How important is it for your business to continue to grow consistently and constantly? How committed are you to making sure your business is capable and able to meet the needs of your market and thrive no matter what economic climate you are facing? What actions do you take to make sure your business stays in the black not the red?

When I begin to work with you, you are at the point where you are ready to take your commitment, focus and investment into your business to the next level. You realise that in order for your business to grow you need to take action that is going to make a real difference. This is when I step in and show you what this action needs to be.

As part of this process, some of the areas we work on are getting clear on what products you offer and what benefits and results this brings to your clients. We then use this information to develop what I call is your ‘Marketing Campaign’.

In your marketing campaign we identify what the key channels are that you can use to expand your business. There are many different key channels that you can use, and today I want to look at one of these key channels, and that is joint ventures. Joint Venture in it simpliest form is to enter a business agreement with another.

There are some of you, who jump at this thought, knowing instinctively that this is a great way to increase profit. But there are some, who for whatever reason, just don’t want to go down this path at all, as you just don’t like the concept of joint ventures. That’s fine as joint ventures can be a sticky creature, but really, if implemented correctly, it adds to your business rather than takes away.

I personally love joint ventures, and the relationships that I have formed from these ventures have always been supportive, productive, and longstanding. It’s not about what I can get, but more about what we can do together that supports our mutual business growth.

To help you select your future joint-venture partners, here are the strategies suggested in *Changing the Channel:

a) Look for strong partners – businesses that have significant skills and/or resources that you lack.
b) Make sure that your contribution to the deal is equal to your partner’s. An unbalanced partnership is not good for either party.
c) Avoid partners that you don’t trust.
d) If possible, limit the scope of the venture in the beginning and extend it as trust increases.
e) Make agreements simple, but put them in writing.
f) To avoid costly misunderstandings after the venture has begun, idenfity the value of each partner’s contributions at the outset.
g) In determining the value of those contributions, remember that fairness is not an exact number, but a range. Try to be flexible – and favour partners who demonstrate the same flexibility.
h) Establish clear protocols at the beginning for amending or unwinding the relationship if it fails to meet expectations.
i) Goodwill is essential for success. Goodwill means that you want your partner to benefit from the relationship as much as you do.
As I mentioned earlier, the idea is about developing strong, financially rewarding, and long-term relationships. You want these relationships to grow and be as painless as possible.

Now, before reaching this place, there are a number of factors you will need to put in place, and one in particular is not to reach out before you have your idea or product ready. If you contact a joint venture partner too early, you may in fact damage the relationship before you begin. But that is a whole seperate article in itself!

So if you are interested in pursuing this with me, please send an email to admin@debpilgrim.com with 'Joint Venture' in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you.

"Changing the Channel - 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business" by Michael Masterson & MaryEllen Tribby
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