Hire a Consultant to Find the Right JV Marketing Partners for a Small Business

Small businesses can attain incredible rates of growth with the addition of the perfect joint venture partner however this can take a considerable amount of time and internal resources to pursue new partner opportunities. Small business owners may want to leverage hiring an expert business development consultant to do the research and the “meet and greets” required in developing a new potential business relationships. Make sure the consultant working with your business is in tune with the dynamics of your company and all your core business processes so they may serve your interests to the best of their ability. It may not be easy to hand over these responsibilities during the early stages of developing a joint venture business partner, but for many small business owners using outside support allows them to focus on continuing to service their existing customers, focus on proven lead generating channels and existing marketing activities. This way when the time is right you can meet with vetted businesses that are also seeking new partners and joint venture opportunities.

Finding the Right Partners

If an outside consultant is going to be successful in finding the right joint venture marketing partner for your small business it is critical that they really understand your business. This goes much further than just reading the website, reviewing product spec documents, and having a meeting or two with the executive team. It is best that they spend a day or two in your facility and meet with all of the team members that impact a successful business transaction as well as the individuals that are responsible for providing customer service. For a small business this can be handled in a day or two with several meetings. Not only will your outside consultant be fully prepared to represent your company to potential partners they should have a good understanding of the company culture and include that in their assessment of who might be the right partner for the business.

The biggest reason most businesses even larger firms reach out to professional business development consultants is there existing list of contacts. It is wise to hire a consultant that has recent work experience in your industry or desired geographical region. Having someone that can meet with your team and quickly start making calls to set up preliminary meetings to discuss a business opportunity that they think will fit well for both  companies will lead to quickly closing a partnership and moving forward with the implementation phase of a new joint venture marketing partnership.

Compensating Business Development Consultants

Compensation for business development consultants will vary from person to person and what skills they bring to the table. Financial compensation for a consultant with high level business contacts at a specific company will differ greatly than a deal that is put together for a consultant to do research and additional legwork to identify and approach the right partners. The former may want to see a much higher revenue share for the deals that they close whereas the latter may be more inclined to be paid an hourly or on a fixed monthly rate with a smaller bonus for each closed deal. Each business is different and so it is highly recommended that before moving forward with a consultant for business development that the person in charge of the company’s finances, run some basic projections and financial numbers to determine what can be offered to a consultant that can quickly close new deals.

Business consultants can assist a small business grow quickly through establishing joint venture marketing partnerships with the right partners that fit the company culture and can deliver to their existing customer base. Most small business owners need to focus their time and energy on servicing existing business and marketing campaigns thus hiring an outside consultant for joint venture support is a great way to not add additional stress on a sales and executive team. Consider using outside business development support the next time your small business is looking to grow into a new market or geographical region and hire individuals that already know the area and can quickly put together a list of hot leads for potential partners.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Reach New Customers & Potential Partners Through Existing Business

Small business owners that develop relationships with their best customers can receive excellent referrals in the form of new business as well as partnerships with other companies within the industry. Marketing can be very expensive and with limited budgets many small businesses can gain an advantage by tapping into the rolodex of their customers whenever possible. Many people that you interact with on a regular basis during your daily business activities will be more than willing to make an introduction or referral, but you have to ask. I’ve found that most business relationships can lead to at least a few new opportunities and sometimes many more so it’s wise to take the time for lunches, dinners, sporting events, rounds of golf, and other casual activities that can help build your ecosystem of business professionals willing to make introductions and referrals.

Develop Individual Relationships with Key Customers

Taking the time to build individual relationships with your best customers can be advantages for many reasons including; finding new clients, creating introductions to new business opportunities and gaining referrals that close. Every customer interaction is a potential link to a new customer so make sure you take the time to educate consumers about opportunities to make referrals and the discounts or cash payments they may receive for making an introduction or referral. A typical activity that should be done on a regular basis is to send out emails about product updates and new services that also mention the opportunity for making referrals to new customers.

