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Linking Companies and Concepts for Superior Business Solutions

BOOK FORWARD

“The implementation was flawed, but the strategy was sound.” Oh, if only I had a nickel for
every time some CEO said this, or words to this effect, in response to criticism over a failed
business venture. And yet, only 12-18 months previously, this same CEO was clamoring for a
microphone to say things like, “ushers in a new era for [insert company name here]”, “poised
for growth” and this oldie but goodie, “well-positioned to compete in today’s global economy.”
How often do these strategies, created by no small amount of business brainpower, go awry
or downright implode due to a poor implementation?

In today’s global market, opportunities abound for creative thinkers who are willing to
take on acceptable levels of risk. And many times the quickest, most cost-effective way to
pursue these opportunities is by partnering with another company. Strategic partnerships
or business alliances can be the best road to expanding your business, particularly in light
of today’s economic climate where investment capital is tight or in many cases non-existent,
combined with limited and strained resources. Strategic partnerships can provide an effective
means of expanding your own capabilities by leveraging the core competencies of your partner(s)
without the huge costs associated with mergers and acquisitions. They have proven effective
in areas such as the development of new product technologies, oil and gas exploration, economic
revitalization in foreign countries and, more recently, development and implementation of security
standards and procedures for safeguarding people, facilities and information.

But the purpose of this book is not to extol the virtues of strategic partnerships, nor to sell
you on the idea that partnering is the one and only way your business can survive in the
21^st century. Too many trees have already given their lives in that pursuit, the result being daily
announcements, accompanied by the mandatory trumpet-blowing, of new business partnerships,
strategic alliances, consortiums, joint ventures and other business relationships that promise to
turn our economy on its ear and improve the very fabric of our existence.

And yet, despite our shared belief that partnerships can, in the right context, be
successful in reducing product development time, optimizing sales and marketing resources,
increasing customer satisfaction, growing market share and any of a number of other business
objectives, why is it that 90% of established business partnerships fail to meet their objectives
in just the first year? Why aren’t there more examples of successful partnerships? And if the
failure rate is so high, why do we continue to view partnering as a viable strategic alternative?
Are there consistent characteristics among partnerships that succeed? And among those that fail?

In looking for answers to these questions, I reviewed not only my own first-hand
experiences with partnerships, but I also spoke with hundreds of business professionals about
their own partnering experiences, and I researched numerous publications and books related to
partnerships, joint ventures and strategic alliances.

In my research I analyzed partnerships from their very inception, focusing on the original
business objectives, the reasons for choosing to go the partnership route, the processes used for
analyzing and selecting partners, and the development and implementation of the partnership
relationship itself. I zeroed in on key players involved in both successful and unsuccessful partnerships
to see if I could uncover the core drivers of their success or failure.

Every partnership I examined had its own story – different industries, each with their own unique
supply chain structure, varying histories of the companies and people involved, and vastly different
business objectives for each partnership created. But in sifting through this data, I discovered some
recurring themes - steps taken, or not taken - that significantly contributed to the results generated by
the partnership.

Some of the most valuable intelligence I’ve been able to gather deals with lessons learned
from partnerships that failed. By asking key people involved, If you had to do it over again, what
would you do differently? I learned that the same types of mistakes were being made across
all forms of business partnerships, regardless of industry or the specific companies involved.

That’s when I got the notion that this book should focus on the “how” of strategic partnering.
So I set out to develop a guide for developing and managing successful partnerships. A guide that’s
not only practical and helpful, but also a quick and easy read for today’s overloaded business professional.

Within these chapters you’ll find, condensed and to-the-point, the “make-sure-you-do-this” and
“watch-out-for-that” of planning, developing and implementing an effective business-to-business
partnership - one that has clear goals from the outset and is designed and managed to successful,
real-world results.

But beware! After reading this book and following the guidelines I’ve laid out, you won’t have
the “sound strategy, failed execution” crutch anymore. What you will have is a level of implementation
excellence that will actually serve to uncover weaknesses in a strategy that may not have been noticed
until full market rollout. Identifying these problems earlier in the process will save you exponentially versus
discovering them later.

And so it is my ultimate goal that you see such a return on your investment of time and money in
this book that it becomes not only a handy guide you’ll refer to often, but that you also see it as a
worthwhile investment for your co-workers, your employees, your business associates and yes, especially
your partners.

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About the Author - Dave Koester

As President & CEO of a full-service consultancy firm, Dave Koester has over 25 years of sales, marketing
and business development experience within the service sector, energy and facility management, foodservice
and food processing industries. In addition, Dave has also spent over the last twelve years of his professional
career enhancing and refining the art of strategic partnering and business alliance development. Prior to starting
The Koester Group, LLC in 1997, Dave held numerous middle and senior management positions with several
leading Fortune 500 companies such as, Ecolab, S.C. Johnson, DiverseyLever, FirstEnergy Corp., Orkin and
Procter & Gamble, just to name a few. Then, in the fall of 2000, Dave joined forces with two other top industry
professionals who shared his vision, as they combined their collective skills and experience to create The
Linkage Group, LLC. In 2008 and 2009, Dave served as the Director of Sales & Marketing for Victory Industrial
| Products LLC, taking the company from a regional concern with one manufacturing facility to a national player
with three manufacturing locations and in 2010 served as the Director of Corporate Business Development for
Premier MSS – a Voith Industrial Services Company before returning once again to his consulting practice.

Over the course of the last twelve years, Dave has focused his consulting efforts almost exclusively on the facility
management, energy/utility sectors and related value-added services. In working with the senior management teams
of IES, EMCOR, Encompass and FirstEnergy Corp., Dave designed and engineered several major new initiatives
for these companies that allowed them to differentiate their total offering, thereby offering an expanded portfolio of
products and services to their growing customer base. The programs developed included: Triangle Partnering
– which blends the capabilities of three different partners, Total Customer Solutions - which focused on Performance
Contracting, Asset Management and Financing; Facility Management Solutions - which added the facility management
and building services piece to the offering, and the FirstEnergy Facility Management Alliance – which combined the
offerings of 10 industry leading service companies, via strategic partnering, to allow FirstEnergy to offer total consolidation
on all products and related services to selected customers.

In addition, Dave also has extensive experience as a sales trainer and public speaker, conducting many seminars
on consultative sales techniques, negotiation skills, team building, solution selling and change management. Utilizing
his extensive background and industry knowledge in the Integrated Pest Management field, Dave has also been
called upon to be the keynote speaker at several national sales meetings and networking conferences within that
industry. He has been a member of IFMA (International Facility Management Association), the IFMA Consultants
Council and is currently a member of SAMA (Strategic Account Management Association) and the IAOP
(International Association of Outsourcing Professionals).

Dave attended Thomas More College and Xavier University in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, majoring in Natural Science
(Biology / Chemistry) and also selected courses in Engineering at the University of Kentucky. He also received
AIB Certification in Food Plant Sanitation and HACCP Program Development. Dave, his wife Carol, and their
family reside in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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