Finding a Compatible Business Partner

Choosing the right partner can take your company to new
heights, but choosing the wrong individuals can result
in ongoing disagreements, confusion and lost
productivity.

by Jeffrey Moses

NFIB.org

The key to selecting a partner with whom you’ll find
the greatest chance for success is locating a capable
individual who complements your own strengths and
weaknesses. Growing a small company requires a wide
range of business skills, and it’s rare that one
individual has the personality makeup and experience to
adequately handle everything.

Probably the most common type of successful
small-business partnership includes one person who is
skilled at and enjoys sales and marketing (i.e.,
bringing in new customers) while the other person takes
responsibility for in-house operations of the business.
Marketing is vital to businesses of all sizes, but
during a company’s start-up phase, marketing can easily
consume every hour of the workweek. To assure
satisfaction of a growing customer base, even while
continuing to bring more customers on board, excellence
in production and customer follow-up must be
maintained. Having a person dedicated to each of these
two aspects of business is the basis for countless
success stories.

Friendship alone may not be the best foundation for a
business relationship. John D. Rockefeller once said
that a friendship based on business partnership is
better than a partnership based on friendship. This may
be true, but friends or relatives have founded many
successful companies. When taking this route, it’s
important not to overlook the practical aspects of
business that need to be satisfied within a
partnership: the blending of skills, experience, likes
and dislikes, and mutual respect.

However, there’s more to a great partnership than the
division of responsibilities. To achieve lasting
success, both individuals must share the same vision.
Company goals and mission statements should be agreed
upon, and frequent check-ups of goals and methods of
achieving goals should be made.

Before you enter into a partnership, make sure that you
and your partner see eye-to-eye on the following:

Work ethic: Are both partners willing to work the same
long hours, at night occasionally, and even into the
weekend when required? If not, there may be personality
conflicts.

Issues of integrity: Are both partners on the same page
regarding honesty in accounting, production (including
warranty work), customer relations and employee
relations? If not, severe personality clashes are
likely. A single vision among partners regarding
integrity may be the single most important aspect of
long-term harmony.

Delegating style: It’s difficult when one partner feels
the need to do everything without delegation, while the
other partner insists on widespread sharing of
responsibility.

Willingness or unwillingness to take on debt: When
partners have different comfort levels about the amount
of debt to take on to fuel growth, they must work
together to reach a happy medium.

Overall, individuals who have had the chance to work
together previously in one way or another form the most
compatible partnerships. This allows each person to
know what to expect from the other, not only during
normal periods of work but also during difficult or
even emergency periods. Numerous evaluation techniques
are available to help determine levels of business
compatibility, complementary skill/experience levels
and complementary likes and dislikes. Meet with a
business consultant skilled in these evaluation
techniques to find out how compatible you and your
partner would be.

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