BUSINESS PARTNERS 95
INTERMEDIARIES
Other partners, sometimes called intermediaries, include:
warehousing, haulage and shipping companies that help you physically move
your product to market;
marketing services – including market research, advertising and marketing/media
consultants;
financial intermediaries including the banks that might be the target readers of
your business plan; and
other professional advisers including accountants, auditors and lawyers.
Look for ways that you can use business partners to share your load. In addition to the
sales and marketing benefits described above, you can leverage skills, use someone else’s
economies of scale, cut capital costs, or benefit in many other ways. For example, rather
than hiring an in-house attorney, look to see if a law firm can provide you with access to
a vivarium of many specialists for much the same cost. Rather than making a big capi-
tal outlay buying your own fleet of trucks, explore whether you could sub-contract to
another company that can do it for you more cheaply and more reliably.
Look back at your value ladder (see Chapter 4) and consider which parts could be
effectively outsourced. Identify which business partners and intermediaries you do or
could work with and how. Then assess the associated opportunities and threats, such as:
the advantages that you can gain by leveraging their skills, experience, contacts
and financial might;
your vulnerability (for example, if a partner goes out of business or its employees
strike).
‘All things being equal people will buy from a friend. All things being not quite so equal,
people will still buy from a friend.’
MARK MCCORMACK
You can help your cash flow by extending your period of trade credit from
suppliers while invoicing and collecting early from distributors. You might
not be able to do this for long, but business partners can provide assistance
during your start-up phase if you help them perceive that you will be a valuable
partner in the future.
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