Sales & Marketing Consultant, Bestselling Author & Sales Conference Speaker

As single business owners we often find ourselves stretched beyond our means. Our list of leads has dried up and your email inbox is empty. What can you do what you are at the end of your niche market? How can you find new customers to breath life back into your business? The answer is to consider a joint venture.

Joint ventures are arrangements between two business owners who have products and services that compliment each other. Compliment is the important word to remember. You do not want to strike up an alliance with someone who offers the exact same product or service. Nor do you wish to join forces with someone who can potentially turn joint customers into primarily their customers instead. How is this balance achieved? There are three simple steps to help make sure that your joint venture is a successful one. The all familiar “know, like and trust” apply in this situation.

Know Who You Are Working With
Do you honestly know this individual? Have you done business with them? You should be aware of their professional and personal reputation. Both of these elements will let you know if this is a good match. Understand how they do business and their methods of operation. If you know them, you can begin to trust them.

Trust Is Non-Negotiable
Trust is a factor that I cannot stress enough. If you cannot or won’t trust the person you are engaging in this joint venture with, you need to choose someone else. Joint ventures only work when both parties trust that both businesses offer above par products and services. A great tip is to have a sit-down with the individual you want to partner with and discuss your goals, values and overall mission. If both parties are in alignment, then you should proceed. Once you know whom you are working with and you trust them, you may end up liking them.

Liking Your Partner Is Helpful
Once the foundation has been built between two businesses and they have decided to join forces, the question of whether or not you like each other will come up. The truth is, you do not have to be bosom buddies. If you trust them and know that their business is a good fit with your business, liking each other is simply the icing on the cake. While being civil is necessary, becoming best of friends is not.

Successful joint ventures can improve the bottom line for both parties. If two businesses are a “fit”, such as an SEO expert and a website designer, the potential for financial success are endless. The key is to know, like and trust the individual you are choosing to be your joint venture partner.

Happy Marketing!
Sean
(Image Creative Commons)
Sean McPheat

http://www.seanmcpheat.com

I am forever on the look out for profitable joint ventures and strategic alliances and I am constantly pushing my clients to do the same as well.

Something came through my door the other day which is a perfect example of a master stroke.

Now whether you love or hate Tesco’s dominance in the marketplace you have to admire them for what they do.

They were the first company to offer pence off per litre based on your weekly shop, their Clubcard is one of the most popular in history and now they have gone and done it again with their strategic alliance with EON.

This morning I received a direct mailing through the post detailing how you can now pay for your EON energy bill with your Tescos Clubcard Vouchers.

For every £10 of vouchers, you can now receive £15 off your energy bill!

What’s in it for Tesco?

More sign ups to their Clubcard and the incentive to spend more in their stores than in anyone elses.

For EON, if you spend a lot with Tescos each year then it may pay you to switch your Energy provider!

Also with regards to the Joint Venture, it’s great for brand awareness that EON is doing a JV with such a powerhouse as Tescos.

The lesson:

What Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances do you have in place? Who can you approach to make win win profitable relationships?

They don’t need to be as large as the Tesco/EON JV. Sometimes a number of small strategic alliances can make all the difference!

Happy Joint Venturing!

Sean
Sean McPheat

http://www.seanmcpheat.com

I’m not going to sugar coat things. While there are plenty of advantages to forming a joint venture, there are also a number of disadvantages. I believe that the pros outweight the cons, but you should also be aware of the disadvantages so that you can watch out for any red flags as you work to build your business.

So when might a joint venture go sour?

A joint venture won’t work if both parties aren’t willing to work together to build a solid working relationship. It takes time to get to know a business partner and you shouldn’t be willing to give up after only a short period of time. There are a few signs that your joint venture is going to end up going down the tubes, though.

• You aren’t able to identify clear objectives. Both partners should be on the same page concerning the vision and goals of the joint venture. A lack of communication in this area is a terrible thing, and will ultimately result in both of you focusing on different projects instead of one common goal.

• Make sure your joint venture is evenly balanced. What I mean is that you need to make sure you have experts in every area. The workload can’t be evenly distributed if one person has too much expertise and others have very little. Besides, if something happens to the “expert” and no one else knows what is going on your project will come to a grinding halt.

• Before embarking on a joint venture determine if you and your potential partner have similar management styles. If you don’t, you’ll have a difficult time integrating the different parts of the project when they’re completed.

• In many cases, one partner ends up depending on the other to provide leadership to the teams. This may lead to burnout if you’re the one stuck with all the work.

Of course, these are disadvantages only if you jump into the joint venture without doing your research first. I firmly believe every single problem listed above can be avoided by making a clear plan before you sign a binding agreement. A properly formed joint venture can be very rewarding, so make sure you’re taking the time to double check your work!

Sean

Sean McPheat

http://www.seanmcpheat.com

The Advantages of a Joint Venture

By this point you may be thinking that a joint venture sounds great, but you are probably questioning whether or not there is really any distinct advantage to participating in one. I asked the same questions of myself when I first started out and I quickly realised that joint ventures have more to offer than convenience.

Joint ventures are financially beneficial to both parties because neither has to put up 100% of the upfront costs alone. You’ll discuss the percentage of cost each will pay in the beginning, and the profits will be split at an agreed upon rate as well. Forming any sort of new business can be expensive and joint ventures are one way of alleviating the burden of start-up costs.

Starting a joint venture will give you access to a broader client base. You may already have a list of clients interested in your product, and chances are your joint venture partner has a list of clients as well. Put those lists together and you’re list has doubled, like magic. “What if I don’t already have a list?” you ask? Perhaps a client list is part of what your joint venture partner is bringing to the table. In that case, you get to benefit from an established list without the work of forming one yourself.

Joint ventures increase your ability to access or share valuable resources. Let’s say, for example, you have written an incredible e-book on credit repair but you have no advertising or marketing skills. You might find a joint venture partner who is experience in marketing but is still looking for the perfect product. You would each give the other access to a skill or product from which you could both benefit in the end.

Joint ventures are flexible. Joint ventures aren’t usually permanent business arrangements, giving you the opportunity to move on to another project after a given period of time.

You can eventually sell your end of the business. Many joint ventures end with one partner selling to the other. You may have recouped your costs and made a decent profit and perhaps feel that now it will be more beneficial to move on to another niche. Whatever your reason, it is not uncommon or difficult to sever a joint venture relationship after you have both fulfilled your obligations.

I truly believe that the advantages of a joint venture far outweigh the disadvantages. You stand to profit more from a joint venture than from attempting a project on your own, especially if you don’t have all of the technical skills that are necessary to get started.

Happy Hunting!

Sean

Sean McPheat

http://www.seanmcpheat.com