Your company providing goods or services to me in return for cash is not a partnership. Yet I get emails all the time saying "looking to partner" or "We would like to partner with you" from recruiters and other vendors of goods and services. I also get a cold calls from overseas call centers making the same pitch.
Now, perhaps that headline improves your email open rate and maybe (though I would be surprised) it actually leads to real business. But for me, it's a quick way to state "I'm dishonest and I'd like to do business with you".
Earlier in my career, when I ran a sales organization, I used to be able to determine in the first 60 seconds of a cold call which sales training the rep had been to. Was it SPIN, Miller Heiman, Selling to VITO or the dreaded "Getting to Yes" approach? Each of those processes, when applied correctly, can help improve sales performance (OK, I'm not so sure about the annoying Getting to Yes approach).
I'd guess that this new "partnering" claim probably is derived from the book Stop Selling and Start Partnering by Larry Wilson. I've never read the book, and I'm sure that Larry Wilson is a nice enough chap, but trying to rebrand your existing sales process as partnering just isn't going to cut it. To use an overused cliche of the past year, it's just lipstick on a pig.
I've been in the technology space for more than 20 years and have struck many partnerships. A partnership is when two or more organizations collaborate to come up with ways in which they work together towards a common goal, generally each bringing various things to the table. While a partnership may involve one company writing a check to another, that's not the primary focus of the partnership. Partnerships require shared risks and shared upside.
So, before you ring my phone and pitch me on a partnership, think about what you're about to pitch. Are we truly collaborating, sharing risk and enjoying mutual upside? Or, are you about to ask me to write a check for your goods and services?
