Partnering for Real

Tonight at the gym, I ran into an old friend who works for Gartner. Everyone knows of Gartner, Accenture, Deloite . . . etc. As consultants, we compete against them on different types of consulting gigs and we see them at many of the conferences we attend.

As we worked out, I asked her how it was going over at Gartner. She smiled and said, "I love my clients -- most of them." She went on to outline that it is sometimes difficult to get the "right" relationship established with your clients. There are lots of reasons: personalities, core competencies, corporate cultures, etc. And sometimes, despite all of the best intentions, it just doesn't work out.

We've thought about this topic a lot -- and thank our lucky stars every day for the clients that we work with on a daily basis. We've established some great relationships over the years, and hope to continue to do that over time. In fact, we even developed a partnering guide called Creating the Best Partnerships.

This is definitely an important topic. Picking the "right" partner for your important projects can make or break a marketing database, a multi-channel strategy, and can impact your bottom-line profitability. Our wish for you is to always pick the best partner for the job -- and one that ultimately helps you achieve your marketing goals.