I don’t think collaboration has ever been more salient than the times we are in now. I personally have been overwhelmed by the outreach of support in the last 6 months and hopefully I have contributed back into the business community with free consultations, webinars and referrals to other specialists.
The real learning from the last 6 months for me was to embrace collaborating more with aligned businesses and one of those was Scale Ability run by Paul Aisthorpe. Both businesses are Lancashire Boost Partners and help support business growth in Lancashire, so there was already a synergy there. We were introduced by Andrew Leeming, Senior Project Officer from Lancashire County Council and the timing back in March couldn’t have been better. Paul highlights: “Andrew’s depth of understanding of both mine and Suzi’s core values here was key. It meant we both saw the opportunities here rather than any barriers”.
I believe to make collaboration work (especially if you are working with a business that could actually be viewed as a competitor) I consider the following aspects to be important:
- Trust
This is a biggie as you need to have trust when you open up your business and client base to another company.
- Clear objectives
To bring two businesses together you really need clear objectives and battle lines
- Communication
Clearly important in everything we do, but none more so than when there are several businesses involved.
- Leverage strengths
The beauty of collaborating brings true benefit (in our case) to the client as the expertise is strengthened.
- Results
Just like the quote says, greater results can be achieved in teams.
Collaboration between our businesses has already been a success with our recent client Elliot Horner, Director of Cannabrew: “Working with Scale-Ability and Wynne Business has helped my business plan for growth and put targets and infrastructure in place to deliver. The balance of Paul’s coaching and mentoring support together with Suzi & Sally’s category research and strategic sales and marketing planning is invaluable. It has really helped me plan the growth of my company and they have both been really great to work with”.
Our collaboration really is a great combination of skills. Wynne Business focus on the retail aspects of category research, route to market and sales strategy with Scale Ability providing business coaching and mentoring to help clients scale working on the process and people to support the growth ambition.
Ultimately, both businesses aim to support their client realise their vision and create the business they dreamed of when they started out.
So, is there a service that your client needs that you don’t provide? Perhaps there is an opportunity to collaborate….