It’s important that you are close with your key customers and business partners that provide the bulk of your referral business and this is best done in a setting away from the office or in traditional meetings. Key clients and partners should be wined and dined and taken care of based on the importance of the role they play in the growth of your business. There are many ways to show appreciation to a key person in your professional ecosystem. Business referrals and revenue shares are always appreciated and a great way to solidify a business relationship with a customer that helps expand your business. Additional methods for rewarding contributing players include; a nice lunch on your tab or maybe tickets to a sporting event that show your appreciation without having to directly dole out cash. Other gestures that can be much appreciated are gift certificates for nice restaurants in your local area or a weekend getaway at a nearby resort. Again make sure to reward your business ecosystem, but do so according to the value they provide for the growth of your businesses.

Ask for the Business

Many small company owners are fearful to ask directly for someone’s business when it’s actually the best way to do it. If you don’t ask, people will often think that you’re busy, have plenty of deal flow or not actively seeking new clients. Consequently the people that have great connections for you will simply not offer even though they are willing to help. Small business owners need to routinely ask customers and business associates for client referrals. By keeping a log of your communications with different customers and business relationships in your CRM system you will not need to worry about feeling like you are asking the same person too frequently. It’s critical that you remain in the forefront of your business acquaintances’ minds in order for them to remember you and your company when they interact with someone that could use your product or service. Send birthday cards, make occasional calls and drop by to say “hello” to key customers and people your business interacts with in order to keep those relationships fresh and relevant.

Every small business owner needs to maximize their business and customer relations in order to reach the next customer or next hot lead. Make sure to reward your ecosystem for providing quality leads that close and don’t be afraid to ask for business or client referrals.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Positive Customer Support Attracts More Business from Existing Clients

A joint venture marketing partnership gets a business and their line of products and/or services in front of new customers, but failure to execute satisfactorily will kill the deal. If you are unable to properly service the inflow of customers and ensure satisfied clients than the partnership flow of hot leads will dry up and many partners may walk away from the deal if they feel customers have been impacted negatively.

The biggest fear of any joint venture partner is how there customers will be treated from the start of the sales cycle to the delivery of the goods or services and any issues that may arise in between. No one wants to be the person that recommends a company only for that person to have an unpleasant experience. This needs to be a number one priority for heavily sales focused organizations that have teams constantly pushing for the next deal to close. Create processes in the exchange between partners to make sure customers are followed up with on specific time intervals post sales transaction to ensure any issues are resolved quickly and efficiently.

Ticket System for Issues

Depending on the size of the partner businesses and the number of potential customers it is wise to have a ticket system in place for reporting issues. This system should be made available to all partners for the purpose of responding to customer service issues as they arise in order to make sure they’re handled in an efficient and timely manner. There’s nothing worse then being a customer with a problem and feeling like you are contacting a black hole. Create an online email form where customers can fill out requests or ask questions. Make sure the online ticket system has an automated response to reassure the customer that their issue has been received and will be addressed soon.

Log Problems & Update During Meetings

Logging all customer problems should be mandatory in the partnership agreement so that both parties can improve the customer experience. Both partner companies should be seeking clients that will actively refer their business based on a smooth and professional customer service experience. During meetings with partners resolving customer complaints and problems with service should be addressed without delay and if there is a string of issues that stem from a single problem do not wait to address the problem at a later date get it fixed immediately. It can be easy to avoid making changes to personal or procedures, but that’s why any partnership needs to start slow and work out any kinks between the two companies servicing the customer together.

Reward Excellent Customer Service

If you have an employee that is repeatedly acknowledged by customers as especially helpful, make sure to reward that employee in a way that fits your company’s culture. Whether it’s a small bonus or gift certificate, employees that go above and beyond to provide excellent service deserve recognition for the work they’re putting in. Resolving customer problems and dealing with issues that the sales team may have not been clear about can be difficult on a customer support team member. For this reason it’s extremely important to do everything possible to make sure the marketing and sales pitches are consistent across the board.

