The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the way many businesses operate and expand their operations with their teams, customers and partners.
However, one of the main difficulties has been to be able to continue to secure new sales and develop client opportunities in relevant markets.
Here are five reasons to expand using commercial partnerships to secure new clients in resilient or fast growing economies.
1- Leverage global opportunities
The COVID pandemic has dramatically changed how companies do business. It has also offered a more global approach of developing new business remotely.
This is a perfect opportunity for companies to go where they can serve best their customers through their value proposition. Hence, understanding in greater details the challenge your company is solving is key to replicate it in other countries.
Furthermore, using commercial partnerships with a company reselling your solutions can be one of the solutions to get new customers. It will allow you to team up with the best players in the market to take new marketshare where opportunities are.
Finally, picking the right business partner will help you build a strong reputation in your targeted market by delivering quality solutions through experts.
2- Expand with affordable operations
Expanding operations often mean additional costs. However, those can be really low when working with channel partners. There is no need to create a business, rent premises or setup a team. Your partners are your extended team.
Marketing efforts are shared with your partners and embedded in their value proposition. You should define it from the beginning in the business plan to make sure both parts will get a return in their investment.
In addition, operating in a new relevant market can prevent you from discounting heavily your solutions if your home market is highly competitive.
Both you and your partner will get the right price for the value you bring to your customers. It will help improving your cashflow and reward better your teams for their efforts.
3- Build a long term stream of revenue
Partnerships are here for the long term. They can be a bit slow to start as it takes time to establish trust. Nevertheless, when you get the right business model, it will ultimately bring constant revenue.
Revenue sharing models give the opportunity for two companies to grow financially while delivering upon an opportunity or more..
From experience, other partnerships generally follow while the relationship develops, making your company more sustainable over time.
4- Diversify partnerships to limit risks
The current pandemic has hit pretty badly all economies. However, all countries have not been affected the same way depending on the main industry they are relying on (eg. finance in Luxembourg or tourism in Portugal)
The importance of diversifying your revenue portfolio is key to face potential COVID surges in one country or another. Being present in multiple locations can also make you benefit from funding support where they are the most available.
Your business partners may have enhanced capacity coming from those schemes. Finally, if you see the market as a really profitable one, this can open the door to a larger operation like a M&A.
5- Make your business more resilient
The world is becoming increasingly more global with business transactions now done online as much as offline. Companies have started to employ new talents they have never met in person.
Automating your business processes, making them more digital, more secure and operational from anywhere is crucial to ultimately secure your operations in an ever changing world.
Commercial partnerships are a learning curve. They can help your company getting ready for the future, sell your solutions where it matters and provide some deep insights on how to run a better business.
Channel is not the answer to every international expansion but a strong option to consider to penetrate a new market. This is a very popular entry mode to a new country due to its limited risk and selling potential.
Professionally done, it can secure your future and grow your business sustainably. This aside, it is certainly an opportunity to strongly consider in an ever changing world and a year that already broke mainly businesses across Europe.
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