Get A Better Response From Your Joint Venture Partners

February 21st, 2010

You’ve chosen your potential joint venture partners. You’ve sent them a compelling email that gives them all the information and creates lots of excitement about your promotion. Now you’re waiting for the positive responses to come in.

But what if they don’t?

There will be people who say no, who aren’t interested in the partnership. There may also be some who don’t respond at all – maybe they didn’t receive the email.

Don’t be discouraged. They aren’t necessarily lost causes.

If someone says no, or doesn’t respond, try to maintain the personal connection you established in the email. Phone them and say what you put in your email.

During the call, outline your idea. If they express interest, get into the details of how the promotion works. And then just ask them, “Are you onboard?”

Don’t assume the answer is negative if you don’t get a response. You’ve got to follow up. This is your business. This is you thinking big and wanting to partner with big players. So you’ve got to act big to do that, and you’ve got to take what you’re doing really seriously.

There are also times when a little creativity might help. For example, you may work in an industry where there aren’t many potential partners, and those you would like to approach are really “big fish” who might be too busy to work with you. Sending an email probably won’t make much of an impression on them. So be creative about how you get their attention.

You could mail them something catchy. I’ve seen people mail things like fake money or fake checks with a note saying, “This is play money but I’m hoping to send you real money soon. All the details are inside.” Wrap it up in a box so it stands out from the other mail and gets noticed.

I don’t recommend sending an actual product without permission. Some people get totally bombarded with products that they haven’t asked for and that take up space in the office. You don’t want to do something that will be a nuisance to them.

Also, some people may want to view your product before they endorse it. But do ask permission. Don’t just send it to them unannounced.

Unfortunately, you are going to get some no’s. Not everyone you contact will say yes. But don’t get discouraged. Just keep going and don’t give up.

Expect that some people will say no.  Aim for more partners than you think you’ll need. Update and add to your jv list constantly in order to be sure you’ll have enough joint venture partners on board.

Once you get the ball rolling the excitement will really begin. The promotion and partnership will build momentum.  And it will become a self-fulfilling energy that will keep you inspired to continue with future partnerships.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Get A Better Response From Your Joint Venture Partners

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Posted in Advertising, Business Networking, Business Plans, Business Success, Internet Business, Joint Venture, Marketing, Website sales | 1 Comment »

Using Twitter To Build Your List

February 5th, 2010

Many of you have heard me talk about using Twitter to drive people who follow your tweets to your web page.  But how do you even find followers to lead?  There are a few strategies that you can use to build a Twitter following and it works quickly for fast results.  In fact, two of my VIP clients, went from just 27 followers to over 700 in just a matter of weeks!  Here’s a few of those strategies …

1. Follow the leaders – When you build a Twitter following, your goal is to find followers who are receptive to your message.  Follow one of the leaders in your particular industry and you can open the way to access their thousands, even tens of thousands of followers.  Here are somes ways to get your name in front of those followers:

• Tweet success stories – If you have a success story to share involving this person – tweet them.  Let them know about it.  They’re certainly not going to keep it to themselves, they’ll usually re-tweet it to their followers.

• Re-tweet their message – You’ll receive a thank you from them, another step in getting your name out there.

• Remember, you need to give before you get.  It’s a two way street – or perhaps a two way tweet in this case.  Put together a list of five to ten people that you’d like to build a relationship with and start building on that relationship.

2.  Follow the followers – If you follow someone on Twitter, there’s a 50% chance that they are going to follow you back.  With Twitter, you are able to follow 10% more of the people who are following you (if you have 1,000 followers, you are able to follow 1,100 people).  Use software to follow the followers of

3.  Automate and systemise – If you decide to go through and manually add followers, you’re likely to have some very tired fingers.  There is software that can automate the process for you.  I use Tweet Adder, a software program that costs $55 and has been a huge help (www.tweetadder.com).  Not only does it automate the process, but it allows you to find the right type of followers for your product or service.  You can use keywords and locations to target potential followers.

While Twitter isn’t the only list building tool available to you, it’s very effective in leading followers to your web site and squeeze page.  Twitter has the ability to multiply your following quickly.  It’s a fast tool and easily automated.

Be sure to start Twittering and use this tool to your advantage.

Bernadette Doyle is a small business marketing expert. Get more tips and advice at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Using Twitter To Build Your List

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Posted in Business Plans, Business Success, Email Marketing, Marketing, Niche Marketing, Online Marketing, Personal Productivity, Success Secrets, Website sales, twitter | 5 Comments »

Sales Proposals That Sell

December 3rd, 2009

Wouldn’t it be nice if you never had to put together another sales proposal?  Certainly the concept of becoming a Client Magnet is about attracting clients and eliminating those time consuming steps for which we’re not paid.  But there will be times when you need to submit a proposal.

