ChristianJoint venture marketing relationships are designed to attract new business and one of the best methods for reaching customers and closing deals is through personal introductions from a joint venture partner. These introductions can come in many different forms, but are based on the trust that exists between a company / individual and the customers. It should be the goal of every partner to leverage this trust as much as possible without crossing the line that damages the relationship to maximize a marketing partner. Depending on the partnership and the products / services that are being offered to the customers, the following three types of personal introductions will work, but one may be more effective than another based on the situation. It’s best to discuss the types of introductions that will be made while setting up a relationship with a new partner to ensure everyone is on board and committed to leveraging their trusted relationships to drive success for the partnership.
Personal Introductions – Face to Face
While a face to face meeting can be the most time consuming type of personal introduction and recommendation it is also the most likely to attract new business and result in a quick sale or at least end with the potential customer understanding the offering with any immediate questions answered. Meeting in person allows both parties to work closely to ensure that customers are satisfied and take an active role in creating a successful joint venture marketing campaign. Try and keep a face to face meeting to 30 minutes in length. Have marketing collateral that the customer can review at a later time if they have any questions. Always send an email after the meeting and CC the partner that assisted in setting up the meeting so that they are confident in the way that their customers are being handled and taken care of properly.
Personal Introductions – Sales Call
Setting up a sales team within a joint venture that will make personal introductions to an existing customer base will not only attract new business, but is an effective method of reaching many customers quickly and saving time for meetings with only the hot leads that come through the partners sales channel. Review the script that will be used for all outbound calls concerning the product or service, even if this is only a few lines for an introduction that is added into a sales person’s routine call for either new business or maintaining relationships with existing customers. If the message concerning the partnership opportunities is lacking the right hook then it will not be as successful in attracting new business so dedicate time to assisting a partner to craft the right pitch about a product or service.
Personal Introductions – Video Recommendation
While the two options above tend to be a much better solution for an introduction from a partner, sometimes a short video recommendation akin to a product testimonial from a joint venture marketing partner can be very successful at least as a supporting marketing tool to reinforce other marketing avenues. While having a person face to face or on a phone call to answer specific questions is valuable, a strong message of support from a CEO or other executive depending on the size of company can carry a lot of weight in customer’s eyes. These can be utilized as a type of validation and can be used in many different ways, even pointing non partner related customers to the video.
Attract new business utilizing a joint venture marketing partner’s ability to reach their customer base and capture their attention. Sometimes it will take many different methods to reach a customer or finally convince someone to make a call or request a meeting. It is best to have clearly defined the processes for implementing at least these three basic ways of gaining a personal introduction from a joint venture marketing partner.
christian fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A joint venture marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
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