The next step is to assess the benefits of partnering with a potential ally. Benefits are the positive outcomes or value that you expect to gain from the partnership, such as increased sales, market share, customer satisfaction, innovation, or reputation. To assess these benefits, you need to consider factors such as the fit between your products or services and the partner's offerings, the size and attractiveness of the partner's market, the strength and reputation of the partner's brand, the resources and capabilities of the partner, and the compatibility and synergy of the partner's culture and values. Evaluating these factors will help you determine how well they complement each other, how much value they create for customers, how big their market potential is, how profitable it is, how competitive it is, how well-known and trusted they are in the market, what skills or networks they have that you can leverage, and how well you get along with them. All of these elements can help improve your operations, quality, brand image and credibility.