I've been away from the forum these past few days (vacationing) and I opened up several of my private messages in my inbox. Of course, there was another request for a Joint Venture from someone I didn't know.

I keep track of all these requests and even have a folder on my PC for them. It was my 73rd JV request in a row this year that basically went like this (you can tell me what's wrong with this approach):

"Hi there Rod, I'm Joe. I've got a new ebook I'd like you to review. Then you can join my affiliate program, I'll pay you a whopping 60%, ...........contact me if you're interested.

Joe"

Now, I'm not writing this to make fun of "Joe". Not at all. What I wanted to do was give you a different point of view and it might help you secure that elusive JV deal. I don't know who Joe is and I have no idea if he knows me or who I am. But if I'm getting 8 to 10 JV requests a month, who do you think I'll end up choosing?

* I'm going to pick people that I've done business with before because they've proven to me what they're made of. Let's be honest here, I'd rather do business with my friends or people who have proven to me that they know what they're doing.

* I'm going to pick people that have the numbers. Is their product proven in the market place yet? (Remember, the smart JVers have these numbesr ahead of time.) How many sales for every 100 visitors? Every 1,000? Did you at least test this using PPC? Article marketing? Some type of advertising?

* All things created equal, I'm going to go with the higher commission. (Hint: In order for me to land my first JV partner, I offered a "whopping" 100% commission. I was honest about the WHY and though I got a lot of "no's" I eventually got a "yes". Think Col. Sanders - that guy sold his chicken recipe while living out of his car and hearing over 1,000 "no"s, that guy is my freakin' hero).

* I'm going to pick marketers that make it dead-a** easy for me to promote their product or service. Even if they have a broadcast email that they share with all their affiliates, I can still take it, change it to suite my needs, and it's still made my life a heck of whole lot easier.

* I'm going to pick marketers that respect my time. Chances are, I might have other JV requests ahead of them, so if I say "contact me in 3 months" I'm not putting them off. I really do need those 3 months! (Hint: I've done JVs with people who replied with "thank you for reading my email, I would very much like to stay in touch with you." They were genuine about it and did check up on me from time to time. They asked my permission if they could send me their newest numbers in about 3 months or so. For me, this level of perseverance and relationship-building goes a long way with me.

* Honesty goes a looong way. I JVed with a 22 year old Warrior who contacted me with a short 4-5 paragraph message that stated he was a total newbie who had created a product, used PPC to promote it, made SOME money, and was looking to land his first JV deal. He asked for help in a very honest way. A few months later, we worked out a JV deal that made him a nice sum of money in just a few days. Honesty goes a long way.

* Business & Networking 101. A few weeks ago Willie Crawford made an excellent post about marketers like Reese, Filsaime, etc. and how HARD they worked at building relationships, creating their own pool of marketing experts / partners, etc. I'm amazed at how few people who contact me even know how to use the words "Hello", "Thank you", "Good afternoon", "Let's talk on the phone", "I'd like to stay in touch", etc. What ever happened to just plain old good business sense?

Find out your potential JV partner's sweet / weak spot. Mine is talking on the phone, though there's a rumor out there somewhere that making money is important too (tongue-in-cheek). If someone is willing to talk with me on the phone I'm far more inclined to talk to them then some anonymous email. Some people insist on only talking via email...sorry, but that puts up a red flag for me, even if there's no reason for it. Remember the next lady or next guy is going to want to talk on the phone or at least talk via IM chat.

* Arrogance doesn't work either. I've had people contact me calling me crazy because they're a "multi-millionaire" or they can help me make thousands of dollars. I love it when I hear "don't you know who I am?" (actually, those make me burst out laughing). I've even been called some bad names because I would not accept their poorly conceived JV. It goes both ways. How do you know that I'm not as wealthy as you? Or more so? Arrogance doesn't impress me, nor does it impress anyone else. That's not the way to start off any business relationship.

* What makes you stand out? In the sea of emails and IMs and phone calls of JV requests that are out there, what makes your offer stand out? Really think about that one. You might have to get really creative. Here's how I landed another JV deal when I first got started back in late 90s. I offered this marketer in a non-IM niche original content because I noticed that he was asking for it for a fee. I told him that I read Rich Dad Poor Day by Robert Kiyosaki when he asked me why I would do it for free. I wanted to prove to him how serious I was about landing my JV deal.

After he received a few articles from me, he was so impressed with the work he gave me another "assignment" to do. That JV deal is still earning me about an extra $200 a month. This marketer also introduced me to several of his friends. Those connections put another six figures in my pocket over the years.

Here's why making yourself stand out works so well; there is a sea of mediocrity out in the market place. If you're willing to work a little harder, be a little more persistent, be a little more creative, focus on building relationships (sometimes it does take time), you're going to stick out from the 95% that don't do any of this. Then it's just you and the other 5% that have the same outlook and attitude.

Here's one last example: every once in a while you will see a knock-your-socks-off WSO. You can tell the person put a lot of time into it, their product is top notch, and they charge like $7, 9, 14, or whatever for it. I've had some high profile marketers buy my WSOs before. Remember, they're watching. They're looking. If you approach what you post here, what you offer here, and what you do ANYWHERE with a long-term mindset, you'll eventually get to the point where you'll have JV requests knocking down your door.

My 2 cents for this week,

Rod "It-Wasn't-The-Coffee-This-Time!" Cortez

Article by Rod Cortez

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