When speaking with one of my coaching clients she told me she is scared to collaborate with other businesses because they will steal her clients! NO! Collaborations with other businesses or business owners are an AMAZING way to get your brand and clients in front of a new like-minded audience!

So whom should you collaborate with? Here are some questions on what to ask yourself and your team when you are looking to collaborate:

• What business owners do you like?
• What local businesses and/or products do you use and love?
• What other local businesses support and come to you?
• Do your clients own a small business or make and/or grow something you can’t get enough of?

Start here and see what kind of partnerships you can make.

So now that we figured out the “who”, what about the “what”? What can you do to collaborate together? Below are four successful ways I have collaborated with other businesses!

Workout & Takeout

With this collaboration we partner with a local restaurant and work with them to get a discounted rate on a selection of meals, usually three to simplify the ordering process. Then we offer our clients an evening class that includes take-out from the restaurant. The clients choose their dinner a couple days beforehand and it’s waiting for them when class ends. They can either take it home or hang out and enjoy their meal with us. Some clients bring friends who shop at the boutique and even wind up buying exercise packages.

We charge a flat rate for the Workout and Take-Out. If people just want the workout or the take-out, the cost is half-price for either. The teacher also gets a flat rate for the classes no matter how many people sign up, and in addition, I buy their dinner. The balance of the profits goes to the business. While we’re at it, we try to make it a fun night for everyone, offering a flash sale in the boutique and sometimes Champagne. Because what’s a night out without a new pair of leggings and some bubbles?

Pilates & Pets

Who doesn’t like puppies and kittens? For this collaboration we invited a local animal shelter to set up in our parking lot for the day. The volunteers brought puppies, kittens, dogs and cats that all needed homes. To get more people to participate I donated all the profits from the classes, sessions and sales in our boutique to the animal shelter for this day. We had homemade cookies (of course in the shape of dog bones and cats) and mimosas and drew quite a crowd. Many people filled out applications for the animals as well as us gaining new clients from all the people that stopped by for the day!

Share What You CAN

Our clients and studios have embraced this collaboration and people ask us every year when are we going to do it again. For this one client bring in three non-perishable food items in exchange for a class—we provide bins. Our clients are so generous, and most bring in way more than the three cans or packages of food requested. They’ve brought bags of everything from pasta and shampoo to toothpaste and tuna. At the end of the month we take the food to a charity in need. Being able to donate the food to a battered women’s shelter is worth every free class we give out.

Another option to consider if you aren’t a big studio is holding a free class open to anyone who donated.

Combo Packs

We just do Pilates, but who doesn’t like the spa? We partnered with a local spa to offer a combo package of Pilates classes with a spa service of choice. Our clients paid one price for both. You will have to workout the logistics of processing payments, sharing fees, promoting your offer, and creating terms and conditions, but the value of creating a truly unique and customer-focused package was well worth the effort and helped set each business apart.

Don’t underestimate the importance of collaboration when you run a business. You don’t have to do everything by yourself. By building relationships and your team up with other people you can get more done, reach more people and provide interesting and unique offers and events to increase your profits and to help boost everyone’s businesses.