Take the time to make consumers feel special and you’ll be rewarded with long term customers that ultimately assist you in attracting new business by their referrals. Failure to provide consistent and excellent customer service will only cost your business in the long run by losing crucial customer referrals. Spend time with your front line of customer support team to understand the issues that they’re facing repeatedly to try and resolve them from occurring altogether in the future.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Fix Small Business Joint Venture Marketing Problems Quickly

It can be impossible to stop unknown problems from occurring with a joint venture marketing relationship, but as a small business owner it’s critical to identify problems and either address them or take the appropriate actions to terminate the relationship and focus on more fertile ground. There are several critical areas of a business partnership to be conscious of at all times including: customer service and satisfaction, tracking referrals, accounting and revenue shares and promoting a positive brand image to the market in general. If an issue arises in any of these areas, it is absolutely necessary to spend the time to fix the root cause to eliminate it. Otherwise the right solution may be to simply identify new partners and move on.

Customers Satisfaction

At the end of the day it’s always about making sure that customers are happy and feel that they’re getting good value for what they are purchasing. Regardless, whichever side of the partnership your business is on it is critical to focus on providing great customer service. If you’re opening up your company’s rolodex of existing customers, you don’t want to jeopardize future business for yourself because the new JV marketing partner you’re introducing does not perform as expected. During the early stages of starting a new business relationship it is very important to test the waters early by referring a few loyal customers that will provide you with honest feedback about their experience with the new partner. Send over a couple of “new” leads as well and have a person within your organization act as the customer to get a real understanding of how the partner treats their clients. There is nothing worse than sending over a group of customers to a new partner only to receive emails and calls with negative experiences from those customers. This reflects on you as a business owner and can be avoided by properly implementing the new partnership.

Track Everything

Make sure that the partner is tracking referrals, new leads, products ordered, products delivered, products returned, marketing campaigns, ROI, brand reputation and any important data points related to your industry. It is very difficult to measure the true value of a joint venture marketing relationship without this information. You will have to rely on an open business partner to get many of those details and keep an open line of communication. By tracking everything related to each of your business partners it’s easier to accomplish the required accounting and to come to firm conclusions about which relationships are the most profitable and provide the greatest return. This will let you prioritize your time and resources for future activities and identify partners it may be better off to just walk away from. It is recommended that you monitor the market in general and understand what the market says about your business partners. As a business owner it can be very frustrating to have a partner do something unwise that creates a lot of negative press as this can reflect on your company, especially if you’re very active together with co-branded marketing.

Small business owners need to be prepared to spend the necessary time to monitor each business relationship and collect the required data during the month to accurately assess the success or failure of the partnership. When you identify a major issue related to servicing customers or accounting for the referrals that are being sent to a partner then set up a meeting to fix the issue as soon as possible or move away from doing business with the partner in the future. Allowing a negative partnership to linger just because you have already done all of the work to put the relationship together can be detrimental to the business and the brand for the long haul.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Integrate With Business Partners to Get New Clients

Small business owners that are looking for their big break in reaching new clients quickly are wise to develop joint venture partnerships with companies that can instantly integrate their product into existing offerings. This is the type of partnership that will limit the amount of interaction a company will have with the end customer, however it drives sales numbers so it’s worth the loss in branding to partner with a top tier company that can really accelerate growth quickly.

Be conscious of who you partner with in these types of relationships. If you have developed a truly unique product the company you do business deals with may see you as a potential target for acquisition. Be sure you have the proper intellectual property documentation filed. This is a good thing for most business owners, however even at the earliest stages of a company with unique intellectual property you need to be aware of your exit strategies and how structuring a business deal leads you down different paths.

Path of Least Resistance

Going to market and acquiring customers is expensive. The purpose of a joint venture relationship is to leverage the capability of a business partner to bring new clients that are actively looking to buy a product or service. However, sometimes the path of least resistance for quickly closing new business is to integrate with a partner and allow them to sell their clients a solution that includes both you and your partner’s products and services with no difference seen by the customer.

