When Joint Venture Partnerships Are
Mentioned, We Must Talk Just A Bit About
The Other Two (as well)
Host Beneficiary Relationships
Like referral strategies and testimonials, Host Beneficiary Strategies use trust and credibility to generate leads and close sales. They also cost a lot less than advertising or direct mail and reduce the amount you spend acquiring each customer. If you have not heard of them before, Host Beneficiary Relationships are loose partnerships between complementary, non-competing businesses, and they can be financial gold mines when implemented strategically.
One business – the host business – sends a letter or other formal referral to their existing client base that introduces and recommends the second business – the beneficiary. Of course, establishing, planning, and implementing a successful Host Beneficiary Relationship campaign is more complex than asking your neighbor to send a letter to his client base with an offer from your company. But it is not hard either.
Host Beneficiary Relationships may not work for your business all the time. However, they are a great tool to keep in your Marketing arsenal when starting a business, entering new markets, boosting product sales, or any other opportunity that requires a specific and personal approach. Like every other component of your Marketing Strategy and materials, a Host Beneficiary Campaign must be purpose driven and make more money than it costs you to run.
I teach four steps, to have you on your way to establishing a profitable partnership.
1. Clearly define your target market, or market segment.
2. Make a list of potential host businesses that you could approach.
3. Approach your host business with thought and a little strategy.
4. Design your offer or message with the target market in mind.
I teach how to get creative with the kinds of businesses you establish partnerships with, and this could help you possibly open your business to brand new markets. Start with a strong understanding of your target market, and then brainstorm all the businesses they might purchase from. Sometimes a Host Beneficiary Relationship with a seemingly incompatible business will be a profitable strategy – if your target markets align. Remember that Host Beneficiary Relationships should always work in both directions. If you are not comfortable referring the business you approach to your own client base, then you need to rethink your strategy.
Strategic Endorsement Partners
There is no better, faster, or risk-free way to generate vast numbers of qualified leads for your business than Strategic Endorsement Partnerships. Every business should be using this revenue-generating strategy. It is all about learning the secrets to finding, contacting, and persuading qualified Strategic Endorsement Partners to willingly promote your business to a multitude of target customers who all need and want what you sell.
Even though referrals and endorsements have a major influence on most people, very few businesses have any type of formal Strategic Partnership Program set up to nurture these valuable relationships. Every business, no matter what its size, should implement a formal Strategic Endorsement Program where they earn profits by recommending other businesses products or services to their prospects and customers. And in turn, they should have a formal program in place where they earn profit from other businesses recommending their products or services to their prospects and customers.
This is an excellent strategy that any business can instantly employ to gain access to other business’s customers that fit your target customer profile … and immediately begin to generate more leads and attract new customers.
An Example
Major credit card companies send monthly billings to every one of their customers. These are customers who are obviously interested in buying various products and services on credit. For that business to mail to this same extensive list of customers would be cost prohibitive, especially when you remember that you must mail repetitiously to customers before your Marketing will produce significant results.
But suppose you could pay the credit card companies a fraction of the mailing cost and have them INCLUDE your Marketing collateral inside their billing letter. You would by “piggybacking” on their monthly mailing. You see this all the time, especially with rental car companies and various hotel chains. Make sense?
That’s because all businesspeople depend on credit cards when they travel, so the rental car companies and hotel chains know that by partnering with the credit card companies they will reach a high percentage of their targeted business traveling customers … and do so for a fraction of the cost of the mailing. The businesses the credit card companies include in their mailings save enormous amounts of money by jumping on their loyal customer bandwagon.
The first involves you as the endorsee … This means that other businesses will partner with you and recommend your business to their prospects and customers. The second is where you are the endorser … You will recommend your partners business to your prospects and customers. The key here is to closely match up your products and services with the wants and needs of your partners prospects and customers.
Remember, the cost to reach these “qualified” prospects is a fraction of what it would cost you in advertising to find them. Your “Strategic Endorsement Partner” already has their trust. Their endorsement instantly creates a feeling of trust before you ever make them your offer.
As a Business Coach, I focus on these 6 steps:
1. Selecting your preferred Endorsement Strategy
2. Determining the benefits of the Strategy
3. Calculating the “Marginal Profitability”
4. Selecting the best techniques
5. Identifying target business partners
6. And designing the perfect program
Joint Venture Partnerships
Most Small Business Owners today are struggling to generate more leads, attract more clients and make more money. With Advertising and Marketing costing more than ever before, generating leads is almost out of the financial reach for most Business Owners. Fortunately, one of the easiest and fastest ways to grow any business is through Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances. And best of all, in most cases, there are NO upfront costs associated with using a Joint Venture strategy.
Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances involve two or more businesses forming a partnership to share markets or endorse a product or service to their customer base … and then exchange a share of the revenue from the sales made from the relationship. The revenue earned by the second Joint Venture Partner is typically paid AFTER the sale is made; saving the originator any initial out of pocket fees.
The best way to get started is to ask two key questions:
1. Who are my ideal clients?
2. Who else already has access or a database to my ideal clients?
As an example, Let’s say you’re looking for people that are health conscious. You may decide that Naturopath Doctors, Colon Hydro Therapists, Health Clubs, Wellness Centers, Massage Therapists, Chiropractors and so on may all have the type of clientele you’re looking for. You must remember that when they endorse you, they are putting their reputation on the line.
It’s critical that you show your potential partner how their clients or prospects will benefit from your offering, and if possible, always position the offer so your partner gets to take all the credit and looks like the hero for recommending you.
Strategic Alliance Step #1:
First, identify all the compatible businesses you know who already have a relationship with clients that fit your ideal client profile.
Strategic Alliance Step #2:
Once you have identified a series of businesses, it’s now time to approach them with your proposition. Any business should be more than willing to work with you. It will mean increased business for them as well.
Strategic Alliance Step #3:
If you have created a win-win situation for both you and your JV Partner, then at this point you should have your Partner’s interest. Now you need to create your special offer to each other’s customers.
Strategic Alliance Step #4:
At this point, you need to create an easy and non-threatening response device. It could be a postage-paid response card, a special coupon or certificate, a website landing page or a hotline or phone number for them to call. I also suggest you add a sense of urgency to it, an expiration date, or if it is a product, perhaps a limited quantity at the special price you are offering it at.
Strategic Alliance Step #5:
Get ALL the names into your database! Once you each start getting response to your respective offers, remember to follow-up. If you can, try to get every name of your partner’s client base in a database file for follow-up mailings. If you cannot, ALWAYS get the name, address, and phone number of all people who inquire about your offer.
I teach these to my clients,
and it is very extensive and thorough …
AND, I show examples …
As always, my overall focus is to help you continue to build the business you have always dreamed of having … a business that provides you with financial freedom and an extraordinary life for you and your family. My primary goal is to help you develop the processes that will bring more revenue into your business.
So, until next time,
Here’s To Your Success!