Ryan Fitzgerald:
Welcome back, Ashlee, to the One Next Step podcast. Let’s jump right in. For business leaders and marketers who are thinking about building these relationships with potential partners and affiliates, what’s one thing you wish you knew before you started this process?
Ashlee Webb:
There’s probably a few things. I think the biggest thing would be to not be scared to ask for partnerships. And what I mean by that is I mentioned earlier about looking within your circle, but I think you can take that a step even further. Once you develop those first few partnerships, don’t be afraid to ask for introductions. That is where the best partnership opportunities come from. So you find your one or two great partners to start with. Ask those two who they know, who they’re connected with and ask for introductions. I think that is the best way to continue to expand your circle, to open up more and more doors of those partnership opportunities. And the great thing is, is that that partner that you are asking, ‘Hey, do you know anyone else whether it’s an organization or an individual that would make a good partner for us?’
Ashlee Webb:
The good thing is they know what makes a good partner for you because they are currently a partner. They know your business, they know your audience. So those introductions — and then it’s a warm introduction. So it takes out the cold call feeling of, ‘Hey, I’m Ashlee from BELAY. I’d love to talk to you about partnerships’ and person receiving it is going, ‘Who are you?’ versus a partnership introducing you to another potential partner. It goes again, it’s back to that trust piece where that other potential partner is going, ‘Okay, well if they’re introducing me to BELAY, BELAY must have something special because I trust them. So I’m gonna trust this introduction right here and explore it further.’ I would say most of our partnerships have come to us in those ways. They continue to be introductions of introductions of introductions, and it’s really cool kind of seeing how they all tie back to some of our first core partners at BELAY.
Ryan Fitzgerald:
Yeah, it really is like a domino, like the first one’s the hardest, but once it starts, they’re kind of more and more opportunities come around. And for BELAY, our first partnership was kind of an accident, right? Like it was, we kinda woke up one day and there had been someone who talked about us that was pretty well known and that kind of opened up the door for this idea. Isn’t that right?
Ashlee Webb:
Yeah, absolutely. Our great partner, Michael Hyatt. He talked about us. He was a client, and that just kind of has spiraled into a now what 12-year partnership with them. And it has been amazing, and it’s been a great way for us to learn and try different things with partnerships. But that partnership has opened up so many other doors for other potential partnerships. So I mean, it just goes to say to like, keep open hands, open minds to the opportunities that are there. Don’t be afraid to ask for those introductions. And that comes with nurturing the current partnerships that you have. And don’t be afraid to hear no, and come back to them if they say no.
Ryan Fitzgerald:
Well, thank you Ashlee, so much. I feel like the idea of starting with your current circle, which is often probably a happy client, already, a happy user of your service or product or whatever it might be, and then kinda spinning for there, that is a next step and that’s a great starting point for our listeners, so thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today and to share all the things you’ve learned. And to our listeners, thank you for joining us for our bonus next step, be sure to join us next week for more practical tips and actionable tools to advance your business one step at a time. Start by making today count.
