Many strategic business partnerships can provide immense benefits to all, with Apple and Google even working together last year to find new ways to track the coronavirus pandemic. Sometimes, these decisions can be about the greater good, setting petty grievances aside to make the world a better place. Of course, partnerships can also be lucrative for all, too.
However, these types of arrangements can also sour or devolve into something less favorable overtime. In these instances, calling time on the partnership is likely the best thing for all parties concerned. But how can you do this properly, without potentially making matters even worse than they already are?
Here are our tips for ending a strategic business partnership well.
Ready the Backup Plan
Before ending a strategic business partnership, it could be a good idea to have a replacement service on standby if necessary.
When it comes to email marketing, then researching Mailchimp alternatives could be a fruitful endeavor. Other entities may readily offer state-of-the-art services in marketing automation, CRM, SMS, chat, and Facebook ad features. For extra assurances, try to validate your chosen marketer via their Trustpilot reviews from past customers, or by their own step-by-step breakdowns over how they have an edge over their competition. The more detail, the better.
Having these affairs in order before you end your existing commitments means you have a safety net. Not only this, but it is prepped and ready carry your firm forward into the future at a moment’s notice. It could mean that there are no growing pains in any transitional period, and that the end of one working relationship is but a new beginning.
End Things Sooner Rather Than Later
Unless you are temporarily bound by contracts and legal procedures, then there is no real reason to keep suffering a poor strategic business partnership for longer than you feel is justified.
A quick and clean end is the best path forward, providing you follow all the correct legal procedures in devolving the partnership. Time wasting in business can be crippling for everybody, and the priority should instead be your core business values and how you seek to uphold them. Otherwise, you are simply marking time while your cashflow and employee prospects suffer for it.
If it helps, try to view this faster exit strategy as a favor to your partner also. Nobody benefits from a business arrangement that is not working. They too will want to expand to pastures new and explore exciting opportunities without being bogged down in a partnership that is underperforming results-wise, so be brave and rip the band aid off the instant you notice that things are no longer working as they perhaps should.
Refrain from Burning Bridges
While it is unlikely your partnership will ever be reformed and made magnificent once again, leaving the door open for future trading could be worthwhile.
Simply devolve the business partnership politely and formally, without trading barbs or slandering statements. It could be effective to assume responsibility for the decision too, if appropriate. Doing this informs the other party that you respect them enough to present the unfiltered truth to them. After all of this, your mutual respect can be gracefully maintained, and leave the door open for further endeavors.
Who knows what the future has in store? After all, few might have predicted the devastation of the coronavirus a few years ago, and how it is has devastated small businesses across the country. Quite simply, anything could happen, and support may need to be sourced from a variety of places. In the end, the safest bet is to refrain from burning any bridges, regardless of how likely or unlikely it may be that you shall work together again. Poor treatment of others may land you a negative reputation in your respective industry, also, and deter others from working with you in future if word gets around.
Consult Your Business Mentors
While seeking out advice online can be helpful, the advice of the mentor figures in your life will surely make a big impact on your decision-making.
Pick the minds of those that prepared you for the corporate world. What do they make of your verdict? Would they do the same, in your shoes? Their answers to these questions could shed some unexpected light on the situation and guide you through this murkier time unscathed. If they have been around in the business world long enough, there is a strong chance they have been in your position already numerous times.
Mentors can also be a comforting presence too, even if they offer little in the way of advice. After all, even if you feel in your gut that dissolving the partnership is the right thing to do, you may still have feelings of guilt should the other business have relied more on yours for its wealth or clout. Still, you should know when its time, and your mentor figures can be a supportive party as you navigate the process.