Pivot to New Partnerships During Uncertain Times

Many businesses have had to unexpectedly pivot--and pivot quickly--in these last few weeks. 

As a result, many new partnerships have formed as well. For instance, Sara Skowronski, principal at Eos HR Consulting, has been a close friend of mine for a long time. We have always known our businesses were complementary but never really explored how to work together.

Then suddenly COVID-19 gave us the idea to jointly share our expertise on creating and running remote teams. And just like that, we had a partnership.

As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.” Now, while we navigate these uncertain times, you can get really creative on who to partner with and how.

It could be as simple as a gym co-marketing with all its trainers. Since the gyms cannot physically be open, they can use their marketing reach to help their trainers by promoting their online workouts. It is a win-win, because the gym maintains a marketing presence while marketing one of their greatest assets. And their trainers stand to build their client base with virtual offerings.

It could be complementary businesses offering tips, services, or products together. You could partner with businesses on the other side of the country (or world!) now that services may be offered online. For example, Ironbound Boxing is a New Jersey-based company. Now that they are offering training online, companies in California could partner with them to offer fitness classes to their employees. 

Partnerships can be short-term or long-term. While the pandemic forces you to reconsider how you do business, consider taking some time to rethink your partnerships as well. 

Ask yourself:

• As you shift to an online presence, who might new partners potentially be?
  Influencers
• Logistical providers
  
• Support providers
  
• As you shift your business model, who might a new target client be?
  Corporate clients
  
• Small businesses
  
• Another industry
  
• As you shift your service offerings, what do clients need now that they did not need before the pandemic?
  Who can you partner with to provide those services?
  

A quick and common theme I am noticing is to teach what you know. Perhaps you run a business that provides a service or product directly to consumers. Now that demand has essentially stopped, you could start teaching other business owners in your same industry on how to better run their business. In that case, a natural place to look for a partnership is an experienced consultant or business coach who can help you structure what you would teach and share. 

Sara and I have always had the expertise on running a remote team but until a few weeks ago, there had not really been a demand for this knowledge on a large scale. Taking some time to think through what you can offer and who you can team up with to offer it may lead to some surprising and fun partnership opportunities! To learn more about Freedom Makers partnership with Eos HR Consulting, check out our webinars. The next one, “Building a Culture of Trust” is April 30th at 11 am PT (Registration link will be added soon, so please check back.)