By allowing a partner to OEM or white label your product it reduces the amount of training and education required for effective selling to new clients. Bundling a product into an existing offering allows a partner to increase their value to their customers and at the same time reward you for your innovation. These types of relationships also reduce the overhead that is required for even basic tasks like accounting and customer service. While there may be some duties required, if issues arise with the product or service these will generally be dealt with between the two companies independent of the customer.

Prepare for Growth

When doing an OEM deal with a product for a business partner that has the Rolodex of customers to quickly sell a product or service it’s important to anticipate and plan for the growth. However; it is critical for most small businesses to time the addition of new employees with the actual time they are needed to fill in. Temporary hires can always be found in a pinch through a temp agency depending on the tasks your business and the partnership will require. It’s crucial that you have a clear and open dialogue with the business partner and to start the roll out slow with a pilot program in order to give your business time to ramp up and keep up with demand.

The plan for your businesses growth if doing business with a larger Fortune 500 type company is essential to the success of the partnership. There will need to be funds available to service the demand if the business partnerships success increases faster than anticipated. Some revenue cycles for larger companies may be longer than a small business is capable of operating under without having the necessary cash for pay roll and new costs associated to the growth occurring with new clients.

Find partners that can integrate your company seamlessly and the chances for a successful partnership go up dramatically. The reduced costs involved with an OEM type relationship will increase the ROI on each relationship versus other deals that may have significant capital investments in marketing and customer support duties.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

What Should Be In Your Business Partner Training Binder?

When forming a new joint venture marketing partnership it’s always a good idea to put together a training binder that has information about your company, the products and services the business provides and key details that are relevant to the business partnership. Training a business partner to execute the partnership in the right manner is critical to successfully finding new clients. Here’s a short overview of the standard documents that should be included in a binder that is provided to your business partner.

A binder that is provided to key executives and the one that is handed off to a person that is just involved in one element of a business partnership should be adjusted accordingly, however it is important that key individuals have a clear understanding of your business and the details of the relationship.

Binder Documents

• Executives should have a copy of the partnership agreement included in the binder.

• List of contacts based on role within partnership. It is always good to have at least two contacts for each vital link inside of a business partnership in order to resolve critical problems when needed.

• Current and future co-marketing campaign budgets should be included depending upon recipient.

• Flow charts for exchange of data, client information, client referrals, sales information, customer service requests and any other specific part of business transactions that occur based on the joint venture. Only include what each party requires.

• Company information, basic overview of company.

• Product and Services information. In depth information about the company’s product and services, pricing, etc.

• Incentives. Depending on the role within the company each joint venture partnership should include bonus incentives for employees that perform and excel in their roles of executing a successful partnership. For sales organizations this may already be included however; other positions that require additional work to perform the new duties should experience rewards of a successful business venture as well.

• Additional document. Depending on the businesses involved there may be additional information that companies wish to share with each other including demographic data, client information, and many more details.

Be sure to use a cloud based document storage service and keep a copy of your training binder available for all parties that require it.

The training binder is intended to serve the purpose of reinforcing the partnership agreement and act as an implementation tool for kick starting the business relationship. When distributing the binder to the appropriate people there should also be a timeline of when activities will begin and the flow charts will be followed. Create a visually appealing template that can be used for that specific partnership and any new clients or businesses that join the partnership in the future. Take the time necessary to clearly write out the details needed in the training binder and the chances for success will increase.

A well trained business partner will understand your business thoroughly and be able to sell your company and its products or services to new clients, which is ultimately the point in creating a joint venture marketing relationship in the first place. A well trained sales team that has been provided the right information will always deliver better results than the sales team that is given minimal or incomplete information and asked to educate themselves concerning the company’s products and services. By training your partners in a consistent manner, even when personnel change occurs during the course of the partnership and it will continue to remain productive and profitable due to the core training you have in place.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

How to Get More Clients: Hire a Business Development Expert

If your business has been struggling to get more clients in the last few months or year then consider hiring a business development expert that can find the right joint venture marketing partners that can deliver hot leads to your sales team. Many businesses can find themselves in a rut where it’s really difficult to acquire new customers. A joint venture marketing partnership can be the right strategy to get moving forward again. A business development pro will understand the process of putting together a solid business deal that can grow your company. If you feel that building a network of business partners can help grow your business in ways that are unachievable by yourself then find the right consultant or individual that you can bring in-house and do the deals that will get your company more clients.

