Matt Stoyka Shares His Best Relationship Advice For Startups

As Rackspace’s Chief Relationship Officer, Matt Stoyka funnels his energy into optimizing our company’s relationships with customers and partners alike. In his prior role as founder and CEO of RelationEdge (which was acquired by Rackspace in 2018), Matt quickly discovered that relationships were central to everything he wanted to accomplish. In order to grow and expand his business and its offerings, he had to focus on building and nurturing the company’s partner relationships — and any business looking to grow can learn from his experiences. Matt recently contributed to Seismic’s Foreshock series, where he spelled out how to build, grow, and maintain thriving partner relationships. If your company is seeking to build strong partner relationships but not sure where to start, keep reading.

Good relationships require “out-giving”

Matt’s number-one takeaway from his years of relationship building is that successful, healthy relationships require both parties trying to “out-give” each other — that is, being generous, kind, respectful, and treating others the way we want to be treated. These types of relationships tend to last because they are built on trust and mutual respect.

How to measure giving in partner relationships

Once you’re committed to the concept of out-giving your partner, you might be wondering how you can tell if you’re achieving it or not. Matt has an answer for this; he’s actually formulated what he calls “the six cylinders of alignment” — much as an engine needs all cylinders working correctly to achieve maximum output, these six cylinders provide a concrete framework to evaluate your partner relationships and continue to improve them. Read Matt’s full post  in order to discover the six cylinders of alignment for successful partnerships, as well as how to use them to build and maintain strong partnerships. In the article, you’ll learn:

• Why continuous communication is necessary for good partnerships
• How to maximize your partner’s alliance programs
• The key question you should be asking yourself when you evaluate your partnerships
• How to achieve synergy between your two organizations in marketing, sales, and service
• Why quality trumps quantity when it comes to picking partners

Regularly checking in on your partner relationships and assessing them against the six cylinders of alignment will help your business achieve optimal outcomes and remain competitive. Check out Matt’s full blog post on Foreshock and get ready to take your partnerships to the next level.