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90) JV With Those Who Already Have Business Relationships – I mentioned at the start of this section that some of the best companies to JV with are those whom you already have a preexisting relationship with. What if you don’t have any?
You can JV with those people who do! Put an ad in your local paper. Go online and network with people who do have these relationships. Then cut them in on the deal and let them introduce you. It’s the difference between a cold intro and a warm or hot one.
91) Start Small – Do you have a big idea for a deal but no relationship with the potential partner company? You can always start out small, with a test to validate your experience and the results before moving onto the big deal you had in mind. By the time your small deal is validated, you know have that relationship to move to the next level.
92) Let Them White Label You – Let’s assume you are an IT consulting firm, and you decide to JV with hardware companies to access their customer base and have them endorse your services. The trouble is, you want to JV with several hardware makers, and each one wants you to use only their hardware. How do you get around that and still have access to all of their lists and endorsements?
One way is to let them “white label” your services. In other words, when you consult for their customers, you represent that hardware company. So every time you go out, you change “shirts and hats,” so to speak. That way each hardware company has you representing them. Basically, they would sell your services as their own. Think of it as a “private label rights” situation, where you sell your works to other companies that they can in turn repackage as their own. If you’re looking to drum up more business, this one approach alone could bring you more than you can handle. In other words, you may have to hire more staff. It’s that powerful.
Listen, do you think all of the “Geek Squads” and such are all owned by the companies dispatching them? No, many are contracted. These are large-scale corporate deals, but nothing says you can’t do something similar on a smaller scale to start.
93) JV the Costs – Whether it’s an office you share, or a receptionist, or an administrative assistant, or standby conference call lines, you can make deals with other businesses that may not need a full-time receptionist, for example, to keep the costs down. A local school supply business shares an office with a surveyor. A small downtown Hartford mail order firm shares office space and conference rooms with an advertising agency. A New York investment consulting firm shares the mailing address with a Florida realtor who is also licensed in New York and wants a local presence. Things like office and mail services, help desk support, and other shared services are becoming more common. If you can’t find one that makes sense for your business, why not invent your own solution?
94) JV to Build Your List – Your list is your greatest asset, right? But if you only have 1,000 names where 50,000 or 100,000 is the norm (more is better, right?), then why not JV a list exchange. Bear with me. It’s true that you may not have much to offer to the list owner of 100,000+ names, when you only have 1,000. But it can be done.
One way to do this? Ok, let’s pretend that I convince a speaker to do a teleseminar with me that I know at least 2 or 3 other 100k+ list size owners would love to tell their subscribers about. Let’s couple that with the fact that these list owners want to build their lists even more. And you do too. You could make a deal with some of these list owners that whoever opts in to your teleseminar, you’ll do a solo mailing of a product of their choice to the entire list if they promote the call. Remember they’re delivering a message to their list that their list would be interested in, and they’re interested in getting the names of the other list owners that will opt-in. So you act as the middle-person and make all sides happy, while greatly adding to the size of your list.
I’ve personally done this, and I’ve got some big promotions on the way that will grow my list even further. All you need to do is to contact these people and let them know how they benefit from the arrangement. Will everyone welcome the deal? No. But there are plenty who will. And everyone wins (those are the best kinds of deals, by the way). This is one of those ideas that will work just as good online as they do offline.
95) School Deals – You can contact local community colleges and other educational learning institutes and offer to teach a course for free or for a salary. While you’ll teach them valuable skills, the logical outcome of your course is for them to purchase your full-course and other information products. While I haven’t personally done this, I know of others who have, and it’s a great way to both establish you as an expert and make money on the back-end as well. And the inevitable publicity doesn’t hurt, either.
96) Company Speeches/Seminars – Lots of companies give in-house speeches and seminars. Most charge a nominal sum. You can do the same, and sell your products and services. It’s a great way to get into a company and do your pitch.
