Profiles in Partnering: The Power of P2P To Bring Income to Your Inbox

How long does an opportunity last?

Whatever answer came to mind, it's a good bet it isn't very long. You receive a call or an e-mail or some other form of request for quotation from a customer and a very, very short clock starts ticking in your mind. You need to be the first and best response to that request, because you know it's been made of others, as well.

Making matters worse, the request includes skills you simply don't have on your staff, or geographies you can't easily reach. You know you're going to need partners to get that part done, so you're going to have to find qualified partners.

How quickly should you find those partners? Immediately. Right now, if not sooner.

You're In a Rush
When are you most likely to make mistakes? When you're in a rush. And now you're in a rush to find qualified partners to help you respond to and fulfill this opportunity.

Where will you look? Portals, search engines, lists? How long will that take? How long will it take you to get in touch with these potential partners, and to reach the right person at each company? That clock just keeps ticking louder.

How will you know how trustworthy the reviews are? How will you know how trustworthy these partners are? You'll want to talk to a few of their customers. Right -- like that's going to be easy.

Our Shortcut: The RCP2P Trust Community
Here's how you find the right partners fast.

In my first "Profiles in Partnering" article, I recalled the launch of the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) and how it compelled Microsoft partners to declare their best expertise, their specialties. This was of great service to customers by providing the "best of the best" for every technology initiative. It also meant that multiple partners would be needed to perform larger projects.

Finding the right partners to work with became a challenge. You didn't want to do it in a rush, and you didn't want to choose the wrong partner. But searching for the right partner took forever.

With RCP2P, our subscribers can simply send an e-mail to RCP2P@rcpmag.com detailing the skills they need for their customer's project. Whether the work needs to be done in faraway places or requires skills you simply don't have on your team, tell RCP2P and we'll publish the need in our next newsletter, which comes out three times each week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays)!

Thousands of RCP readers will see your need and will simply respond via e-mail telling you why you should choose them to partner with. All of those e-mails are forwarded directly to you, and you pick and choose who you want to talk to about partnering on the opportunity.

Here's why you'll love using the RCP2P Skill Sharing Opportunity Accelerator:

1. No "portals" to go checking constantly in hopes of finding opportunities.
2. All you need do is open the RCP Update Newsletter when it shows up in your inbox.
3. No hunting through ancient opportunities. Each only appears once because opportunities must be responded to quickly or they will be lost.
4. All you need to do is reply to RCP2P@rcpmag.com with an e-mail indicating which opportunity you're interested in and why you should be chosen.
5. This service costs you nothing.
6. Opportunities show up in your inbox.

RCP readers are all Microsoft partners with extraordinary skills. This is the best community to tap into to find the kind of partner you can trust to get the job done for your customer. Give it a try!

Profiles in Partnering will regularly highlight the success stories of partners who have partnered with others to provide superior solutions to customers while growing their own businesses. Welcome to the RCP2P Program. Let's get started.

Posted by Howard M. Cohen on July 31, 2018