Four Ways Strategic Partnerships Will Boost Your Success

In business, it's said that success is all about who you know. The more people you meet and alliances you create, the better off you’ll be. I took this advice early on in my career — I had no clue what I was doing so I asked people I admired to help me scale up. It worked: creating and leveraging connections helped us build our company to where it is today.

Strategic partnerships aren’t just about getting your business off the ground, either – they also have incredible value in terms of long-term success. Here are four ways strategic partnerships can solidify your success now, and in the future.

1. Double Down!

For a partnership to work, it has to be mutually beneficial. The advantages of joining forces need to outweigh the alternative, and both you and your partner need to feel like you’re getting more from working together than you would alone.

In 2017, we partnered with RBC. Anyone with an RBC credit card or an RBC mortgage receives exclusive offers – from double rewards points to special discounts – when they book a service (junk removal, painting, moving or house detailing) with one of our brands. It's a win-win – a massive number of people are given an incentive to book with us, and RBC have provided added value to their customers.

2. Increase Your Reach

You can leverage your partner’s brand (and vice versa) to access a wider audience, boosting your name recognition in previously untapped sectors, earning both parties more customers — and more business.

Our partnership with Casper does exactly that: anyone who buys a new mattress through Casper is given the option to use 1-800-GOT-JUNK? to remove their old one. Including mattress removal as an add-on service in their shopping carts gives us has made it easier for these customers to find us (and dispose of mattresses responsibly!).

3. Accelerate Your Growth

Whether you’re in startup mode or you’ve been in business for decades, partnerships are a key strategy for growth.

That’s why we decided to join Thumbtack, a massive online database that matches customers with local service providers. A customer simply types in what service they need and hey, presto — Thumbtack delivers a list of top-rated companies available in the area.

This partnership has been especially beneficial for our newer Franchise Partners. Instead of pounding the pavement to drum up work, Thumbtack bring customers to them, helping to keep their books full so that they can focus on running their businesses.

4. Give Back To Your Community

Finally, partnerships can be a way to give back to causes that matter to you and your brand. Like I said, your partners should always share your values and believe in what you stand for. At O2E Brands, our core values are Passion, Integrity, Professionalism and Empathy. Our partnership with Furniture Bank is a direct reflection of that.

The Toronto-based charity collects gently used furniture and household goods and gives them to people in need. This provides those who otherwise wouldn’t have access to furniture with the dignity and stability of a furnished home. As partners, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? gives customers the option to donate their items to Furniture Bank, helping the community and diverting waste from the landfill in the process.

My final piece of advice would be this: when looking into strategic partnerships, adopt the mindset of hiring a business partner: get aligned on values, be clear about your objectives, and work towards a common goal. When you come together with like-minded people, you won’t believe what you can achieve!