What Your Small Business Can Learn From Spar, Herald & Sunday Mail.

So what is it that separates big businesses in Zimbabwe from those destined to remain small and insignificant forever? Two words, strategy and resources. Pretty much everyone knows about the resources part…especially money. It’s the excuse everyone uses for not starting a business in the first place. Strategy on the other hand – much less understood.

Today I’ll show you a little ‘strategic trick’ that big businesses understand much more than most small ones. A strategic concept that once applied, can get you all the resources you need to get your business up and running – it’s so simple, you’ll kick yourself if you haven’t tried it yet.

But first…lets talk about this Advert put together by Herald, Sunday Mail and Spar (the Bridge).

It’s a relatively simple offer, easy to understand, communicate and take advantage of. It’s also a very easy one to implement for Spar…here’s the full text of the advert, in case you can’t see the picture.

Spend $20 Or More At The Bridge Spar

& Get A Free Copy of

The Herald or The Sunday Mail.

(graphic elements include a picture of a pile of newspapers and the Bridge Spar logo)

So whats so special about this advert that your business can profit from? Not a lot…it’s the strategy behind it that’s really useful. Joint Ventures.

One of the biggest differentiators between small business strategies and big business strategies, is that small time entrepreneurs hardly ever think of joint ventures or synergies. 

Business owners of small entities are so often caught up in the limitations of their company and their lack of resources that they hardly ever see the win-win opportunities available to them from joint venture or strategic alliances.

This is huge for you!

Forming strategic alliances means that you don’t have to be, have or know it all to get the benefit. It means that even without all the resources in the world, you can still do so much more than you’re doing now. Here’s a simple truth to remember…

Somebody out there ALREADY has the resource you don’t have, and is desperate to give it to you, if only you can show him where he wins by doing it.

I wrote about this, and how to do it more extensively in my book ‘Cash Baron Secrets‘ download a free copy here.

Now to be clear, I’m not necessarily talking about long-term contracts or partnerships here. Those are much more risky. I’m talking about the win-win collaborations or synergies you can create as opportunities arise. Many of these arrangements need only last long enough for the deal to be done. If it can’t be repeated, both parties can shake hands and walk away with their profits. If it proves to be a real winner, then you might consider a more permanent arrangement or partnership.

So exactly how are these strategic alliances, joint venture arrangements put together?

Lets say you’re small business with a great skill and not much visibility in your market. Well, you could approach a none competing business that sells to the same market as you do and offer them a deal.”Let us take advantage of your resource, and we’ll let you take advantage of one f ours”.

In the case of Zimpapers (Herald and Sunday Mail) and Spar, the Herald could easily say, look, we have a resource of readers, many of whom would love to shop more at your Spar. On the other hand, you have a bunch of walk in buyers that would probably love to read more of our newspaper. What do you say Mr Spar Manager…can we work out something?

You can do the same.