5 Ways To Develop B2B Collaboration | The Silver Bullet for The Siloed Business Environment

This Is Not B2B Sales

To be clear, this is not an article about B2B sales and their effect on the Silo Farm, this is a nuanced argument for B2B Collaboration between complimentary businesses in any given industry and how this kind of collaboration is the anecdote for the siloed business environment we currently see plaguing the corporate landscape.

Why Is There A Need to Develop B2B Collaboration?

B2B collaboration could be likened to the “nuclear family”, in many ways the collaboration that once occurred naturally between companies was the organic building blocks of industry.

This occurred when complimentary businesses in any given industry discovered through good ole’ fashioned B2B sales efforts that they had some things in common and when they joined forces, they had an even more alluring value proposition to offer to the public.

Now in some cases the natural progression of such collaboration seemed to be for one company to purchase the other and consolidate.

It was this culture and the advent of the digital age, along with the overreliance on electronic devices for communication and collaboration that ultimately lead to the siloed business environment.

A lack of competition in many sectors of business has led to certain demographics being priced out of various markets, limiting variety, competition, and inflating costs for some products and services.

This is kind of like what happened in our analogy of the family as the building block of our society, all the different “pieces” have been targeted for “acquisition” essentially undermining the structure holding up our society at large.

If this can occur in our very culture and in the greater society, right under our noses, is it any wonder a similar phenomenon has occurred in the corporate world?

Of course, the answer is a resounding no, so here are five common sense steps to counter the effect of the Silo Farm and begin the journey back to real B2B collaboration and increased business opportunity.

1.) Collaborate Together To Create Content

Regardless of your astuteness or the lack thereof, we are living in a digital age, and we are doing so during the time of a monumental shift in where people prefer to access information.

Let’s face it, corporate media has been repurposed from informing the consumer and entertaining the same to focusing solely on attempting to reshape the collective consciousness into believing their dystopian, anti-human agenda. They have lost their audience.

As a result, millions are leaving their clutches never to return. Consequently, people are now using their devices more than ever to find what they want to consume, for entertainment and news, this is where “content” comes into play.

The old way of marketing and cultivating business is slipping away into oblivion and now has come the age of the “creator economy.” What are they creating? You guessed it, content.

Businesses are now wisely beginning to see the importance of creating content for consumption. You must establish your business as a thought leading expert in your industry to attract online traffic, this requires content, relevant content maybe even great content.

Imagine the impact when you marshal the resources of two or more companies to create quality content that attracts your ideal client, one that would benefit from both of your services. Can you say one-stop shop, can you say happy client?

There are a lot of options for collaborating on content creation that would appeal to a wide audience. There are webinars, collaborative blogs, podcasts, white papers, business reports and so on. And there are a growing number of social platforms to post content on while at the same time developing your own website, landing pages and email lists.

My suggestion is to pick a primary platform, perhaps LinkedIn (great for business), for long-form content and then choose a more “social” app like Facebook or even better X, to recycle content to get more mileage per piece of created content.

There’s a lot more to this, but it is all very doable with just a little effort and commitment.

2.) Collaborative Cross Training

A little bit of education goes a long way, and this is especially true when collaborating with complimentary businesses.

Why not develop skill sharing opportunities for employees from complimentary businesses so they can gain a functional knowledge of the other company’s area of expertise?

A notable example is that suppose your company manufactures a product and a collaborating company sells and distributes that product.

Think how beneficial it could be for the manufacturing side to understand what is required on the sales and logistics side of the complimentary business in order to get their product to the retail consumer.

There may be adjustments that could be made at the manufacturing level that would make distribution at the retail level easier.

These kinds of opportunities to collaborate forge strong bonds that can benefit each business’ ability to grow and remain competitive. Don’t underestimate the unseen potential in this kind of collaboration.

3.) Product Bundling

This collaborative opportunity is exactly what it sounds like. Why not put packages together that offer products and/ or services from both companies, this broadens both company’s markets and increases each company’s value proposition.

This grows your network and produces opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration between companies which can expand your staffs knowledge of the market.

It can also provide mission specific goals or metrics which give your team clarity in the desired outcome and opportunities for acquiring practical skills in team building and cross-collaboration.

These are marketable skill sets that an employee can take with them wherever their journey to success may lead them. In other words, you are investing in your team and giving them a real opportunity to acquire hard skills.

4.) Networking Events

This is a huge step in laying the foundation for building strong relationships that yield real opportunity for growth.

Recently I attended a lunch we hosted for a complimentary company that is an integral part of our industry. Now I had called on this company as part of my routine B2B activities and over the months and years felt like I had gotten to know some of the staff pretty well.

I had tried on multiple occasions to invite them to lunch but it never seemed to work out, but I finally managed to get a lunch scheduled, made the reservation, and the day finally came and almost everyone showed up.

What I can tell you is that sitting and having a meal with others in your industry is a game changer if done correctly. We all sat at a huge table, both companies across from one another, sharing a meal and it was amazing.

It’s hard to put on pretenses when you’re stuffing your face a couple feet from your peers. As a result, everyone seemed to let their guard down and got into the meal and the conversation.

We all left there hugging goodbye and feeling like we all had made a dozen new friends. Since that meal we communicate more than ever, better than ever and are in front of mind when seizing opportunities to collaborate.

This is just one example of how you can pull off a networking event. It doesn’t have to be a meal, and it could be geared towards a learning opportunity.

Whatever you choose to do just make it happen and watch the magic that follows. I will offer one word of caution; I would keep these networking opportunities, drug, and alcohol free.

Afterall the idea is to grow your business, and it is hard to discuss business even peripherally when under the influence. Save the partying for when you have successfully collaborated on a few projects and hauled in some revenue.

5.) Client Referrals

Not only will there be opportunities to collaborate but as a result of the shared knowledge and collaboration tactics developed between complimentary companies there will be a regular flow of referral opportunities as well.

As I made inroads into cross collaboration referral opportunities seemed to immediately present themselves and these are great, even if the referral isn’t for your company.

I had a great referral situation develop that proved to be very lucrative for our company.

A principal from a complimentary business was facing challenges closing a deal with a client because the product the client was considering lacked certain aspects that they would need in addition to the primary product in order for a purchase to make sense.

We received a referral from the primary of the complimentary business and after meeting with their client and finding out exactly what was lacking, we were able to assure the client that we could provide those services that were missing from the initial company’s product.

All this was made possible by our engaging complimentary businesses in B2B collaboration and my consistently staying in front of this primary from the complimentary business. This is just one example of the power of relationship building in industry.

Prior to my engaging in this type of B2B sales/ collaboration I was not, and currently still am not, aware of anyone in our area of expertise that has made a similar effort to build these kinds of connections.

When you focus on relationship building and collaboration (helping others) you get a lot more mileage out of your “staying in front of mind” tactics. This is just one success out of many we have experienced from our B2B collaboration efforts, and we look forward to many more.

In fact, the reason I feel compelled to share this information with those that will listen is because I believe the more businesses that adopt B2B collaboration the more opportunities like ours will be experienced by many others, expanding collaboration throughout the business world and creating a more vibrant, less siloed business environment.

I am currently aggregating all my research, much of which that has been the subject of the “Silo Farm” series of articles and distilling them down to form what I am calling the “Essential Networking System” or “ENS”, “A B2B Collaboration Program” that will solve the “Solution for the Silo Farm”.

So, if you’re a team leader for a business, a business owner, entrepreneur, or solopreneur stay tuned and keep an eye open for my book coming early next year.

It will revolutionize the way you’re doing business and will energize your team as a result of the clarity of “mission” that comes from applying this system.

Thanks for reading.