Hire the Right Person

Hiring a business development person is different than finding a sales person for your team. While a business development expert can always play the role as sales person the opposite is not always true. A person that specifically focuses on business development will understand how to communicate potential business deals to perspective businesses in the right manner. They will understand that it is critical that a strong relationship is forged between the individuals doing the business deal and the company employees that will be involved in implementing the partnership.

Hiring a consultant or consulting firm to act as a business development team for you company is a great route for many small businesses. Many business that do not have the internal man power and capabilities to identify, engage, and do the business deals necessary for growth can benefit from a consultant or consulting firm that has access to the business decision makers or the experience necessary to reach out to companies and develop the relationships required to put together a great business deal.

While a consultants hourly rate may be higher than you’re comfortable with a deal can be put together much faster by a professional than someone trying for the first time to structure a business partnership. Consultants often will require an hourly rate or fixed salary as well as some kind of bonus structure for placing deals together which may be a single payout for each business deal that is signed or a revenue share that is paid out over a period of time based on the amount of business that is ultimately generated from the relationships. Most consultants will not work for pure commission deals unless they believe that a deal can be put together extremely fast and will generate immediate revenue. Most will want a cash payment coupled with a bonus structure. Companies that want to execute business deals with larger fortune 500 type companies should always highly consider hiring an expert that has preexisting relationships with the company that you want to do a deal with. It’s common to hire a consultant for one specific business partnership.

Managing a Business Development Team

Managing a business development team member is similar to a sales team member in many respects. It is important that as a business owner you control and own the data that is developed by the team member by making them use the corporate customer relationship management system and uploading any data and reports on potential business partners to the corporate document server. Failing to do this a common problem with companies and their sales teams and even more so with business development professionals as the relationships they have and bringing to the table are often held tightly and not given up easily.

If you are hiring an outside consultant there may be specific clauses in the agreement about who owns what data. This is something to be aware of as it can be very frustrating to be a month or two in developing a new business partner and have a person leave and take the contact information and data with them leaving you in a tough place to continue. It’s critical to recognize that a business development team member is going to need to spend time out of the office meeting with companies, going to business events and other functions that may be fruitful in finding and meeting the right business partners, however if you are paying for someone to be at an event then make sure the business cards that are collected get scanned and retained by the company.

If you have decided that in order to get more clients your business needs to develop strategic business partners than consider outsourcing the work to a consultant or hiring a business development expert in order to speed up the process. Avoid taking team members off their existing duties or forcing yourself to forge the relationships by yourself and add more duties to your already exhausting schedule.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Attract New Clients with Regional Partners

If your business is looking to attract new clients through joint venture partnerships, identifying businesses that have significant market share in a specific region is an excellent way to tap new markets that otherwise are impenetrable. Leveraging partners in hot markets whether that it’s a city, state, or country is the fastest way to reach communities of potential new clients.

Developing a regional or locally focused strategy for joint venture marketing partnerships will generally mean working with smaller businesses versus large national or international corporations which require specific techniques to make successful. Small business owners may be less inclined to risk hurting their existing client base by introducing a partner’s products or services but due to their specific market intelligence and the close relationships with your target customers, once a partnership is crafted new business should close quickly.

Finding Regional Partners

If your company has made the decision to attempt to attract new clients with regional joint venture marketing partners than it’s important to create a database of potential partners. There are several sources that can be used including online and offline methods. A few of the best locations to find information about what companies exist in the markets you are seeking are:

Yelp - There is loads of business listed in Yelp. Search for the types of companies that are perfect fits for your business based on the industry and then by city for the regions that you are pursuing. Make sure and review the ratings and comments about the business.

