I get requests frequently — usually at MarksHelpDesk.com, to help promote other people's products. I got one a few months ago that was horrible…really horrible.
As near as I recall, it went something like this…
"Hello. My name is Joe and I have a product about X. I'm interested in a Joint Venture with you. What can you do for me?"
I was appalled. Really shocked at how inwardly this person was looking. "What can you do for ME" is not a good way to start a business relationship…or ANY relationship.
I had to decide whether I should write him back a scalding email or ignore him altogether. I ended up taking the middle road, and let him know very kindly that Joint Venture relationships are best started with the opposite question to the one he asked. In other words, they should start with…
"What can I do for YOU?"
Do you see how his mistake led him to absolutely ZERO interest from me? I'm betting I wasn't the only person he wrote to. And my guess is that after getting a long list of NO answers, he's certain that "Marketing Online just doesn't work."
Well, he's wrong.
It works very well, and Joint Ventures are at the heart of almost every good marketer's success. It really doesn't matter what industry you're in — health products, quilting ebooks, stock-picking seminars, and other how-to guides — your business can be bigger and more successful if you learn how to Joint Venture properly.
My friend Joel Comm just produced a short guide on exactly this topic.
It's all about the Do's and Don'ts of Joint Ventures. He compiled this advice at the JV Alert Conference last week from some of the most successful marketers there at the event.
Lots of names you'd know.
The guide is short, succinct, and worth every penny he's asking for it. Warning: It's not a polished guide book.
It's not long chapters with detailed instructions about how to do every little thing.
It's a quick guide about best practices. It's all about how to get people to go from stranger to business partner, so that you can both build your business.
Sound good?
To Your Success,
–Mark Widawer
P.S. – By the way, Joel is a "giving" kind of guy. Part of the proceeds are helping a charity that Joel cares a lot about. If it helps you to know that you're helping others as you build your own business, then great. All the better.
I hope you do both.
P.P.S. – You'll find advice from me, down near the end of the book. Whether you get Joel's book or not (pssst….it's just $7), I wanted you to have my advice. So here you go:
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Ever send emails to potential JV partners and never get a reply back? Here's how to get around that problem, and to truly and genuinely be known as a "Giver," too.
Go to live events. LOTS of them. And make sure you take your digital camera with you. Meet as many potential JV partners as you can, and take a picture of yourself with them. Heck, you can even take some pics of them with other potential partners. Any photo of them is a good thing.
When you get back home, email them the photos. In this first email, don't mention your JV opportunity at all. Just send them the photos, and tell them "If there's anything I can ever do to help you…like maybe help promote YOUR products…please let me know."
They'll most certainly reply with a Thank You for both the photo and the offer. And more than likely, they'll also ask you to let them know when they can help you.
And you know how to reply to that request already.
What you have heard is true…if you help enough people to get what they want, they'll bend over backwards to help you have what YOU want.
To Your Success,
–Mark Widawer
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