I’m really excited to be heading into modules 3 and 4 of my Ready to JV program this coming week.

During module two we were discussing how and why your joint venture success relies on having what I call “the stinky shoe conversation”…

A bit of back story…

One of my former VIP clients is a Home Stager. Together we created a joint venture approach to her marketing where she markets solely to Realtors™. Staged homes sell faster and for more money so, it’s in a Realtor’s best interest to gift their clients with a home staging consultation.

One clear benefit of this partnership for the Realtor is the home stager gets to have all of the awkward conversations that Realtors used to dread (or avoid totally) like “I’m not sure if you realize this but your front entrance is filled with smelly shoes, you’ll need to clean that up and deodorize” or, “Is there anyone that can babysit your cat (along with it’s litter box) during open houses and home showings?” or “Do you own a rake? A quick tidy of the leaves and weeds in the yard will give the home a bit more curb appeal”.

These conversations support the Realtor/Home Seller relationship and get the Home Seller thinking about what they can do to influence a faster and more financially rewarding sale of the home.

Would you agree that these conversations – as awkward as they may be – are in the best interest of everyone involved (including a buyer’s ability to “see” the potential of the home, or to stimulate other Realtors who may have motivated buyers…)? It’s win-win-win…

So how does this relate to your joint ventures?

It is essential that you ask your JV partners to confirm two things before they accept your invitation to come out and play:

#1) that they are aligned with the mission/purpose of the project and

#2)  that their marketing calendar can support the co-promotion calendar (i.e. they wont be heading into a bottle neck).

This conversation is essential to increasing co-promotion participation AND protects the quality of your relationships. It is designed to let your partners know that you are actively seeking partners who will be 100% committed and on board and prevents any “misunderstandings” as the project unfolds if that partner realizes (after saying yes) that they just have too much on their plate.

My best advice here is that you become unattached to the outcome of your invitation. The individuals you’ve invited either WILL or WILL NOT partner with you for this project.

Now, the remainder of my advice on this comes as a bit of a rant…

Please, don’t let anyone tell you that asking your JV team to send a solo email is a no-no or bad JV etiquette. Personally I think this kind of advice is a load of you know what (and designed to avoid the stinky shoe conversation)!

If being bold and staking a claim in our marketing is important to standing out and attracting our ideal clients… why would we not be bold about attracting “ideal partners?

Say this out loud (humor me, say this out loud):

“Please will you be my client/partner (beg, beg, beg)? If you say yes, you can do whatever you want and treat me however you like. Nooooo, you don’t have to respect any boundaries. I was just saying that he he. Yes, I know this is my business and my project but really, you can do whatever you like.”

Read it or say it out loud, either way it’s pretty ridiculous don’t you think? Neither you nor the client or partner is supported by a “door-mat attitude”. Blech!

V-8 Moment: You can set your intentions to attracting high quality, motivated joint venture partners who are 100% committed to the success of the project. You do not have to settle for what you get. The moment I realized this it completely transformed the results I was getting with joint ventures.

Just as you create an ideal client profile so you attract high quality clients, you should create an ideal JV partner profile so that you attract high quality partners. Does that profile include partners who don’t participate in the co-promotion part of the project? No… I didn’t think so.

One last thing on this to really drive it home…

If I tell my partners that it’s okay NOT to send solo emails knowing it’s the method that gets the best response, and then my partners get poor results i.e. little to no commission or list growth, do you think they’re going to be happy at the end of the JV? Nope… So it is in EVERYONE’s best interest to design a co-promotion strategy that gets results. Agree?

Here’s what I know to be true… email broadcasts play a starring role in a powerful co-promotion strategy. I teach my clients to structure their co-promotion plan around an Invite, Remind, Give communication series that serves the collective audience (not salesy at all). And yes, solo emails would be a requirement of participation (see exceptions below).

On occasion you may make an exception for a partner who:

a) Negotiates with you i.e. “It doesn’t look like I can schedule things exactly as you have planned here but here’s what I can do is this…”  In some cases, their idea and offer is better than your original co-promotion strategy

b) Is a “big name” that adds credibility or wow-factor and becomes a magnet to your target audience. In this case, if they didn’t do anything to promote, it’s still beneficial to bring them into the team.

There you have it. The stinky shoe conversation designed to increase your JV success and the success that your partners experience through the JV project that you lead… a tiny nugget of wisdom from the Ready to JV program.

Do you have the stinky shoe conversation with  your partners? If not, do you see this increasing the results you experience in the future?

And I’m curious… if you participate in a lot of JV’s, do you appreciate like I do, being part of a project where the person who invited me to participate actually LEADS it and is truly invested in seeing me benefit too?

Always love to get a conversation rolling. Please take a moment to comment and share