Big Picture - September 2019 - 19

customer only had to deal with one quote, one work order,
one invoice, and one check. Another major factor to consider
when working on events like this is your contact person is
overwhelmed for the entirety of the process. Having one
person with whom they coordinate a huge portion of their
job makes their life easier. And they don't forget that.
I'm always amazed when an event like this comes off
without a hitch and we all live happily ever after.
STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
We consider companies we partner with to do extraordinary
things - like the stadium graphic takeover - strategic allies.
We like to invent stuff: create products and processes that
are proprietary.
I'm not sure of the exact quote, but it goes something like
"A man's reach should exceed his grasp." If someone in our
industry thinks up a product that would be great, but they
know some of the technology is outside their knowledge
base and/or they lack one or more of the component
production capabilities, they should just forget it, right?
No, just do it! What I'm not going to do is tell you one
of those ideas and how we successfully found a partner on the
other side of the country. We've been at it for more than a
decade. But I will share that not a week goes by when we don't
produce an ever-increasing number of our components of this
proprietary process. I know it's selfish, but it's just business.
It wasn't easy. Our strategic ally handles all the sales and
marketing. It took a couple of years for them to figure out
how to market the new product. Volume ramped up slowly,
but now it's constant and profitable.
How do you fi nd such a company? You start at the top.
It's a waste of time to talk to anyone who isn't capable of
making a decision. You want to talk to the owner or at least
the general manager.
You need to know your stuff and have a grasp of the
technology. You must be capable of clearly defi ning what
each company must do to create that fi rst "proof of concept"
product. You must be willing to produce your end of the
process at no cost to them.
You should have completed initial market research so you
can speak intelligently about the size of the market, and what a
target selling price would be. It's also helpful if both parties
agree to transparency. "I will show you my spreadsheet for cost
of goods sold, if you show me yours." Being able to justify every
cost and expense goes a long way to earning your ally's trust.
KEEP IT FRIENDLY
Because you're allies, it's a given this relationship will not
work unless it's a win-win and you can form a trusted bond.
If it starts smelling like either party is trying to take advantage of the other, it won't work. The only relationships like
this that are worth doing must have long-range potential. It's
too much work to put one of these partnerships together to
have it not last at least five years.
We've created more than a half dozen successful, profitable alliances. In almost all we agreed we could both sell the
product. We negotiate what their production costs to us are
and vice versa.

It's important to pick allies you personally like. Life is too
short to do business with a**holes.
The importance of forming strategic alliances is you can
expand your product offerings and your potential markets.
You can do this with no significant capital investment and
the associated risk of not making your ROI. You can create
barriers to entry for competitors because few in our industry
have the combined capabilities your alliance creates.
Finally, in the unnamed, more-than-a-decade-old
relationship, we've been able to maintain the same price per
square foot for the product in spite of dramatic deterioration
of pricing in the open market. Consideration is given: we
invented the product and the process. Sales remain profitable for both companies. Our partner has not pressured us to
lower our price or, worse, dump us because they can buy it
elsewhere for half the cost. I can't think of anywhere else in
our industry where you can fi nd that advantage.
Let your creative juices flow and create new products
where your company can contribute to the distributive
manufacturing. Then, make a new friend (often outside our
industry). Have fun and make money.

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Big Picture - September 2019

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