 

Trades Shows – Finding regional partners by attending industry trade shows is an excellent way to not only find which small business exist in the space, but it’s also a great opportunity to meet and discuss potential partnerships with business development professionals that often attend trade shows for companies. Reviewing trade show websites and looking through the list of attending businesses can also help you identify which regional businesses are out there.

 

Outsource Business Development - Hire a local person to assist with the legwork of finding the right potential partners. By working with a person that resides in the location that you want to take your business into is an excellent way to tap local knowledge and get personal introductions and referrals to likely candidates.

 

Benefits for Small Business Partners

Make sure that you have fully thought out what the benefits are that a partnership with your business grants to a small business partner. Small businesses are likely to be extremely cost conscious concerning exploring a potential new partnership. Most small businesses will not have a person that is dedicated entirely to creating partnerships with other business and so you’ll be taking time away from a sales person or executive management right away when discussing a partnership strategy. Due to this fact it is vital that you have a carrot to offer to small business owners so they can see how a new relationship will generate revenue quickly. Partnerships not able to attack “low hanging fruit” which result in immediate ROI for a small business will be less likely to succeed or turn into a long lasting relationship.

Including marketing support resources will help a small business owner look favorably on your idea of developing a business relationship. While it is essential that you attract new clients for your own business, a partner will often be looking for opportunities to attract new business for themselves as well. That is of course unless the revenue share involved in the partnership is so good that it does not matter, however most small businesses will want to grow there number of clients as well. Marketing support can be as limited as just providing the basic marketing collateral already printed and prepared to be handed out to existing clients.

Finding the right local partners is a great way to build a roster of new clients in a specific region, but make sure that your small business partners are well taken care of and can see an ROI in a short time frame. If you can deliver to a small business partner it can be your greatest ally in a new market, however failing to be conscious of their specific interests and resources can see a partnership deteriorate before getting off the ground.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Attract New Business with a Monthly or Quarterly Partner Promotion

Attracting new business through a joint venture marketing partner can be achieved with a higher rate of success when a special price or unique product offering is available or exclusive offerings that are only available to clients of a joint venture marketing partner can be pitched by sales teams to their relationships. Discuss potential promotions with JV marketing partners and be open to their suggestions about potential promotions that will work well with planned marketing campaigns. Customers always appreciate a good deal, so use special promotions to acquire new business that is being serviced by a competitor or previously just not ready to make a buy decision.

Channels for Promotions

The following are excellent channels to use to promote a special product or service discount.

Email - Sending an email to a joint venture partner’s existing customer base should be part of any new promotion strategy. Collect emails from people that visit your website or read your companies blog and include them in your email blasts for deals.

Facebook / Twitter - Spread the news about monthly or quarterly special offerings through the social networks. Include specials or unique offerings that are only available to your online community at Facebook and Twitter.

Internal Contests - Reward sales team members of your company or from your JV partners based on their performance. Whether its cash or a nice gift, giving something special to the sales person that sells the most of a monthly or quarterly promotion can help drive more success from the team as a whole.

Online Deal Shopping Sites – If the products and services are consumer facing then consider listing any deals developed with a joint venture marketing partner on sites like SlickDeals.net or FatWallet.com. Both sites allow promotions and special coupons to be listed and shared with the public.

Attract New Business

While many business partnerships use promotions to market to an existing customer base and to extract more revenue from the customers that the business already has, promotions are always a good reason to contact customers to make sure that the business is at the forefront of their customer’s minds and to continue to build strong relationships with them. However; when using a promotion specifically to attract new business, it’s wise to include some of the following techniques in your offering in order to win over new potential customers. While existing customers are always looking for savings or a unique offer, new customers are seeking a major change from their existing providers or they are new to the market and need product education and additional hand holding that an established client may not need.

Free - Include something for free in your offer regardless if it ends up being a minor detail in the overall product or service. A complimentary assessment or small item can get the new customer relationship off to a good start.

