Finding new business usually starts with a familiar question: Who should we be talking to?
For Technology Advisors, MSPs and others in the channel, that question often leads to prospect lists, target accounts, industry segments and decision-maker profiles.
Those things matter. But there is another question worth asking:
Who already has relationships with the organizations and people you want to reach?
The answer may reveal an entirely different path to growth.
Instead of building every new customer relationship one prospect at a time, Partners can expand their circle of influence by developing relationships with organizations and professionals that already serve, advise or connect with their target customers.
Your next opportunity may not begin with a cold introduction to a CIO. It may begin with someone the CIO already knows and trusts.
Think Beyond the Traditional Prospect List
A traditional prospecting strategy generally starts with the end customer.
What industries are you targeting? How large are the organizations? How many locations do they operate? Who makes technology decisions? What problems are they trying to solve?
Those are still important questions.
But consider looking one level beyond the prospect.
Who advises those organizations? Who works with their leadership teams? What organizations bring those businesses together? Who is already having conversations about growth, operating costs, risk, acquisitions, infrastructure or business transformation?
Depending on your target market, that circle could include consultants, private equity firms, associations, professional organizations, financial professionals, M&A advisors, commercial real estate firms, technology providers and other trusted business relationships.
The objective isn’t simply to collect more referral sources.
It’s to identify relationships where your capabilities can create value for the organization making the connection and the businesses it serves.
The Right Connection Starts With the Right Fit
Not every relationship makes a good referral relationship.
A large network isn’t necessarily a valuable network, and knowing a lot of people doesn’t automatically create meaningful opportunities.
The stronger question is whether there is alignment.
Do You Serve Similar Customers?
A potential referral relationship becomes more relevant when both organizations work with similar types of customers.
For EnTelegent Partners, that could mean organizations with relationships across complex, multi-location enterprise environments where network, cloud, security, voice, mobility, managed services and technology lifecycle requirements frequently intersect.
Do Your Capabilities Complement Each Other?
The most productive relationships don’t necessarily come from companies that do exactly what you do.
Often, the opposite is true.
An organization may have a trusted customer relationship but lack the resources, expertise or service portfolio to address a particular technology requirement.
That’s where complementary relationships can create opportunity.
One organization doesn’t need to become everything to the customer. The right combination of capabilities can allow each party to remain focused on what it does well.
Is There Value on Both Sides of the Relationship?
A sustainable referral relationship can’t be based entirely on what you hope to receive.
Ask what you bring to the relationship.
Can you help the other organization solve a problem for its customers? Expand the value it provides? Address needs that fall outside its core capabilities? Strengthen an existing customer relationship?
When there is a clear reason for both organizations to participate, the relationship becomes more than a source of occasional introductions.
It can become part of how both organizations grow.
Look for Organizations at the Center of Relationships
Some organizations have something particularly valuable: one relationship can potentially connect you to many businesses.
Consider a private equity firm working with multiple portfolio companies.
Or an association serving businesses across an industry or profession.
Or an organization with a network of members, customers, vendors or other business relationships.
These are very different organizations, and each requires a different approach. But they share an important characteristic: they sit at the center of an existing business ecosystem.
For Partners, that changes the opportunity.
Rather than asking only:
“How do I reach this company?”
you can also ask:
“What organizations already have trusted relationships with companies like this?”
That is a very different way to think about business development.
Your Existing Customers Can Expand Your Circle, Too
Building your circle of influence doesn’t always require finding an entirely new organization.
Start with the relationships you already have.
A satisfied customer may work with consultants, financial advisors, technology providers, industry organizations and other professionals who serve similar businesses.
Your existing Partners may have complementary relationships you haven’t explored.
And the people you work with today may move into new organizations, take on different responsibilities or introduce you to others facing similar challenges.
The objective isn’t to turn every conversation into a request for a referral.
It’s to understand the larger network surrounding the relationships you’ve already earned.
Be Ready When the Introduction Happens
Creating the right relationship is only part of the equation.
You also need to be able to support the opportunity when it appears.
A new conversation may begin with connectivity and expand into managed network services. A cloud discussion may expose security requirements. A lifecycle review may uncover opportunities across multiple vendors, services and locations.
That’s particularly important in complex enterprise environments, where technology needs rarely exist in isolation.
Partners don’t necessarily need to build every capability themselves.
EnTelegent Solutions works alongside and through Technology Partners to help extend the solutions they can bring to their customers across network services, managed network services, SASE and security, voice, cloud infrastructure and lifecycle management.
You own the customer relationship. EnTelegent helps you expand what’s possible within it.
Build Your Own Channel
For years, the Technology Channel has demonstrated the value of relationships.
The same principle can be applied to your own business development strategy.
Look beyond the next prospect and consider the people and organizations surrounding the customers you want to reach.
Ask yourself:
Who serves the same types of organizations we do?
Who has relationships with the decision-makers we want to meet?
Where do our capabilities complement someone else’s?
What value can we create for them and the organizations they serve?
And which of our existing relationships could introduce us to an entirely new circle?
Growth doesn’t always require a bigger prospect list.
Sometimes it starts with building the right relationship.
EXPLORE REFERRAL OPPORTUNITIES
Your next opportunity may be one relationship away. Explore how the relationships already in your circle could create new paths to opportunity.
Explore Referral Opportunities →
PARTNER GROWTH SERIES
Continue the Partner Growth Series
01 — YOU’RE READING THIS ARTICLE
Your Next Opportunity May Be One Relationship Away
Trusted relationships may provide a more direct path to the customers you want to reach.
02 — GO DEEPER
One Customer Relationship. More Technology Conversations.
Look beyond the initial request to uncover more of your customer’s technology needs.
Read Article →
03 — BUILD YOUR CHANNEL
Build Your Own Channel: Look Beyond the CIO
Fractional CIOs, associations and private equity relationships can create new paths to opportunity.
Read Article →
04 — CREATE OPPORTUNITY
From Introduction to Opportunity: Two Ways to Build Your Channel
See how trusted relationships can create introductions—and how those introductions can develop into new opportunities.
Read Article →
