The average consumer is confronted with over 36,000 commercial messages per day. Decision makers face even more options. All available space is being bought up and sold as advertising space. Advertising exposure is increasing exponentially, and this naturally affects your cost of sales and therefore your margins. It now costs three times more to get just half the results you used to get. What to do?

You have two choices.

• You can work harder, which is tactical, short-term and comprised of reactive, daily activities.
• Or you can work smarter, which is strategic, based on a long-range plan and objective.

Your strategy should drive your tactics, not vice-versa. Strategists understand the big picture they’re creating. They agree with Michael Gerber, who said, “If you’re not working ON your business, you’ll soon be OUT of business.” So they create strategies that minimize cost and risk and maximize efficiency.

Why a Good Strategy is Essential

Statistically, motorists slow down when they see a police car to avoid a speeding ticket. Did you know they speed up again within only half a mile? That’s how quickly you’re forgotten by your clients and prospects if you don’t have a strategy that will create ongoing, unique, varied exposure and value. Strategists set goals and consistently work towards them, which leverages the Reticular Activating Systems of all those involved in the process. Involving others in your planning and creating joint ventures and win/win partnerships is essential.

Large companies know this.

90% of corporate executives surveyed felt a Joint Venture with another company was “absolutely essential” to maintain their competitive edge. At least 20% of the revenues in the Fortune 500 and International 2,000 are now coming from Joint Ventures. This strategic approach works in any size business and cuts the clutter to shreds, resulting in increased margins and staff retention, reduced customer attrition, radically decreased cost of sales and risk and exponential growth.

Sales Tip

By creating and setting your Buying Criteria, then educating your customers, you become the natural, logical choice. That overcomes clutter. And remember, it’s far better to spend $100 on each of ten good prospects than to haphazardly spend $1 on each of 100 suspects.

Management Tip

The second biggest problem in sales is that salespeople don’t close. But the biggest problem is hiring the wrong people. There is a proven system for hiring sales superstars and when you get the right salespeople, closing is no longer an issue. Once you have superstars, train them consistently and the sky’s the limit.

Joint Venture Success Depends on Analysis!

We need to know what’s going on in our businesses if we intend to follow Michael Gerber’s famous advice and “work ON our businesses, instead of IN our businesses”. The biggest enemy of objective analysis is EGO. We want to be right, we don’t want to admit to our fears, mistakes and failures, and we want to look good. Successful entrepreneurs:

• Forget about popularity, being politically correct or their own egos.
• Are self confident & strong.
• Are objective and measure the bottom line.
• Are proactive and fast moving.

Top 10 for Making the Most of Your Efforts

Joint Ventures are the most effective business tool available. They allow us to build massive profits, overnight, with no money or risk and very little time, by leveraging existing resources. After 21 years of Joint Venture experience, I have come up with a few questions we should ask ourselves and standards by which we should measure whether or not to accept or institute or continue with a Joint Venture.

1. Is this the best use of my time and resources, or do I have a better alternative? (If another alternative is better, cut bait.)
2. Am I spending my own time, money and resources, or am I using other peoples’ time, money and resources? (We should use other peoples’ resources.
3. Am I acting as a salesperson / hired gun? (If so, walk away immediately.)
4. Is this deal as good as I thought it would be? Is the other party doing what he or she said they would? Am I still comfortable with this, or should I drop it?
5. Is this win/win and does every party benefit, or is someone being taken advantage of?
6. Are my partners ethical, honest and professional?
7. How can I add a back end, further leverage this situation, increase profits and/or distribution, or sell the deal?
8. Where can I learn more about Joint Ventures?
9. How can I meet better JV partners and find better deals? (My NetWORK determines my NetWORTH).
10. Are my resources being optimized? Do I have underutilized resources?

Joint Venture experts know that there are a few guiding principles when setting up lucrative deals that provide ongoing, multiple streams of passive income and large, once-off windfalls. Research is essential before partnering up or even suggesting a Joint Venture to someone. Research is the foundation of successful Joint Ventures.  There are four aspects to Joint Venture research:

1. The Industry or Industries You’re Targeting

Be sure you are comfortable dealing with that industry, that it fits your public profile and values system, that it is aligned with your Mission Statement and identity, branding and business relationships. For example, you probably wouldn’t want to get involved in the sex industry. You might want to avoid contentious or controversial areas like politics, religion or tax shelters. Also, have enough information or access to information about that industry before diving in.

