Are you feeling the heat to justify your investment in partnering? Do you know what return on investment (ROI) you’re getting? Many partnering leaders are fighting for investment and having to answer difficult questions from their CFO and CEO to substantiate the value of partnering.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting someone who has spent a lot of time with CFOs on this topic. Harald Horgen is a partnering strategist and CEO of The York Group. Harald shares his methodologies and critical aspects to consider when assessing the return on investment for business partnerships.

In this episode you’ll gain valuable insights into optimizing your partnerships, measuring their effectiveness, and driving growth.

Key Takeaways

Here are 10 steps Harald shared that you can take to increase the return on your partnering investment:

1. Understand Your Objectives: Clearly define what you aim to achieve with each partnership. Set specific, measurable goals for every partnership and align them with your overall business strategy.

2. Evaluate Partner Potential: Not all partners are created equal. Evaluate their potential value before committing. Create a checklist of criteria to assess the potential of new partners.

3. Establish Clear Metrics: Define how you will measure success and communicate this to your partners. Develop a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for your partnerships.

4. Continuous Monitoring: Consistently track the performance of your partners against the defined metrics. Set up a regular review process to evaluate partner performance.

5. Open Communication: Maintain a transparent and open line of communication with your partners. Schedule regular meetings and updates to discuss performance and address any issues.

6. Mutual Benefits: Ensure that the partnership provides value to both parties involved. Regularly revisit and renegotiate terms to keep the partnership mutually beneficial.

7. Adapt and Evolve: Be prepared to adapt your strategies as market conditions and business goals change. Stay agile and be willing to pivot partnership approaches when necessary.

8. Leverage Technology: Use the right tools and software to facilitate partnership management and ROI tracking. Invest in partnership management software to streamline processes and data analysis.

9. Risk Management: Identify potential risks associated with the partnership and develop mitigation strategies. Develop a risk management plan for each partner relationship.

10. Learning and Improvement: Continuously learn from each partnership and improve your approach based on past experiences. Conduct post-partnership reviews to glean insights and apply them to future collaborations.

LINKS & RESOURCES

• Connect with Harald on LinkedIn
• Listen to Peter Thomas on 5 Steps to Maximizing Your Channel Marketing ROI
• Find out The Number One Challenge of Partner Leaders with Mark Rogers