If you have a big vision and you want to expand your business, strategic partners might just be what you need. A strategic partnership is formed so that both parties can benefit from it. You will gain support to achieve your business goals, and serve your partner to achieve their own.

I’m going to teach you how to play up with strategic partners. To do this, first, you need to have a bigger vision and to desire a bigger gain. Once you have these on lock, you can paint a bigger vision of what’s possible for you and the partner. Find out how you can create a win-win situation for your strategic alliances.

How to Level Up Your Business with Strategic Partners

1. Get Strategic Partners for a Product Launch

There’s a higher chance for #success when you’re around people working towards the same #goal. 🙌🏽 #InspiringQuote pic.twitter.com/Mkzx7Tm6wI

— Ted McGrath (@ted_mcgrath) January 20, 2018

A year ago, I started my own product launch. It was the first time I ever did one, and my business was fortunate to achieve a $1.35 million product launch. Going into this, I was so committed to having a million-dollar launch that I just set my sights on it, and so I played a bigger game to make it happen.

That time, I only had 20,000 people on my email list, so I knew that to make my vision happen, I had to step up and get bigger partners. Truth be told, you don’t always have equal exchanges with partners. There are different types of exchanges, but when you have a bigger vision and you’re willing to step into a bigger game, you’ll attract bigger opportunities.

I had never done a product launch before, and I had set my sights on a million-dollar launch. Most people don’t start out with this goal in mind, but I have a big vision for my business.

Now if you’re wondering what kind of product I launched, it was online-based. To achieve my goal, I needed strategic partners to promote me. Usually, what I do is get strategic partners to promote me each week. This is fine for those only starting out with business partnerships.

But for this launch, I decided that I wanted to get 25 to 30 partners to promote me within a two-week period. In the end, we were able to have a $1.35 million product launch.

Read Also: How To Create A Product Empire | Marketing To Millions

How to Make Strategic Partnerships Work

How did this work? One, I set the outcome I wanted from the whole strategic partnership. I knew that I wanted to do a million-dollar launch. Two, I was willing to take massive action to achieve my goal. I reached out to my relationships and began to understand what it took to create a million-dollar launch. I did my research and discovered the tools and strategies I needed to implement to actually succeed on my million-dollar launch.

Once I set my big goal, I was committed to it. Then I took action and did research on what I needed to learn, and how I needed to develop the launch. Which in turn gave me the confidence to paint a big vision to my strategic partners of what I was going to succeed with.

Read Also: What is a Strategic Partnership? 5 Tips To Developing A Successful One

2. Have Big Strategic Partners On Board

I’ve been a part of Christian Mickelsen’s Mastermind for the past four years. And in that Mastermind, we all had a few minutes onstage to present our upcoming launch or promotion. Before my million-dollar product launch, I only took this opportunity to present my webinar. I tried to get partners to promote me week after week. But with my product launch, I needed to get a lot of strategic partners who will promote me within a two-week period.

Once I knew that I wanted to do a million-dollar product launch, I went into the Mastermind with a couple of bigger partners on board. And when my time came to speak onstage, I presented my launch.

You might be wondering how I got big partners on board. Check out my blog post on how to get connected to big strategic partners to learn how I did it.

If you’re going for a bigger vision and you want to play up with strategic partners, you need to have some established names on board who will all agree to promote you.

3. Paint Your Vision

When I got up on the stage to present my product launch, I painted my vision for my audience. I told them, “Here are the people who are already promoting my launch. We are already committed, and we know that we’re going to do a million-dollar launch. We will add 30 to 40 thousand new people to our email list.

Right after my launch, I’m going to be an amazing strategic partner to you. I want to promote you. So will you be willing to promote me today? If you step up and help me, then I also want to show up and serve you. I will add as much value as possible to you to make it happen.”

So what did I do there? I painted the vision — I told people what life was going to be like in the future when they work with me. Not when I have 20,000 people on my email list, rather when I already have a 50,000-person email list.

I painted the vision of the future. As a result, some people at that event came running up to me and said, “I would like to support you.” I got additional strategic alliances on board, which created the momentum I needed. It gave me the leverage to pursue other partners and ask them to support me. My strategic partnerships grew, and I reciprocated — which is important.

Read Also: Young Entrepreneur Mistakes You Need To Avoid To Become Successful

4. Reciprocate the Value That Will Be Delivered

Build strategic partnerships to move your #business forward. Here’s a 5-step guide: https://t.co/nv1cmMKF70. #success #guide #partnership #tips #toptips #TedMcGrath pic.twitter.com/0i7xM137JD

— Ted McGrath (@ted_mcgrath) January 8, 2018

After painting the vision, I reciprocated the value that my strategic partners will give to me. I told them that I’ll deliver value back to them with my 50,000-person email list. Notice that I didn’t say 20,000, which is the number I had when I spoke to them.

Remember that I was painting the vision of the future. When you play up with strategic partners, you’ve got to go after a bigger vision and a bigger goal. You have to be committed to it. You have to be willing to stand up, paint that vision and say, “In the future, this is what it’s going to be. I’m going to be a valuable asset to you. I want to work with you.”

That was one of the reasons why people stepped up and committed to promoting me. There are other reasons, but this is one of the factors that helped me play up. I played a bigger game with a bigger vision. Eventually, I was able to add 30,000 people to my email list, and I became a valuable strategic partner.

5. Expand Your Vision

To play up and go into a bigger game, you need a bigger vision to expand your reach. You need to step into that bigger vision because right now, you’re not living there yet. See the vision and be willing to step into it — go outside your comfort zone. Trust me, you will grow from this.

Expanding your vision, rocking your launch, and making your vision happen — it’s all about playing up. In fact, as a result of those, I attracted more and more partners. I began to build an intelligent business where I grew my lists. It also got me to work with eight partners online, which resulted in the online counterpart of my business. And now, I’m about to do another launch. I’m certain that I’ll do more of this because it has already become a permanent part of my business model.

Before, I was in the speaker business and live events business only. I wanted to build an online business, and now I have it. Because I painted a bigger vision, I got strategic partners to promote me. And now I’m more established in the bigger game with my bigger partners. This will continue as long as I show up and also add value to them.

Read Also: My Digital Elevation Model for Getting Your Product out to People

Action Steps

Right now, I have action steps for you. First, decide on what your big vision is and the outcome you’re after. Do you want to get on bigger stages? Do you want to get big promotional partners? Think about the outcome you want. Is it having 200 people in your seminar room? Is it adding 30,000 more people to your email list?

Ponder on this question: What’s the big outcome you can paint the vision for that would excite somebody to build a relationship with you?

Second, I want you to write those down then go out and start communicating with people. Sell your vision of the future. Remember, the key is to reciprocate the value that will be delivered to you. This is really important. Know that sometimes things will not go as planned, but in spite of that, you still have to deliver your promise. You can always find other ways to add value to your strategic partners.

I highly recommend that you take this calculated risk. Play up and grow exponentially with your strategic partners. Have your big vision on lock, commit to it, and work for it. And most importantly, reciprocate on the value that your strategic alliances will deliver. This is how you’ll create a mutually beneficial and lasting strategic partnership.

What challenges hinder you from playing up with strategic partners? Let me know in the comments section below.

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