If you have spent any time in the world of Internet Marketing, once in a while (just joking, it is every day), you will hear about Joint Ventures.
You need them, gotta have them, find them, make them, search for them.
And, it’s true.
These are a cornerstone to fast development and overnight success stories.
So I often get asked, how do I find JV partners. Below I’ll provide you with some great information about all of this and add in capital letters “ASK”.
Now I’ll say ASK, with one cavaet. Don’t expect the big boys to send out an
email for you, there is simply no purpose in it for them. So start with your current peers, people you meet at networking events or in social media areas, and create relationships with those people, just like the big boys did when they got started.
Once in a while, when you hook up and find a mentor, then they may start to consider it, or if you have some ground-breaking huge money-making idea that has never been done – that too will get you attention.
For those just starting out though, here is a practical guide:
A joint venture (often called JV) is when two or more people or companies get together to undertake an economic activity. The sharing distribution is determined by both entities and the ultimate outcome is a win-win for everyone.
Generally it starts off that someone has a product, and someone else may have a list of possible purchasers and together, they can share the profit. If you have a product that is ready or a list just waiting, joint ventures are a very economical way to accelerate sales. It gives you instant access to a network of resources that could take you decades to reproduce, to a list that is usually hypersensitive to recommendations.
As a list owner, joint ventures create a scenario where you can earn more by doing less and it divides the work, and gets the word out faster.
The best thing about JV relationships is that once you have partnered with someone, if that venture was successful, they will be very open to do it again. You have a partner for life in which you can both mutually grow.
There are 2 sections we will focus on. They are the steps to a successful joint venture and how to find joint venture partners. We’ll focus on the first today.
5 Easy Steps to a Successful Joint Venture:
1. Start with one JV, and keep on looking. Don’t put all your eggs into one basket and continue to seek out new ways to create income.
2. If you are the one with the product make sure it is high quality or you will be wasting people’s time, who may not look at you again in the future when you have gotten it together. Your first shot needs to be your best
3. Be forthright with your request but let the product, the sales letter and the conversion rate talk for you. You should have already tested the market with your long copy sales letter site for your product and you should have seen a decent conversion on your sales! This is something you can use when pitching to the possible JV partners. Plus, they won’t expose their database to anything that doesn’t work so you will want to prove to them that it does.
4. Treat your JV partner like the gold that they are. Together you will be building a financial windfall, and you will want to continuously express your appreciation for their efforts even if it is just a matter that they push a key to their database that sends an e-mail you have created. The list is the key and if they have it, they are the gatekeeper.
5. Think long-term. Have the next idea in mind or offer them an immediate benefit of sending to your database once it is built on their behalf. Even though you are giving them a pretty hefty commission for their finger push, without them, there is no one to target. They take you from zero to one-thousand in 4 seconds flat.
Once you have ascertained that you are ready for a JV relationship, the next step is to get them. We’ll take a look at that tomorrow.
5 Steps to Getting Joint Venture Partners:
1. Market Research. Go to Google, Alexa or Yahoo and do a little market research. You want to search out your niche market and find people who have similar products to yours but not the same product as yours. You also want to see what kind of page rank they have on Alexa. Check traffic reports and manage the information into small workable quantities so that you can review it later. Check if they have an e-zine or opt-in, take a look at their sales style, sales letter sites, opt-in methods, and overall approach to the marketplace. Make sure their philosophy matches yours.
2. Review the Data you have collected. Decide who you would be interested in getting into a joint venture with. You may select more than one person to work with. Once you have done this contact the person with a personalized e-mail that tells them that you are interested in a joint venture with them. Remember the key is to personalize it. If they feel this is a cut and paste job, they will discard your e-mail very quickly. Any successful business person you contact will not have time for “junk” e-mail. Offer to send them a free copy of the product that you want to promote through them. Show them the sales copy, and the conversion numbers. (If you don’t have the conversion numbers you may be able to convince them with just the copy of the product and sales copy.)
3. Once the offer is accepted, work out the commissions. You need to offer them a healthy profit on your product. The price will determine the margin in most cases. If you have a higher priced item you will want to consider going for something around a 35% commission. If a lower priced or regular ticket item ($197), you may consider going for the 50% margin. Also work out the method of payment, i.e. paypal, direct deposit, etc. If you can control this aspect, all the better. But many JV partners will do this and pay you versus the other way around.
4. Keep the communication open. Develop the business relationship fully. Realize that the people you are working with are busy and may not have time to contact you. If you maintain that relationship it will benefit you because you might be able to do something else with them in the future. If you can talk to them over the phone, do this as much as possible. It takes it from a casual business venture to something more long term. Give them your Skype or Messenger and contact information. Let them know how they can reach you anytime during the joint venture cycle. Keep in contact through all of the steps and processes until you reach the final goal.
5. Upon completion, make the payment quickly.
Send a personalized thank you in the form of a hand-written card. Again, personalization is the key here. Call them directly and say thank you. Yes, twice is always better than once. Ask them if it is okay if you keep them as a contact and give them a call once in a while and open the invitation for them to call you or e-mail you.
And one of the most important parts of joint venture relationships is to start over again with someone else. Once you have started building your list of prospects up, you can then go ahead and do a list exchange with people of comparable-sized lists. If you do approach someone with a 50,000 member list and ask for an ad exchange when you only have 500 people, you will need to be very creative and offer them something more in return.
By following these steps, you will succeed in the wonderful and lucrative world that is the life-blood of fast yielding profits – joint ventures.
Happy searching, you’ll make some great relationships in the process.
Tracy Repchuk
Bestselling author of “31 Days to Millionaire Marketing Miracles”
Available at Amazon.com
Marketing Makeover Maestro
http://www.marketingmakeovermaestro.com
