I get dozens of JV requests every week from people asking me to promote their products. Some of those are great products that have made me thousands of dollars. If done right, joint ventures are the easiest and most effective ways to rake in tons of sales for your products in a short period of time. Hands down.
It’s simple – You’re leveraging somebody else’s readership and reputation – two of the most important aspects when it comes to information marketing. The only other thing that beats it is if you have your own audience of subscribers. But that doesn’t happen overnight so if you’re desperate for cash you want to shortcut your way to success, joint ventures are the way to go.
However, most JV proposals that I get in my inbox just plain suck and delete after reading the first sentence. Here are the five sure-fire ways that will get me to throw your JV request straight into the trash can. Don’t make those mistakes:
1. Not Personalizing The Email
Or worse – getting my name wrong (I’ve had people calling me John in their emails – not a very good first impression). Never use a template or mass-mailing software that emails out to 300 people at once; people can tell right away whether you’re doing an email blast, especially if your email begins with “Dear Guru” or “Dear Website Owner”.
Personalization is the key. Your email/proposal has to speak directly to the potential JV partner. If you’re contacting 300 people, then it means you got to send out 300 individual emails – yes, making money online actually takes HARD WORK. Do your homework first to find out a bit more about the person – heck if you can’t be bothered to go read my bio on my blog, how do you expect me to promote your product and make you millions tons of sales?
2. I Don’t Know You
Introduce yourself! Tell me who you are and let me get to know you. If I’ve been in some kind of relationship with you before (e.g. you’ve talked to me on Twitter, you’re an affiliate of mine, you’re a customer etc) then it’s much more likely for me to say “Yes”. Every successful joint venture starts with a friendship. Take the time to build a relationship and get on my radar before approaching me for a joint venture. It could be in the form of a conversation or doing a favor without expecting anything in return. That way you’re invoking the law of reciprocity. People like to work with those they know, like and trust.
3. What’s In It For Me?
You can talk on and on about yourself or your product. But in the end, joint ventures are about win/win situations. Yeah, you might get tons of sales for your products, but what do I get out of this deal? You’ve got to give incentives. Not just the standard 50% commission that everybody and their mamas are offering.
For example, when I went out to recruit partners for the launch of my book – eMillions – I offered 100% commission. You don’t see too many affiliate programs out there giving away all their profits so that caught their attentions. Obviously, you’ve got to know you’re metrics very well and have a solid backend system in place to be able to do that. More about that in a future post 
What’s your compelling reason or hook that differentiates you from the crowd? Some few ideas right off the top of my head:
- Reciprocal email mailings for their products?
- JV Contests? Prizes? (e.g. Macbook Pro for the partner that drives the most sales)
- Feature their products on your “Thank You Pages”?
- Offer your time to do an interview for their listeners? (providing them great content)
- Free exposure and publicity for them and their products?
4. So, Where’s The Product?
You’ve grabbed my attention, you come across as a genuine dude, you’ve offered me with great incentives. I’m on the verge of saying yes… but where’s the product? Heck, if you don’t give me access to the product then how am I suppose to provide a great recommendation to my subscribers telling them to buy your stuff?
5. Your Offer Is Crap
Make sure you have a quality product and a killer offer. I’ve made tons of mistakes in the past and one of those was recommending people products that turned out to be garbage. When I send people to someone, I want to know that they’re going to be looked after well – it’s my reputation on the line too. Ask yourself these questions:
- Are you offering a high quality product?
- Are you over-delivering value to your customers?
- Are you offering top-notch customer support?
- Does your salesletter convert?
- Do you have results to back your product up?
- Do you have results from people who have used your method/system?
Joint ventures are all about relationships – helping others and building trust. Master the art of networking with people and you’ll master the art of joint ventures. Master the art of joint ventures and you’ll master the art of making millions 
April 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Thank you for the information. I agree those are very good reasons not to read any further. At the very least, getting someone’s name correct is paramount.
adiaha´s last blog post..SOUL 2 SOUL: INDIA. ARIE & ANTHONY HAMILTON GO HARD ON TESTIMONY VOL. 2 & THE POINT OF IT ALL
[Reply]
April 13th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
True… relationship building is the key to successful joint ventures.
Also… too many people out there offer low quality products expecting big name gurus to help you promote it…
Do want to add one point… dont take rejections personally
[Reply]
April 13th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Can I add another one? For gosh sakes follow up. I received a really well-written, targeted email for a product that could actually benefit my readers. But when I replied, I got no response. It’s going to be tough to convince me of the quality of your service after that one.
[Reply]
April 13th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
One thing I really like and appreciate about being a TUK subscriber is the brief hand-crafted introduction to each post that I get in my inbox from you, Stanley. Yet another case in point that you are serious and committed about points 1 and 2. That personal touch is very nice as you are taking the time to over-deliver.
At the moment I have trimmed down my subscriptions to only about a half dozen blogs and TUK is rapidly becoming my favorite for that exact reason.
Back to #2, when I get hussled (may as well read “hassled”) by a total stranger it is a huge turn-off. Don’t care WHAT the offer is, you don’t just walk up to a person you are meeting for the first time at a party and try to sell them something. That is obviously a pretty tacky thing to do so why would a person do the same thing in an identical online situation? In my opinion, #2 is the worst offense and is grounds for an immediate delete/unfollow.
