How To Create Satisfying Joint Venture Partnerships

Creating partnerships in your business is critical to helping you get your name in front of more of your ideal clients, prospects and leads. But how do you select the best partners? And what happens when you select the partners from "hell"? (Ok, I'm being a bit dramatic, but stay with me).

Having experienced both, I'm committed to helping you create awesome partnerships in your business.

In our quest to learn more to bring our clients and business, we're presented with a golden opportunity to sample other business owners programs and products. In this way, we get to see them in action, determine if they're committed to the success of their clients or solely focused on creating a sale. When you uncover the business owner who is of service, you may find that they will become your best kind of partner - joint venture or affiliate for your business.

One of my best partners is a woman whose service I've used for my own business and therefore have seen the quality of her work and since we had to work together on the result I wanted, I got to know her really well. And she got the same insight with me. As a result, we established a true friendship and alliance with our businesses. We now promote one another without even asking! That's a partnership you want to nurture and support.

By contrast, I've had some "interesting" partnerships that have served as awesome lessons for "do NOT rinse and repeat". In both instances, we were able to get to know one another through social media. I had "followed" them to see the kind of information they shared and were impressed with their clarity, message and following. And so, partnering on a teleseminar to share their knowledge with my community seemed a great start. Well…

One backed out of the planning session for the call. Good thing. She might not have shown up at all!! The other used the call to "sell" more than provide content, even though we had a plan.

And so what have I learned that I want you to benefit by? The major difference I observed between the partnerships that have gone well and those that haven't is the length of the "date."

Spending more time getting to know the business owner, seeing them in action is key. If you can, purchase even a low-end produce from them so that you can experience their customer service. If you get a sense from the interaction coupled with the product that they are of "like mind" when working with clients, then you can and should engage them on a personal level. Get to know them. Who are they outside of running their business? What kinds of activities do they like to engage in? Who else have they partnered with? Can you participate in programs where they are working jointly with a partner already? That interaction will give you insight to the kind of partner they are.

Listen, I'm not saying that you can't find great partners by interaction on social media, in fact, I know of people who do and have. The key as I've mentioned is getting well past the "dating stage" and deeply into the relationship before you create your business partnership. Otherwise, you may have to invest in a costly "divorce" and loss of business credibility. And who needs that, right?