INERTIA

Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change as described by Newton in his First Law of Motion.

So how does this apply to alliances and partnerships? It relates to the moment an idea is created or shared within a business partnership that accelerates the course of the relationship. These ‘ideas’ are sometimes captured in the catch all phrase ‘Go to Market’ (GTM). Which is usually followed by much scratching of heads from various departments within an organisation before the fall-back position of - ‘oh, that’s just alliance speak for what happened the last time you had a coffee with your partner, we will believe it when we see it’!

My experience tells me, that as alliance professionals, we need to look to another related word; ‘momentum’, which can be defined as ‘the impetus and driving force gained by the development of a process or course of events’, to get a go to market from conceptual idea, to market execution and growth.

And what is nearly always under-estimated, is the required ‘force’ to create momentum to accelerate inertia to truly drive whatever objectives and key results you have defined for your GTM. This requires the utmost skill to win the hearts and minds not just off your mutual end clients but also your own companies leadership team, product, marketing, engineering, and crucially, sales. Without this ‘coalition of the willing’ you will never realise the value of your partnership or your, undoubtedly great, GTM idea.

So, spend the time and energy required to bring the internal forces within your organisation alongside through thorough business planning and market sizing.?Win their hearts and minds as much as you win the hearts and minds within your partner ecosystem, and then you will create the escape velocity required to launch your GTM and achieve real inertia.

Good Partnering!

Dax

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