Michael Gaudet´s last blog post..MichaelGaudet: Parlez-vous francais? Skyaak http://bit.ly/tZ2i3 promises to be v interesting translated fr french to English based on body language
[Reply]
April 13th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
This is a great information. This will get me prepared for my JV prosposal. With your experiences, how many JVs should I approach for my product launch? Thank you Stanley and have a nice day.
Gerald Lum
Gerald Lum´s last blog post..Earn ‘n’ Earn
[Reply]
Josh Lam (10 comments) Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 3:31 am
It’ll depend on your product and how many sales you’re planning to have.
[Reply]
Gerald Lum (4 comments) Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Would it be a good idea to just offer exculsive offer to 1 JV only? I know there is good and bad points. Just couldn’t figure out.
Gerald Lum´s last blog post..Earn ‘n’ Earn
[Reply]
April 13th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I really enjoyed this post. I have been thinking of putting together my own product for some time and I want to do it all the right way. These tips, questions, are a great idea, looking forward to what else you have to teach!
Mary Green´s last blog post..Who is in my Rss Feeder?
[Reply]
April 13th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
This is the most useful info I have read all day, I am just writing out a plan to contact potential JV partners and I will be making some changes to my plan now thanks to reading this.
You just got yourself a new subscriber, looking forward to reading your future posts.
Paul
[Reply]
April 13th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Excellent Stanley,
I love this post. Concise and informative.
Keep up the good work! I will look forward to reading your future posts.
Samuel
[Reply]
April 14th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Good points all around! For me, it is likely I want it all to myself. Just being honest.
Blog Expert´s last blog post..3 Top Benefits of Shared Blogs
[Reply]
April 14th, 2009 at 3:23 am
I would look at every opportunity presented to you deeper than if someone gets your name wrong… Although wrong names 99 percent of the time mean SPAM.
[Reply]
April 14th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Any mail that comes to me and addresses my name wronlgy ,will lead me to delete it.
God article
Pradeep´s last blog post..Making Money online Blogs:My Pick
[Reply]
April 14th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Reasonable points, thanks for the informative reading
[Reply]
April 14th, 2009 at 10:47 am
actually joint venture is something that I have never done… and I don’t think I would even consider it…
Melvin´s last blog post..Happy Easter, What Have You Accomplished This Holy Week?
[Reply]
Stanley Tang (37 comments) Reply:
April 14th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Then you should. It’s one of the most powerful ways to make money online and shortcut your way to success
[Reply]
April 14th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
That is telling it like it is. Brutally honest. I hope that the morons who keep sending junk emails are reading your post and will take appropriate action. Thank you for saying it so well.
Nicole Price´s last blog post..Pamper Yourself… At a Discount
[Reply]
April 14th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Well, most people will do it for the right price! I mean, Jeremy from shoe money has written a post similar to this one. I have to tell you, they most top bloggers will market anyones crap as long as the money is right. there are only a few who tend to be ethical, and this is because they are either moral creatures and/or already have thousands coming in from other ads and offers. Not suprising enough
[Reply]
April 14th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Stanley,
Thank you, good solid imformation. If only others did the same.
[Reply]
Toronto personal injury (9 comments) Reply:
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:41 am
same question is mine if you got answer then also share with me.
[Reply]
April 15th, 2009 at 2:19 am
It will always be the best to strengthen relationship ventures with client, besides no one wants to loose money but rather gain it every way they can. But though thanks for this info!
Lester´s last blog post..Masters Seminar In Tampa..
[Reply]
April 15th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Nice infoe there.Also not to forget, a joinventure that looks like scam..
digitalmalay´s last blog post..Enabling mobile posting for your blogger blog
[Reply]
April 15th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Good post! Your reputation is also on the line so it is a very good idea not to join every JV landing in your inbox (point #5).
Tom – Home Business Marketing Tips´s last blog post..Marketing With Articles
[Reply]
April 15th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I think experience, product and how many sales you’re planning to have, I know there is good and bad points, for some time and I want to do it all the right way
[Reply]
April 15th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Points very well laid out, thanks. I’ve rejected one or two myself. One was very strange, but I don’t wanna right a book here. lol
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Understanding The New Rules Of SEO
[Reply]
April 16th, 2009 at 2:26 am
This is a great post. I love it. Although it doesn’t benefit me now as I’m a newbie, it provides me some fundamental points to note about JV. Thank you, Stanley.
[Reply]
April 17th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Nice article. Do you have any words of advice if this is your first product? i.e. no testimonials yet. Thanks!
[Reply]
Stanley Tang (37 comments) Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 7:24 am
GIve away free copies in return for their testimonials
[Reply]
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Great tip. WIll apply these stuff to my site asap.
-readdiamond, diamond man
[Reply]
July 11th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
[...] That concludes the post. Remember, you’ll get better and better at writing those proposals as you go along. In a way, getting interviews is much like a joint venture proposal (actually, technically speaking, it is a joint venture). You might want to read my post – 5 Reasons Why I Won’t Read Your JV Proposal [...]
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:02 am
[...] off with a case study showing you the power of social media. Last week, we published the blog post 5 Reasons Why I Won’t Read Your Joint Venture Proposal and were able to drive over 543 unique visitors in the span of 15 minutes – using only [...]