Business Partnerships: How to Sell More by Sharing Another Business's Customers

Dan sells packaging. Paper bags, trays, shopping bags, butcher paper. Every Thursday, before eight, he runs the same route with the same notebook and the same question: how much will you need this week?

When you sell to neighborhood retail, you learn to read other people's businesses by what they order. Extra bags mean extra customers. A tray gathering dust in the back room is meat that didn't move.

And that's how, through the bags, Dan got a front-row seat to one of the cheapest business lessons he'd ever seen.

It happened on two similar corners, two and a half miles apart.

Two Corners, the Same Geography

On Market Street, Marlene's bakery sits across from Vince's butcher shop. On the other side of town, at the corner of the avenue, Ronnie's bakery is right next to a butcher shop just as busy.

Same working-class neighborhood, same size store, same customer: the family that buys bread in the morning and meat on the weekend. In many homes, the same person, with the same bag, crossing the same street.

For years, the two corners ordered nearly the same quantities from Dan.

Until one Thursday in March.

The Thursday the Order Changed

"Double the butcher paper and bring me those big bags with handles," said Marlene. "And ask Vince if he wants the same ones. We're going to share."

Dan asked share what.

She explained in two minutes, while serving the line. She had noticed that half of her Saturday customers walked into the bakery with the butcher's bag in hand. They bought the cookout meat over there, the garlic bread and the dinner rolls here. Two purchases, two lines, two stores that had never talked.

She crossed the street one Tuesday afternoon and proposed something simple to Vince: a backyard cookout kit put together by the two of them. His meat, her garlic bread and potato salad, the charcoal from a third neighbor. Anyone who bought the kit at the butcher's got a coupon for coffee and a pastry at the bakery. Anyone who bought garlic bread at the bakery got a recommendation for the week's cut at the butcher's.

Vince thought it was strange. Then he thought it was good. The following Saturday, the big bag with handles, with both stores' names printed on it, was making the rounds of the neighborhood.

The Short Answer

A business partnership is an agreement in which two businesses with the same customer but products that don't compete help each other sell: they refer each other, put together a package or share a promotional effort. It works because your partner already has the trust of the customer you want. It's one of the cheapest acquisition channels there is, because the cost of winning each new customer is, almost always, the cost of the product you put in the package — not of an ad.

Why Ronnie Said No

The following week, Dan shared the news at the other corner, certain he was bringing good news.

Ronnie listened, crossed his arms and said the line Dan had heard from many a shop owner:

"Nobody shares my customers. If the guy spends over there, there's less left to spend here."

It's reasoning that sounds prudent. The customer's money is one pot; if the neighbor takes a share, I get less. By that logic, the neighbor is a competitor for the wallet.

What he wasn't seeing is that the customer doesn't choose between bread and meat. They buy both. The only thing Ronnie controlled was whether that customer thought of him along with the butcher or in spite of him. And, more important, whether the butcher's customer who didn't yet know the bakery would ever get to know it.

Ronnie kept ordering the same bags. Marlene ordered more in April, more in June and double in December.

Three Kinds of Partnership That Fit Any Neighborhood

Marlene's corner used, without knowing the names, three different partnership channels. All of them work for small businesses — and not just food.

1. Cross-referrals. One business recommends the other to its own customers. The gym refers the nutritionist; the nutritionist refers the gym. First step: list five businesses in your area that serve the same customer you do, with a different product, and invite one of them for coffee.

2. Partner packages. Two or three products sold together, like the cookout kit. The wedding photographer with the caterer, the pet shop with the dog trainer, the garage with the car wash. First step: pick the partner product your customer already buys right before or right after yours.

3. Co-marketing. A promotional effort run by two sets of hands, sharing the cost and the audience: a joint giveaway, a flyer with both brands, a Saturday event. First step: propose a small, one-weekend effort before any bigger agreement.

How do you pick the right partner? Ask four questions: do they serve the same customer I do? Does their product complete mine without competing? Is their reputation similar to mine? Are they willing to do the work, not just agree? Whoever answers yes to all four is a candidate.

How to Measure a Partnership (and Not Fight Later)

Many partnerships die not because they didn't work, but because no one knows whether they worked.

Marlene solved this with one detail: the coffee coupon had a number, and she wrote down every one that came back. At the end of the month, the two sat down with the numbers on the table. How many coupons came back, how many kits went out, how many new customers showed up. With the numbers, the conversation stopped being I think so and became let's keep it or let's adjust it.

