Joint Ventures: All Profit, No Loss

What if there was a way for you to increase your business profits and improve your customer care without adding personnel, equipment or expenses? There is, in the form of joint ventures (JVs).

No matter what kind of business you run, what products you sell or services you offer, you can serve both your customers and your bank account better by organizing joint ventures, or JVs. All you need is a sincere desire to serve your customers even better than you already do plus an eye for increasing leverage.

A JV happens when two or more businesses create a deal that is mutually beneficial to both companies and to all customers they serve, creating a win-win-win scenario. While it may sound like “pie in the sky,” it is an extremely productive way to raise your bottom line.

You want to think of it as a matching game of linking assets and needs. I am not speaking about your financial assets here but of your systems, services or products.

Get started by writing down your answers to the following questions.

- What product, service or system do I have that other businesses would benefit from having or using?

- What systems, services or products do I need that would better serve my clients/customers without any extra work on my part?

In order to help you underrstand how this works, I’ll share an example.

An entrepreneur has a mostly automated system for improving traffic to websites. He sells this service from his own website and through affiliates (distributors who earn a commission for selling his membership). Now he wants to increase his leverage.

When he considers what type of business would benefit from using his service, he comes up with these possibilities.

- Bloggers
- MLM professionals
- Internet entrepreneurs
- Bricks and mortar businesses that have a presence online (at least a basic website)

His needs include: – Customers to use his monthly service – Affiliates (or distributors) who will act as a sales force to sell his service to their customers – Businesses that will integrate his system into their own

For him to arrange a true joint venture, he is looking for more than simply customers who will use his system and more than affiliates or “reps” who will sell his membership service to their clientele. He is looking for a win-win-win match. He is looking for someone who will integrate his system into their business.

As you read what our traffic guy does in order to determine who is the right fit for a JV, realize that you will do the same for yourself.

In the course of his research, he finds an entrepreneur who runs a school teaching the skills of running an online business.

Research Phase

Before diving into a relationship, he has to find out who would be the best JV partner.

1. He researches the company and business owner to make sure there is currently enough traffic to make it worth his while. He can determine this by looking at their website rankings on Alexa.com and Quantcast.com. If this person only has a few students, there is no profit in it for him. However, if the school is already thriving, the potential for growth is huge.

2. He gets to know the other business owner. For one thing, he wants to ensure that the way she runs her business is in philosophical alignment with the way he operates his.

Both potential partners get to know each other. They have to explore whether their proposal is a “match made in heaven.” They want to boost the results that come as a result of their collaboration.

Organization Phase

After meeting via phone and getting familiar with each others’ program, they decide to move forward. Together, they forge an agreement that looks like this:

1. All students of the online university get the traffic service free for three months.

2. They get a special “inner circle” price thereafter.

3. The students don’t get the traffic membership right away, because they would not be ready. They receive this valuable tool at the point in their training when they have their basic blog and website set up and already know the basics of driving traffic.

Taking Action

1. Our traffic guy sets up a special webpage for students and a special portal into his service.

2. Our dean incorporates the traffic system into her programs and makes sure that all current students who meet the minimum requirement get access to the program as well as all upcoming students.

How is this profitable arrangement a win-win-win for all?

For the owner of the web traffic membership site

Maybe you are wondering how giving away three free months of service to a whole bunch of people serves our traffic guy. Imagine this: Without any advertising, he gains a few hundred brand new customers a month. They use it free for 3 months, and because this is such a perfect match, they are going to continue to buy the service.

Most if not all of these people will also become his affiliates and offer his service to their clientele, so he gains a prime “sales force” consisting of people who are already happy customers.

So if our school generates 500 new students per month, he gains 6,000 new customers annually plus maybe 3,000 more who are current advanced students, with no effort other than making a few phone calls and a modified webpage or two. Even though some will not retain the service, most will.

For the students

They are so excited to have the perfect tool to generate traffic, and since they know what they are doing by the time they get their free trial, they are using the program daily right from the start. And since they’re hooked on his service and using it every day for their business, they are going to be long-term customers as well as affiliates.

Also, those for whom it is appropriate have a source of income because they can become affiliates who earn a commission for introducing the traffic system to their own customers.

For the training program owner

I mentioned that a joint venture must be a win-win-win, meaning that both partners AND the customer win. You’ve already seen how our traffic guy and the university students win, but how does the school owner win?

The owner of the education program also wins in a big way, because she is able to provide something every student needs, at no cost to her and at no cost to them, for a whole three months. This also means she has a highly valuable bonus added to her program. Say the traffic system costs per month. They save 7 the first quarter. She is setting them up for success by offering such a useful tool for them.

That’s how everybody wins.

This is an extremely profitable game of matching. All it takes is a little research, an open mind, and a willingness to hook up the right needs and assets. So start planning your own joint ventures right away.