Chapter 7
Let's Partner a Deal
They might not need me, yet they might,
I'll let my head be just in sight;
A smile as small as mine might be
Precisely their necessity.
—Emily Dickinson
I'm thinking about the Lone Ranger. Doesn't it seem significant that the person whose very name suggests solitude was never without his partner? Tonto did things the Lone Ranger couldn't and knew things his kemo sabe didn't. Together, each man was better than either could be alone.
So it is, I believe, in anything, including sales. Let's look at music, for example: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, Elton John and Bernie Taupin—not to mention Lennon and McCartney or Elvis and Carl Perkins.
Everywhere we look, two heads can be better than one and can be the key to success. A rookie in a brokerage firm sets an appointment with a potentially large client and brings along his office manager to back him up. Two women join forces to start their own public relations firm. One has the media contacts, but the other has hundreds of connections. Together they make a great team and their company is successful. A coach guides the quarterback and their team to the Super Bowl. Tips and hints, advice and counsel, on and on. From these partnerships, each of us becomes better.
Sometimes forming partnerships can help us close our deals. Why? Because a second set of eyes and ears may hear or see things you might miss. A partner will often have different strengths that help offset your weaknesses. ...
