Recommended Rules of Partnering

This section of our site presents the collection of best practice recommendations which have appeared in our newsletters. In many cases, the Newsletter articles were a summary of the actually discussion of the best practices. The best practices you find here we called 'Rules of Partnering' because we believe they are essential to ensuring the greatest potential of you alliance management efforts.

• Plan, Plan, Plan
• Establish Performance Criteria
• Balance strategy with tactical execution
• Understanding the Time Horizon of the prospective Alliance
• Preparing to for trade show partnering meetings

Rule 1: Plan, Plan, Plan

As companies explore the adoption of a strategy of corporate growth through the formation of strategic alliances, all too often they rush into the process with the familiarity of the quarterly sales quota in mind. "Sign them up and let's start making money!" seems to be the Alliance Program of many organizations.

This is a surefire way to drive your company into the ground! If sharing the fate of your company with another entity is not a reason to have clear objectives, a process and a good set of skills in place, I don't know what is. The challenges in managing a go-to-market strategy through partnerships of various kinds should not be underestimated. Why is this more complicated than managing your own internal sales organization?

• A part of your strategy is connected with the strategy of your strategic partner
• Your sales organization is now responsible for properly representing your partner as well as your own company
• Coordination between the two companies is a full time task, even to keep things on track as intended
• The 'rules of engagement' laid down in the partnership agreement, become another input into the product development process:
  • compatibility
  • functionality
  • timing
  • etc.
• Your Executive Information support system needs to be enhanced with the ability to see performance information from the perspective of the alliance objectives

The organizational adjustments that are needed to 'set the organization up for success' can not be underestimated. Once the Alliance agreement is signed, there is no time to determine the process of performance evaluation, relationship management and developing the skills needed for the job. These things must be dealt with before formal engagement with the (first) Alliance kicks off.

Dralla Group uses a set of best practices, derived from multiple years of experience guiding organizations such as yours, augmented by the knowledgebase of A.S.A.P., the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals, to assist organizations through the preparatory stages of a beginning Alliance Program.

An summary of this description can also be found in our October 2002 Alliance Report newsletter.

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