Building Successful Alliances

Partnering for Profits: Deeper Relationships with Alliance Partners

A topic that I wrote about in my first book, “The Art of Partnering” back in the mid-1990s is that of going deeper (vertically) to build additional relationships beyond your immediate contacts. When you do this in our alliance partner organizations, you achieve two important alliance strengthening elements:

1. Business leaders get promoted, transferred, and fired. If this happens to your only contact at an alliance organization, chaos in the daily functioning of the alliance is sure to follow. However, if your relationships go both wide and deep in your partner organization, there is a good chance that you will already have a relationship with your new contact, be they transferred or promoted.

2. When problems in the alliance occur, and they will, it is having the deep organizational relationships that will hold things together. When partners are at war, anything one does is considered confrontational by the other. Conversely, when relationships are good, mistakes made by a partner organization are simply considered just that; honest mistakes and not cause for eliminating the alliance.

To keep your strategic alliances working like a well oiled machine, take the time and make the effort to build relationships both deep and wide in your partner organization.

You can read more about the fine points in my several alliance articles at http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm (Permission to reprint is also there.)

Executive Presentation Skills: Deep Personal Inner Exploration

Consider the idea of deep personal inner exploration of your core message, wisdom, and universal truths in preparation for your next presentation. My good friend, John Alston, CSP, CPAE, once told me to get rid of the “fat” around my universal truths. He told me that it is that “fat” that diffuses the power of my message.

As we endeavor, I believe, to develop content to share with others, too frequently we abandon what Mark Victor Hansen, CSP, told me is “Your Inner Knower.” Yes, we have to trust ourselves. In presenting our ideas to others there is a monumental need for you to access our inner core beliefs. This is necessary on order to muster up your passion to effectively to influence others. In contrast think about the monotone speaker reading his/her PowerPoint bullet points, one at a time—at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Compare in your mind the vision of the slow monotone speaker to that of a strong, committed and powerful speaker, like John Alston. In order to influence others you must dig deep into your soul to determine your real beliefs on any topic in order to share the subtleties of the topic through your window on the world.

Before every speech, consider spending the time necessary to quiet the static in your head, to explore your beliefs, and determine the core message (about any topic) that you want to share with your audience.

Executive Public Speakers, Professional Speakers, and Emerging Professional Speakers; please visit http://www.SucceedInSpeaking.com for additional ideas, assistance, and resources.

Trade Association & Professional Society Executives: Go Deeper in Member Companies

As I mentioned above in the “Partnering for Profits” section, there are benefits for going deeper in building relationships in partner organizations. This applies also for trade associations and to some degree in professional societies.

By going deeper, encouraging conference attendance and membership of additional job levels, within your current member companies will serve your organization well. The cost to your organization will be appropriating the necessary resources to both develop additional levels of educational programming and appropriate conference activities.

The benefits to your organization are:

• Increased membership from additional employee levels

• Member retention as owners/CEOs will see additional value in their membership through providing cost effective training and other benefits for their employees

• Emotional ownership in your association from tomorrow’s leaders of your member companies.

• Increased convention/conference/expo attendance

• Increased interest from your supplier members to participate at higher levels driven by increased meeting attendance and ability to influence up and coming users/buyers of their products and services

Association Executives may access association growth articles and member recruitment campaign information at http://www.GrowingYourAssociation.com

Partnering for Profits: Your First Alliance

Your trade association or professional society, regardless of your perception of its effectiveness, is an important alliance for you to consider in 2009. There are two important points I’d like you to consider:

Point 1: Your membership; many trade associations do a great deal of advocacy work for the people involved in the industry they serve. Any you can get a lot of the value whether you belong to the association or not. STOP BEING A FREELOADER! Join the association. This year your industry’s association or society WILL lose membership; therefore revenue. If you want to continue receiving the benefits of their advocacy work, belly up to the bar and pay your share now.

Point 2: Your participation; is crucial for you to receive high-level value from your association or society. With that said, there are many traditional, and nontraditional, ways that you can participate. Some associations have NO IMAGINATION and only want members to play “within the lines,” making no waves. This is BS!!!

Regardless of how you select to participate, conventional or unconventional, look for opportunities to serve in a way that also serves you. Your trade association or professional society is one of the first reviews for 2009. Not a member, join. Dues paying member but not engaged, jump in.

More articles on alliance topics at http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm

Executive Presentation Skills: Let the Diamond Show Through

Last year (last week), I suggested that you make every speech an event. I mentioned, Lee Andree Davis, who I have frequently referred to as a “diamond in a garbage can.” What I mean by this analogy is that Lee had a heart of gold but wrapped it up in such a coarse package that few were able to see his diamond.

How this relates to every person that steps onto the platform, literally or figuratively, is in relation to authenticity—what many say is the number one element to a great speech. For 2009, will you take the risk of authenticity? It is easy to stand upon the platform and be “Speaker Guy or Gal,” however it is difficult to be vulnerable enough to let your authentic diamond show through. This year, more so than in any year past, I’m going to work on letting my diamond show through, perhaps you’d like to do the same?

Executive Public Speakers, Professional Speakers, and Emerging Professional Speakers; please visit http://www.SucceedInSpeaking.com for additional ideas, assistance, and resources.

Trade Association & Professional Society Executives: Lower Meeting Costs

In order to put on outstanding meetings for your members on a budget, first may I suggest minimizing the pageantry? Then focus on great food and great speakers—that’s what your attendees will remember. After that, challenge the sacred cows, i.e., is the golf tournament losing money? If so, CHANGE THAT, or any other sacred cow that is taking you down. Here is another sacred cow to look at; are the past presidents still getting an upgraded room or suite for the regular conference room rate? If so, STOP THAT! There is nothing wrong with extending a complementary registration to your board members; you’ve got to give them some perks—but look close at the perks you give.

Here is another; do you really need to haul your staff people to the convention? Think airfare, hotel, and meals. By the way, the staff rooms are not free—your members are paying for them in their room rate. Most likely, you can hire local “temp” workers to fulfill many (or most) of the activities that staffers conduct for a fraction of the cost, couldn’t you? For 2009, ask the hard questions and make the hard decisions.

Association Executives may access association growth articles and member recruitment campaign information at http://www.GrowingYourAssociation.com