But what happens when your customer asks for something you can’t deliver well on your own? You have three options: to turn the business away, to deliver a poor product, or to work with a partner.

Now, I’m a big fan of turning business away if you can’t deliver a quality product. Poor products or services have the potential for creating irreparable damage to your business, both in the short and long term - particularly in professional services where quality product and strong lasting relationships are essential. So could partnering be a sensible solution?

For an example, consider a web designer whose client asks for help in writing a marketing plan. Now the designer’s core skill is in building websites, but he doesn’t want to turn the work away. So, he cobbles together a marketing plan, with a range of traditional advertising and online tactics which he thinks will do the job OK. Fair enough, he can charge a little extra for the marketing plan, but will he have delivered a quality product that will delight his customer? It’s probably unlikely - after all, marketers these days are degree educated, with specialist qualifications and often lots of valuable experience.

So how do you know which option to take? Forget about profit for a minute and ask yourself ‘what’s best for my client?’. If you need to work with partners to deliver what your customer needs, then that’s best in the long term, even though it may mean you lose some margin now.

To develop a good network takes time and trust, but the harder you work at it the stronger the relationships you’ll build. Write some standard terms and pricing schemes and importantly ensure your network shares your values on service quality.

For example, you walk into a burger restaurant for lunch:

You: I’ll have a Big Mic meal please.

Cashier: What drink would you like?

You: Cola please.

Cashier: (and here’s the upsell) would you like to make it large for an extra 30p?

It’s as simple as that. The restaurant adds 30p to your bill, a dozen more fries and a lot more ice to your drink, and there’s an extra slice of revenue straight into the cash register for very little extra cost.

So how can you do this? Have a think about complimentary products you can offer. If you’re an architect, can you sell photographic services to clients to record their newly completed home on completion? If you’re a café, can you offer a meal deal for a sandwich, drink and bag of crisps for slightly less than the individual items. As a book vendor, how about a discount for multiple purchases?