Make sure you’re not relying on a skimpy one page document with a price and overview as a sales proposal, you should be offering much more than that.  The proposal needs to be a selling document that takes someone through the whole process and establishes you as the logical choice to assist them with a particular problem or issue.

To help them reach this conclusion, which seems so logical to you, you need to:

Predict questions the clients may have and address them within the proposal.

Hopefully you’ve had the opportunity to build relationships with people within the organization before submitting your proposal, even if you were only there to observe people at work, meet people informally or conduct interviews.  That’s a prime opportunity to start winning friends and for delving into the internal politics of the organization.  But another benefit of this contact is that it is going to give you an idea of concerns and issues within the organization and you will have the opportunity to address within the proposal.  That’s a good way to avoid delays and stalls while your proposal makes its rounds.

So, if you put yourself in your client’s shoes, and put together a good offense in your proposal, it will certainly avoid you having the difficult task of defending your proposal as it’s making its way through the hierarchy.

Avoid complacency.

Even if you have a wonderful contact within an organization and they seem ready to hire you, there’s more than one person in the larger companies that make the decision.  Make sure your proposal doesn’t rest on the laurels of your cozy contact relationship.   Use your proposal to sell yourself to every single person within the organization.

Avoid scaring your client.

Now I know that sounds odd, but what frightens clients is the very product that you are offering, and that’s change.  Who wouldn’t want the change your service is offering, improved customer relations or increased sales?

I’ve done a fair amount of research in the psychological outlook of managers at both the senior and middle level, and one thing that really stands out is how fearful they are of change.  So how do you get past this Catch 22?  Avoid using words that signal a big change on the horizon, words such as transformation or dramatic results.  Use more moderate terminology to show how your product will fit seamlessly within their organization.

There are plenty of specifics that will help you produce a winning proposal.  I’ve not only outlined them in my Attracting Corporate Clients system, but I’ve gone through and pulled winning proposals from my files.  I’ve put together not only specific tips, such as binding methods so your information doesn’t become separated or methods of submission.  But these general tips outlined here will put you one step closer to avoiding the skimpy sales proposal syndrome that doesn’t sell your services properly.

Sales Proposals That Sell

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Posted in Business & Money, Business Plans, Business Success, Closing The Sale, Marketing, Money Making Ideas, Sales Motivation, Success Secrets, Website sales | 3 Comments »

Selling In Print

December 2nd, 2009

Your webpage is like a salesperson in print.

When visitors go to your website, it should provide them with all the information they need to know, and leave them with no doubts about ordering products or services from you.

Does your webpage do that? If it doesn’t, you’re missing one of the best conversion opportunities there is. One-to-many selling. Your strategy should be to get people to visit your site, and let the site make the sales for you. Use your webpages as sales pages.

This has been my own strategy and specialty, because sadly, I don’t have time to speak to every single person who expresses interest in what I am offering.

And frankly, not everybody needs to speak with me. Some people wouldn’t even want to speak to me; they just want the information they need in order to be able to make up their own mind.

So if you’ve made the decision to drive traffic to your website because you don’t have the time for conversations with too many people, focus on the quality of your webpage. Make sure that page is in the absolute, best possible shape to close the deal for you.

Think of it this way. If you were to expend time and energy recruiting and training a salesperson, you would make absolutely sure they were fully informed.

They would know all of the information about your business to give to prospective clients. They would be able to give all of the reasons why the prospect should buy this particular offer at this particular time. They would be able to overcome every objection.

That is what your webpage should do.

It should answer every possible question. It should inform visitors of the value of your service and convince them to make the purchase. And that may take a lot of information, a lot of words and facts and details. Don’t worry if it seems like a lot of copy. Since you aren’t having a back and forth exchange with the potential client, you have to anticipate any questions they might have, and address them all. Your webpage should be as long as it needs to be to get the job done.

You don’t want them leaving your webpage without making the purchase because they didn’t have some piece of information that they wanted. If a piece is missing or incomplete, you risk the chance that some people simply won’t buy.

So are you cutting corners in your sales process? Do you just seem to always run out of time or are you too lazy to get your webpage sorted out? Have you put proper emphasis on effective copywriting or considered hiring a copywriter to do it for you? If not, you are shortchanging yourself and your prospective clients.

And that will be so wrong. If you’re selling something that can make a difference to people, it’s your duty to make sure that as many people as possible benefit from it.

Their lives are going to be enhanced by what you’re offering. It’s going to move them forward, in their business and in their life. You need to make sure you’re doing a complete and thorough sales job on your webpage to help make that happen for people.

That page should function as your own personal salesman or woman, working for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Selling In Print

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Posted in Advertising, Business Plans, Make Money Online, Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Success Secrets, Website sales | 4 Comments »