Questions. Questions. I’m a great believer in asking questions. In my experience, the secret of succeeding in virtually anything is to ask lots of questions about it first. (And then, if you don’t get the best answers to your questions, go figure out how to ask even better questions!) So, in this article I’m going to look at what I think are five of the most critical questions you need to ask when creating any joint venture deal.
One : What do I want from a JV deal ?
Once you know what you want it becomes much easier to find it: So, do you want to make quick money? Do you want to build a long term business? Do you just need website traffic? Are you looking for more products to sell? Do you want publicity? Or, even, do you want to become famous?
Ask this question whenever you are creating a new JV deal. It will lead you to
those partners who are most likely to provide you with what you want.
Two : What benefits can I offer my partner?
Just like end customers, JV partners are sold on the benefits your JV deal offers them. So look for specific benefits that you can dangle tantalisingly in front of prospective partners to persuade them to do the deal.
Make a list of all the benefits you can think of: Is your product brand new? Is it better than all its competing products? Do you have a lot of customers available to swap? Are you offering better commissions …. or special deals? Are you an expert in your field, adding extra power to an endorsement? Whatever benefits you offer push them to the hilt.
Three : How can I add more to my offer?
This is very important. Always go in with an offer that will wow your prospective partner from the start. Don’t, for example, go in with a measly 10% commission with the idea of working up from there. Go in with a beefy 50% or so …. and then think about piling some more on top. Ask yourself, what would make your prospective partner think ‘Wow! I can’t miss that!’? Then add something else on top. In other words, how can you make a good deal even better?
Remember, with JV’s, long term profits are always the sweetest and the biggest. So think long term. Don’t be afraid to sacrifice a little cash, or some more time, now in return for much bigger profits in the future.
Four : How can I multiply my efforts?
This is, I think, one of the most exciting questions you can ask. Always ask yourself how you can make the maximum amount of money from the minimum amount of effort, ie. how can you multiply your efforts. Instead of doing the same thing over and over again put your best efforts into doing it once …. then milk it for all it is worth!
Here’s a great way to do this: Rather than keep looking for new lists and then trying to create an offer that works for each one – construct an offer that will work with any list. That way, making more cash is as simple as mailing a new list. You don’t need to create a new offer every single time.
Five : Do I know enough about the customer?
Sometimes when working on a JV, especially if the other partner is not too familiar with them, you might need to help out with the selling. This might include penning an endorsement, writing sales copy for a web page, writing a sales letter or maybe even masterminding the whole campaign. If that’s the case, it’s important you get to know their customer inside out before you do so.
Here are some revealing questions you can ask your JV partner to help you find all this out:
- How often do you mail to your lists?
- What have your customers bought before?
- What is the most expensive item you’ve ever sold to the list? And the cheapest?
- What worked well? What flopped?
- What methods have you tested?
- What kind of offers are they most receptive to?
- Do they buy on the first pitch or do you have to cultivate a sale …. and how many attempts does it take?
- Do they respond to solo mailings?
- What sort of things do they like to receive from you? For example, news, special offers or ‘insider information’?
(And don’t just ask these questions. Really put them through the mill. If there is anything else you need to know …. ask it?)
I promise you, ask yourself these five questions for any JV deal you are in the process of setting up and it will be more successful. And it will make you more money. Guaranteed!