Now’s a great time to reimagine everything you once did.

One of the most significant areas that deserve your attention is your current partners. Not just your partners in the space Skylink supports, aircraft maintenance, but in every function of your operation. 

You may think, well, Nate, I only manage one function of our operation. 

Great, focus there. In whatever capacity you work, it’s time to evaluate your current partners. 

Before I go on, let me set the record straight, I’m not talking about going to your partners for cheap services. 

If you underinvest in your partners, they’ll underinvest in you. This is a critical concept before I dig more in-depth on this topic. 

Don’t underinvest, but now is a perfect time to evaluate.

Evaluate them on how they act. 

You’ll learn a lot about how someone acts. 

It’s what we call the heroes versus villains. 

It’s part of human behavior for people to show their true colors under stress and pressure. 

For example, we have a component MRO who sends rude emails to our finance team because their finances are out of order. 

We’re not past due on our payments, and we consistently send them work. We’re what you call an “easy” client.

Their true colors are showing. I’ve requested we divert work away from them.

Here are few ways to evaluate your partners on how they act. 

Make sure…

• They’re kind and genuine. 

• They’re polite. 

• They don’t randomly change up financing or agreements because they’re having issues. 

• They’re empathetic. 

Evaluate them on their knowledge. 

Great partners are knowledgeable in their respective fields. It’s not enough to be knowledgeable in maintenance and engineering practices. 

You likely have a team that’s an expert in this area as well. 

They must be able to earn your trust, and give strategic advice that will have a positive impact on your operation, and career. 

Right now, we’re sharing ideas with current and future clients on how operations are succeeding and what they’re doing to generate such results under our support.

We also help individuals save hours each week, so they can recapture that time on more profitable projects, or invest it in their personal lives. 

We do this by giving ideas on how to optimize operational processes. 

We’re not afraid to give valuable advice. 

Evaluate your patterns on how they: 

• Provide ideas outside of what they sell.

• Don’t offer a one size fits all solution, that doesn’t make sense for you. They’re able to customize their solutions. 

• Can show ways they’re benefiting your operation, with specific numbers as proof. 

Evaluate them on their business model.

When I was speaking with a client, on a video conference call, he indirectly asked if we’d be around in twelve months. 

Due to the current world issues, prompted by COVID19, it’s likely we’ll see many over-leveraged and under strategized companies go out of business. 

Instead of running away from the question, I addressed it with confidence, giving specific reasons we’ll not only survive but thrive given these difficult times. 

If you’re looking for a strategic partner, who has long-term value to your operation, you must evaluate them on their business model. 

Here are a few ways: 

• They’re able to explain how they’ll survive COVID19, or any other major industry issue, like SARs, 9/11, or the 2008 financial crisis. 

• They have a healthy financial strategy.

• They don’t have a short term business plan that can weather various storms. They plan for problems. 

• They’re diversified. 

• They can help you reduce costs and give you ways to increase revenue. 

If you want to turn problems into opportunities, a great place to start is evaluating your current strategic partners. 

Now is a great time to invest in new strategic partnerships, or if after reading what makes a great partner, invest more in the relationship. 

Together, you’ll come out of an industry problem stronger and more united.