t my only motivational factor. I’m looking at if it’s a good fit for my audience. Is it something that they will see value in? That’s more important to me than anything else.

Remember that collaboration is an amazing way to grow your business. It’s one of my favorites but you have to look at the big picture and see how it’s going to be a fit for everyone involved.

Stop and think of how you are approaching people to collaborate with them. Is it a win for everyone? What do they really want? It’s not always about the money. Sometimes, it’s about more than that.

You’ve got to create value for everyone involved.

If it’s not a win-win-win, it’s a no deal.