Match or Beat Competition – Promising to match or beat the competition’s price on similar items or services is an excellent way to acquire customers that are currently dissatisfied with their existing solution and open for a change even if the savings or discount is only for a limited time frame.

Time Sensitive – Using timing in a promotion can be done in a couple of different ways. Place a specific trigger date that the offering is valid through. The other way to leverage time sensitivities when attracting new business is to provide a new customer with a special discount that only lasts for a certain period of time as a reward for becoming a new customer.

Incorporate the right strategies inside of your monthly and quarterly promotions and it will be much easier for you and your JV marketing partners to attract new business. By making sure the promotions are tailored to the needs of customers that are looking for new solutions or opening to changing what they currently have, your promotions will be more likely to resonate with people that will become new business. Make sure if you’re doing promotions with business partners to extract business from their existing customer base, saving time and energy to be focused on obtaining new clients.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Find New Clients with Strategic Marketing Plan

At the start of the year a priority for every business team that has a significant amount of joint venture marketing business should be to review all existing partners and develop strategic marketing plans to find and acquire new clients with there existing partners or identify new partners to replace dead weight. It’s important for business owners to keep track of specific metrics year over year in order to evaluate the business thoroughly to factor any new strengths or weaknesses into annual planning.

Set time aside to meet with all valuable channels in-person and explore new potential opportunities that exist now or will be available soon. Evaluate details about successful business transactions and review the finer details with your business partners in order to identify strategies that can attract similar new clients. Annual strategic planning can be a fun and exciting time as a business owner that is exploring new opportunities for growth as there is little more satisfying than identifying a new opportunity, building the marketing plans, and capturing the market.

Year End Review

As the year wraps up, it’s always a good idea to compile all of the relevant information about the activities of the business so that you’re prepared to analyze the company’s success and plan strategies for finding new clients. The following are a few questions that should always be at the top of the list for all business owners during their review. How is the financial situation of the business? Have employees achieved goals that were set? Were there any major partner successes or failures of the past year? What was the worst and best marketing campaign of the past year? Are there any visible opportunities with existing partners that can close business quickly if pursued?

Larger companies will have more formal quarterly and annual review meetings corresponding to financial reporting activities, however for most small business year end reviews and annual planning activities often are best around December / January time frame.

Partner Strategies

Based on the successes and failures of marketing activities with partners in the previous year, it is important to always focus on areas of strength to increase the number of new clients that can be reached going forward. Working closer with your business channels to identify the right marketing angles that work best to close business fast is necessary for solidifying strategies that work.

Many small businesses get in the habit of sitting back and not getting too involved with a partner. If it’s obvious that one partner is getting more deals closed in a specific region than another partner, identify what is being done and inform the less performing partner and make it mandatory that they adjust the marketing strategy. Otherwise find a new partner that will implement the plan.

Incorporate social media into your strategic marketing planning for the business as an additional way to approach new clients. Many small business owners have avoided using social media sites. If your company is in an industry that’s not a perfect fit for social media like a consumer facing brand or a business like a restaurant, then there’s a good chance that there is a less competition to be found by people interested in your industry.

Take the time to learn about Twitter and making Youtube videos. Start leveraging social media marketing as a cost effective part of your joint venture marketing activities. Working with a partner that is open to doing co-branded social media campaigns is a great way to reach a partners established online community.

New Market Trends

While preparing a strategic marketing plan for your business it is important to include any specific trends in the industry or market in general that impact the success or failure of your business. Continue to evaluate the market and competition to be able to really provide a product or service that meets the customer’s expectations at a competitive price.

Acquiring new clients is never an easy task, so make sure and review successes and failures with all of your joint venture marketing activities and be willing to change when needed. Work with your business partners and continue to evaluate the opportunities that are available to your business. Implementing a fully prepared strategic marketing plan is a great experience and well rewarded so do the research and analysis to find the best marketing approaches to continue growing the business.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

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