At a recent JV Alert Live Seminar, I interacted with dozens
of people with products that they were rolling out or
looking for joint venture partners for.
Some of these products were absolutely brilliant, and
something that the market was clamoring for, so I knew that
they "could" do well.
Other discussions that I had with product creators led to
me jotting down a few important considerations that I'd
like to share with you. These are reasons why you may be
having a hard time getting joint venture partners to
promote your products or projects.
I framed this in the form of what I "may" have been
thinking as some products/projects were explained to me.
1) "Nice Box But What Does It Do (In plain English
please)?"
If you can't explain exactly what your product does, in
terms that your potential JV partners can understand, then
how do you expect them to explain it to their potential
customers. If your explanation confuses a potential
partner then it's certainly going to confuse potential
customers who don't have the benefit of asking you 100
questions about the product.
2) Is The Market Big Enough?
Most of your potential JV partners do limit how many
products they promote and how many promotions they send to
their clients. They want something that's going to appeal
to a large enough segment of their list.
They definitely DON'T want most of their subscribers
asking, "Why did you tell ME about this product?"
Properly structuring a promotion can be hard work, so they
want something that appeals to enough prospects to make all
of that work worthwhile.
3) That's A Commodity - What's The Hidden Benefit?
If your product is just a variation of something that fifty
people have already offered to the market over the past
three years, only with slight variations, what about your
version is different?
You need to frame that difference in terms of a benefit...
ideally a benefit that most of your competitors have
overlooked. Ted Nicholas teaches marketers to find the
hidden benefit. Point out the obvious benefits, but also
point out benefits of your product that are less obvious.
The strange thing is that even if your product is nearly
identical to a dozen others, if you DO point out hidden
benefits that potential customers really care about, then
your product is "different" and "exciting" in their minds.
If many of your potential JV partners just wanted to
promote a commodity, it would often make more sense for
them to develop their own. Inexpensive ghost writers and
programmers are everywhere. You need something that's not
just a commodity.
You also need a product that not too easily duplicated
since, unfortunately, if it's easily duplicated, it usually
will be!
4) Dimes Don't Excite Me!
All things being equal, a potential JV partner is going to
get more excited about a product that pays them several
hundred dollars per sale than they are about a product that
pays them only $20. It usually takes about the same amount
of "work" to sell either product, and often your JV
partners have dozens of their own lower-end products.
When you ask someone to promote an inexpensive lead
generator, most of your savvy potential partners see that
as you just asking them to build your list. Many will
politely decline.
5) What Makes You Think That The Market Wants It?
FAR too many brilliant people have trouble acknowledging
that just because they think that something is needed by
the market doesn't mean that anyone will buy it.
People don't buy what they need. They don't generally buy
prevention! They buy things that they want. They buy
relief from pain. They buy pleasure. They buy safety ... if
they feel really threatened.
If you offer the market anything other than something they
are already screaming for, and already buying from your
competitors in massive quantities, then you face an uphill
battle.
Your potential JV partners don't like selling items that
the market is not already convinced that it wants ... at
least not the successful ones. Experience has taught them
that when they promote things that they have to educate the
market about, it's a losing battle.
6) Nice... But Here's What I'm Working On!
In many niches, like "Internet marketing," most of your
ideal joint venture partners have projects of their own
that they are looking for help in promoting.
When you approach a potential JV partner who has his OWN
launch in a week, they simply don't hear you when you're
talking about your "new blue widget." If anything, they're
looking to see how the two projects might dove-tail.
In a seminar environment, or even on a discussion forum,
it's usually better to introduce yourself, and then ask
what the other person is working on. Look for ways to help
them, and in the process invoke the law of reciprocity.
You might also discover a more profitable project that you
should be involved in than your own. Don't get so "married"
to your project that you're unwilling to recognize
something that makes more sense for you to invest your time
and energy in.
At a minimum, be frank and suggest that you're willing to
swap promotions... provided their product is of very high
quality and a match for their market.
Pitching someone who has 100% of their attention on their
own project can best be done by talking about their
favorite topic... their project!
7) That's A Threat To My Project
Many products are direct competitor to others' products, or
counter-productive to their purpose. So, naturally those
people will NOT promote your product.
An extreme example would be asking someone who has spent
YEARS developing a list of big-ticket buyers, who routinely
buy $5000 packages, to promote your $27 ebook. That
generally goes counter to the conditioning of their list...
and causes them to send out an incongruent message.
Another example would be asking someone running a
membership site to market a product that negates the need
for their site. I have seen this happen :-)
I could list a dozen more reasons why potential joint
venture partners might decline to promote your project, but
that would make this "rant" too long.
Instead, let's end with the real message. When you approach
a potential joint venture partner, ask yourself what's in
it for them, and why they would want to promote your
product.
How will promoting your product help them, their customers,
and things that THEY care about. Be realistic enough to
realize that they don't generally lose sleep at night over
your project. Only you do, which makes getting the message
out about your product... your problem.
That problem goes away if you address the seven issues
listed above. Simple approach the whole topic from the
other person's perspective ;-)
----------------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford is an internationally-acclaimed speaker,
author, seminar and radio show host, and leading Internet
marketing expert. When not out fishing in the Gulf of
Mexico, Willie can be found sharing his 11 1/2 years of
online marketing experience with members of The Internet
Marketing Inner Circle. Join them at:
http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com
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