Restarting a partnership with a narrower scope

Restart around one customer task that both businesses can still serve and one contribution each can deliver. Define the audience, activity, limits and review point before committing resources. A broad agreement to “try again” leaves the earlier uncertainty unresolved.

Choose the smaller promise

Read the earlier decision record together. Identify what was useful, what failed to happen and what remains uncertain.

A delivery fault does not show the customer need was absent. A well-run campaign does not show every part of the alliance was useful.

Choose one credible use case: a customer role at a particular stage, an expert contribution to a resource, or a defined introduction route. State who falls outside it.

Ask each team why its contribution is needed and what a customer could do after the activity. If those answers remain vague, investigate further before production.

Agree a bounded brief

Check the brief against the current agreement. If the proposed work falls outside its terms, have authorised decision-makers settle the change before resources are committed or assets reused. Check previous approval of a logo, claim or file against the proposed new use.

Make the activity informative

Choose an output the teams can deliver and review. State the customer signal sought before launch: for example, whether suitable people ask a question that needs both partners' expertise.

Record delivery as well as response. If the material never reaches the intended audience, say so at review rather than treating its response as a verdict on fit.

Have each partner verify claims about its own offer and review the complete customer-facing version. The ACCC can require businesses to back up claims and may investigate misleading conduct. A narrow offer can still create a misleading overall impression if its headline suggests wider eligibility.

If the activity involves passing identifiable enquiries, assess the proposed recipient, purpose and disclosure before data moves. For covered entities, APP 6 governs many secondary disclosures; direct-marketing use or disclosure may instead engage APP 7. If the activity involves commercial electronic messages, check the applicable requirements before sending. Restarting does not itself establish permission to contact an old list.

At the agreed review point, compare the brief with what was delivered and what suitable customers asked. Decide whether to repeat the bounded activity, change a defined element, investigate missing evidence or stop. Evidence from one narrow activity supports a decision about that audience and task; it does not automatically restore the old scope.

Compliance and risk considerations for restarted partnerships