How to build successful partnerships in tiny steps 📈

Partnerships require a change in behavior 📈

But there is usually a painful gap between what people WANT and what they actually DO.

👌 That’s why it’s a good idea to break partnership into many tiny steps, make them as easy as possible and then gradually turn your partnerships into a great habit for both sides.

Behavior = Motivation x Ability x Prompt.

📚 This is a simple, yet powerful BG Fogg’s behavioral model, which was fundamental for creating products like Instagram. BG Fogg explains it eloquently in his book Tiny Habit, based on his Stanford course.

🚩 A few implications:

Higher motivation compensates for a lower ability, but nothing works without a prompt.

The harder a behavior is to do, the less likely you are to do it.

The easiest way to create a change is to start tiny and turn it into a habit.

Creating habits is easy IF you use the right system.

🤝 How do all of these translate into partnerships?

Partnerships require a change on both sides. Engaging, enabling, troubleshooting and helping partners to succeed - require creating a habit of working together. And those who work in partnerships know that it’s hard.

💡 What helps to make it easier?

✔️ Select partners who are motivated to work with you and do something new in the first place. Higher motivation can help to overcome the hump of change in the beginning

✔️ Make it super easy to start partnering with you. Many companies start with open agreements that are easy to terminate for both sides for whatever reason.

✔️ Take tiny, but consistent steps on ramping up the collaboration. Gradually engage partners across multiple aspects of working together:

launching first campaigns, getting feedback from first customers, meeting key people involved.

✔️ Get creative in setting prompts to engage partners around -

monthly/quarterly review, joint events, celebrating milestones, first revenue, etc.

📊 Finally, introduce a system of working together.

We built one in Partner Insight, but you can use various tools.

Important point is to have one, because it makes collaboration 3x faster when both sides have all details in one place and can engage there.

Sources:

• We discussed changes in this episode

• BG Fogg's book Tiny Habits