No doubt as you’ve grown your business, someone has mentioned to you that you should look into a joint venture of partnership. Common partnerships for Fitness Businesses can be doctors or allied health professionals. On the surface, it seems like a good idea and start off positive.

But quite often they can decline quickly when both sides of the partnership become disillusioned and leads don’t immediately start to flow in. This doesn’t mean that partnerships don’t work – it might mean that you haven’t been clear on expectations or that you are expecting too much of the partnership.

Partnerships can work and they can work quite effectively – but they do need to be worked on. In fact there are three different partnerships in business that you should be looking to build.

The Referrer

This is the partner who every now and then refers someone to your business. They like you and like your work, so when they have someone appropriate they send them your way. This could be another business or even a client. The problem with this kind of partnership is that you have no control over it or when you get new leads. But you obviously welcome the leads when the come. It’s not a game changer partnership and isn’t sustainable as your only partner or leads source.

BUT, they are important and you still want to maintain good relationships with these people.

The Partner

This kind of partner is gold and can really skyrocket your business. With this kind of partnership you will have a formal agreement in place and clear expectations of when leads will come through and what you get in return. The agreement might take a few different forms including a lead for a lead. Or possibly a rebate in return for a lead.

It’s important that both parties are clear on the expectations of the partnership and that you meet regularly to discuss the partnership. You might even consider putting the leads in a Google Doc so that you can keep track of them.

The Promoter

The promoter partner is someone who is a raving fan. This could be a client, a media outlet or another business. They can’t pass you leads, but they can promote your content. This works best with a business who has similar clients to you, but is not competing with you.

Everyone is looking for more and more content – and having someone that produces great content for their audience might be just the thing they are looking for.

By identifying the types of partners in your business, you will start to see partnerships really start to work for you – and see your business begin to grow in ways you couldn’t imagine.