Customer Reviews

SmartMatch Alliances

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4 star:		(1)
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This book presents two professional career coaches' methods of building strategic alliances. Finding ways to work collaboratively with others is the key to success.

The SmartMatch process is a Cycle of Success with eight steps. Each of the main chapters of the book deals with Think Big, Prepare to Play, Position your PINS (an acronym for Profession, Industry, Niches, and Specialty), Zoom in on High-Potential Partners, Analyze and Evaluate, Explore and Establish Your SmartMatch Alliances, Maximize Your SmartMatch Alliance, and Enjoy and Expand.

The text, explaining basically a simple process, is supplemented with charts, sidebar boxes, anecdotes, and checklists. This is an easy-to-understand book, not complicated. For the beginner, it's a fine primer. For anyone who has been in business for a while, the ground-floor nature of this book will be frustrating. The content is not the deep sort of thing that an experienced businessperson may seek, though there might be some good reminders buried for you in the fundamentals.

Good book for the right market. I found it to be simplistic, but people new to alliance building could find it very helpful.

I first heard about the power of creating business alliances from master business consultant Jay Abraham. This concept isn't new. Just look around and you'll notice hundreds of business alliances. However, the value of SmartMatch Alliances is in the detail of how to put alliances together.
The first thing many of us don't realize is whether we are ready to work with another company (and whether they are ready to work with us.) The straightforward checklists provided help us answer this crucial first question. Once we deem ourselves ready, then we can start looking at what specific offers of value we might propose to the multitude of potential partners out there. The authors give us clear ideas for what offers to consider and what types of companies that might benefit from an alliance with our companies. Anyone struggling to get more business will gain a lot from this book.

If you are looking to grow your business with partners for mutual gain, you must read this book. SmartMatch Alliances gives you strategies and tactical steps to:

1. Determine the best alliances that will grow your business with less effort
2. Help you develop the goals of your desired alliances
3. Identify and target the most effective alliances to achieve
4. Tactical steps to approach potential partners
5. Important strategies to work with your new alliance partner

There are good examples of successful alliances throughout the book...I only wish I had more. I would like to see a chapter devoted to comparing and contrasting alliances that were successful vs. those that have failed. Perhaps as a supplement to the book? There are still plenty of lessons learned in several of the chapters.

This book is a quick read and will give you the foundation to take action for your business. This will help you find and establish your first alliance as well as help you enhance any existing alliances for your business.

Since the majority of business owners have not been schooled in alliance-building, rather than "solo" advertising, marketing and other promotion, this book offers a solid start to make the shift towards customer-centered collaboration. If you are also interested in learning additional, specific ways (including 14 low-risk ways to jumpstart actions) to forge profitable partnerships, with related real life success stories, what-if scenarios and pitfalls to avoid, look at the book Walk Your talk or the e-book, SmartPartnering: How to Attract and Delight More Customers While Spending Less.

SmartMatch Alliances offers a win-win approach to
growing your business. The strategy involves teaming
with a non-competitive partner who is offering
products or services to the same clients, customers,
and prospects you want to attract.

Judy and Ernest provide an eight-step strategy for
implementing this approach. They provide the tools
and direction for in-depth analysis in choosing
alliance partners that strategically offer you the
greatest opportunities. They also emphasize the
importance of identifying alliances where each partner
gains equally from the relationship.

The book has worksheets and checklists for working
through the process. There is also a companion
Alliance Journal to further assist you. This book
enables you to identify and target your audience with
precision. Using the approach outlined in the book
results in accelerated business growth and efficient
use of resources.

SmartMatch Alliances was referred to me by the Peter Montoya company. It is a great book that teaches you how to find the ideal match for your business. If you are looking to grow your business and meet other business owners that compliment your's then this is the book for you. It has a very understandable approach to the type of business to team up with and, more importantly how to approach them. I would recommend it to any business man or woman interested in taking your business to the next level.