Initiating A Joint Venture

A joint venture is a mutually beneficial arrangement between two or more businesses or individuals. It is easily explained with an example.

Imagine that you just completed a great product on knitting patterns and techniques. You have a great product, but no list or subscriber base to recommend it to. After doing some research, you contact Jill’s Knitting supply Company. She has a large customer base and has been in business for five years. You contact Jill via email or phone and propose a joint venture. She will send your product information to her list and you and Jill will split the resulting profits.

It’s a win-win situation and everybody benefits. You and Jill will each make some money and Jill’s subscribers will get access to a great product. Of course, there are some details along the way:

You need to have a good sales page.

You need to have a process in place where buyers can download your product.

You need to know the conversion rate of visitors to sales. That is, out of 100 people that visit your sales page, on average, how many of them buy your product. This figure is important because potential joint partners will want to know this information before they commit to do business with you. If you just developed your product and do not have this information, make sure that your potential joint venture partner is aware of that fact. While it is true, you may find it more difficult to find a partner under these circumstances, you must have an honest and open relationship with all of your business associates. By fudging the facts just one time, you could destroy your reputation and ruin any future business opportunities.

When you decide to do your first joint venture, you need to do a little research. Learn about the business and person you are considering doing a joint venture with. How long have they been in business and how long have they been marketing to your niche? Is their website brand new or have they been around for a while? Do you feel comfortable with them? Would your product benefit their customers?

After completing your research, it is time to contact them with your proposal. Tell them about yourself, your product, how it is converting, and how it might benefit their customers. Offer to send them a copy of your product. Be professional and do not try to hype your product or say that it will make them rich. Be absolutely honest and up-front. If they pass on the opportunity, do not be discouraged, move on and get started on your next proposal.