It has already been established that the book is the best way to start a conversation: discovering invisible prospects and offering them your service.

There is also the option to offer the book to those who want to do business with you. In this post, we will talk briefly about working with others to add more value to their customers, and at the same time, it allows you to spread your message and introduce your solution to people already in the market for your service.

Working with complimentary, non-competing businesses is one of the best ways to identify that group of customers, one step removed from your current sphere of influence.

By taking a couple of extra steps to orchestrate that referral process, you can ensure the best chance of a new, relevant, potential customer hearing about you in a way that starts the conversation significantly.

Complimentary non-competing businesses

So what do we mean by complementary non-competing? What we are talking about here are businesses that you can partner with or you can get leads from. They can refer companies to you and show additional value to their customers by talking about you.

So we’re going to go through some examples. Still, one we really think about here is ways of helping educate everyone and giving a complimentary non-competing business a valid reason to add more value to their customers by giving them your book.

The book we will refer to as ‘the main guide to fall wedding flowers.’ That book can be handed to various venues, photographers, cake bakers and event planners to add extra value to their customers. If you follow our podcast, you will know our love for using florists in our examples, and we will do so again today.

Giving them helpful something is a way of entering that conversation with a more targeted audience. So rather than, on the one hand, you could put the book out there a stand outside a train station with a billboard saying a free copy of the fall wedding flowers guide, that audience you’re talking to is all and sundry as they walk past.

Tying it in with complimentary non-competing businesses just means fishing from a more relevant pool. You’re doing it so that it starts the conversation by adding value. You’re making it easier for the other company to recommend and give you that introduction because you’re the thing that adds value.

You’re not approaching them without something of equal value to offer.

To summarize,

A popular saying goes, ‘No man is an island.’ Our job is to foster positive connections with those in our field to ensure we are never fully isolated. At one point or another, we will need help from others. To hear Stuart and Betsey talk about this a bit more… click here.