Agree on this before you start: what each one offers, how you'll measure, how long you'll test. Thirty days of consistency is a good window to judge; less than that is anxiety.

And partnerships hardly ask for budget, which makes them one of the best paths for anyone who wants to promote the business spending little or nothing.

What the December Order Showed

On the last Thursday of December, Dan unloaded at Marlene's bakery almost double what he had unloaded the year before. At Ronnie's, the same as always.

But what caught his attention was something else. Marlene no longer had one partnership. After the butcher, she had signed with the florist for Mother's Day (a coffee basket with flowers), with two companies on the avenue (Friday breakfast for their employees) and with the school on the next street over (snacks for the fall festival). Each partner brought a group of customers she would never have reached alone.

A business that depends on one channel lives in feast or famine. Marlene's bakery had the counter, the butcher, the florist, the companies and the school. If a slow month hit one, the others held.

Ronnie had the counter. And the conviction that you don't share customers.

Which Side Are You On

Look at your street, or your niche, and answer honestly: who already has the customer you want?

If the answer is nobody, my customer is only mine, you're on Ronnie's corner. If you can list three names but have never talked to any of them, you're one street crossing from Marlene.

The 100 Acquisition Channels Guide, written by Luiz Philipe Campos, founder of Ímpetus Host, devotes an entire part to partnerships: cross-referrals, co-marketing, co-branding, partner packages, affiliates, resellers, franchising and licensing. And nine more parts with the rest of the 100 channels, from referrals to events, from local search to offline. For each: what it is, a practical example, the first step to test it, who it works best for and what it costs to try. Plus a spreadsheet to score channels on cost, speed and fit and choose your first three, and a 30-day, day-by-day plan to launch the first one.

Next step

Don't depend on a single way to win customers

Everything in this article works better when new customers arrive every month. Most businesses depend on two or three channels and suffer when one of them slows down. The 100 Acquisition Channels Guide shows 100 ways to win customers, a practical example of each one and the first step to test it spending little or nothing.

• ✓The 100 channels, one by one, from the best known to the ones almost nobody uses
• ✓A practical example and a low-cost first step for each channel
• ✓A simple way to choose the channels that fit your business now
• ✓Bonus: Channel scorecard
• ✓Bonus: 30-day test plan

Get the 100 acquisition channels guide for $49

One-time payment · Instant access · 7-day guarantee

Access is immediate, you get it by email and read it on your phone. The guarantee is 7 days through Hotmart. And the first step of a partnership, as you saw, usually costs a cup of coffee across the street.

Dan still runs his route every Thursday. On Marlene's corner, he now drops bags off at the butcher's too.

Dan, Marlene, Vince and Ronnie are characters created for this text.

Frequently asked questions

How do I propose a partnership to another business?+

Start with the shared customer: show the other owner that you both serve the same people and that a joint effort brings new customers to both. Propose something small and time-boxed, like a package or cross-referrals for 30 days, and agree from the start on how you'll measure. A concrete, low-risk proposal gets accepted far more easily.

What's the difference between a partnership and co-marketing?+

A partnership is the broad agreement between two businesses to help each other sell, which can include referrals, a joint package or resale. Co-marketing is a specific kind of partnership: a promotional effort run jointly, with the cost and the audience shared.

Do business partnerships work for service providers?+

Very well, because services depend on trust and the partner lends theirs. An architect and an electrician, an accountant and a lawyer, a photographer and a wedding planner are examples of pairs who serve the same customer at nearby moments. A referral from someone the customer already trusts shortens the sale considerably.

What other channels pair well with partnerships?+

Customer referrals, a Google business profile and local events usually pair well, because they also cost little and strengthen your presence in the neighborhood or niche. The 100 Acquisition Channels Guide covers partnerships and the other channels, each with a first step and a cost to test, and a spreadsheet to choose where to start.

Does it work for my type of business?+

Yes. The channels cover local businesses, service providers, online stores, B2B companies and professionals. The guide helps you pick the ones that fit your case.

How do I receive the guide?+

Right after payment, Hotmart sends the access to your email. You can read it on your phone, computer or print it.

What if I don't like it?+

You have a 7-day guarantee. If it isn't for you, ask for a refund through Hotmart within that period.

The 100 Acquisition Channels Guide

100 ways to win customers without depending on a single source of sales

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