2. The Deal

If you’re good at Joint Ventures you can remove all the cost and risk. Don’t think a contract is going to protect you, by the way – it’s only as good as the people behind it.

• Triangulating deals (setting up a deal between two other parties and taking a piece of the profits) usually removes risk and cost if correctly set up.
• Make sure tracking and monitoring is in place and use the expertise of trusted others.
• Create a Memorandum of Understanding that clearly defines the terms and options in the deal.

Click Here to download the FREE Memorandum of Understanding Template PDF

3. The People

This is the most important part of any Joint Venture. Check them out – do your due diligence and research. Get references, do police and credit checks, even use a private detective if necessary. All that glitters is not gold and people claim some amazing things that are simply not true.

• Get specific information.
• Avoid being bowled over by their charisma and sales abilities. Confidence tricksters use greed and ego to hoodwink their victims.
• Check them out. If they don’t have any money, be careful; desperate people tend to do desperate things.
• Don’t buy their stories. Look for a track record.
• If they’re over eager and urgent, step back.
• Consider applying for Membership in the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum – our elite members are carefully screened.

4. Education

The more you learn, the more you can earn. We use Joint Venture Bootcamps and seminars, TeleClasses and JV Audits to educate and update people on Joint Ventures.

• Again, be careful who you’re learning from. Unless the person teaching you has a personal success track record, they don’t have the right to teach.
• Look for support and practicality.
• Watch out for the “up sell” lurking in the shadows.

Ongoing education in today’s changing world will complete your research cycle.

Wow! That’s some claim. Perhaps you would like to change the way you think about making money – fast. See, we don’t have money problems – we have thinking problems.

Become Aware & Choose Something Else

We have been conditioned to believe that it takes a long time, a lot of money and a lot of work to make money. We’re warned about the “Quick Buck” or “Fast Buck” mentality. Our conditioning usually comes from people who don’t have a lot of money, and who are seriously jealous of those ho do. They accuse successful business people of being “sleazy” and dishonest, because they don’t understand that one can legitimately make serious money in a short period of time without being dishonest, if you know how.

Do This and Make Money

Joint Ventures is the ultimate leverage – no risk, no cost, unlimited potential, FAST. If you know how. Let’s take a very simple example: You find someone who will pay you $300 per buying referral. That might be selling a seminar, a course, a product, whatever. It doesn’t matter. The larger the percentage of the public that can use or benefit from it, the better, obviously. Now you go out and find people who have access to large databases of people who know and trust them, usually authors, businesses and professionals. Offer them $100 per sale and get them to advertise the product or service to their people via e mail, newsletters, flyers, notices, phone calls, whatever.

Know It’s a Numbers Game

If you approach enough people with any well presented, well packaged, well priced product or service, a certain percentage will buy. It’s a numbers game. Factors the come into play:

• The more proficient you are, the great the ratios.
• If the owner of the database has a good relationship with his people, customers, etc., more will buy.
• If the product / service is well presented and packaged and perceived to be very valuable, more will buy.
• You can add massive bonuses and premiums at no cost to you, as well, if you know how.

By approaching enough people, 25 will buy, earning you $200 each, = $5,000. I know this works because this is how I Joint Venture with others for sales of our DollarMakers Joint Venture Broker Bootcamp. This is a lot simpler than it seems and can be set up quickly and efficiently, if you know how. And the process can be duplicated and leveraged and it’s ultimately scalable. Anyone can do this.

“I Owe Everything I Have to Joint Ventures,” Geoff said.  And he meant it.  Geoff had been watching his business slide down into a never-ending cash flow crisis for months.  We’ve all heard the old, “Feast or Famine, Chicken or Feathers” saying.  Well, Geoff had been eating feathers for so long he’d nearly laid an egg.  The future looked dismal and he felt terrible.

Then he learnt about Joint Ventures.

The scales fell from his eyes.  He stopped thinking about selling and started thinking about what other people wanted.  He started looking at the big picture and forgot about the old desperation tactics.  All of a sudden, he relaxed and saw potential under every tree and gold in the streets. He started asking,

• “What will it take?”,
• “How can I help you?” and
• “What do YOU want?”

The attitudes of other people changed.  Now they wanted to talk with him and started returning his calls!
Two simple win/win deals in which Geoff worked with strong Joint Venture partners doubled his business in a week. He could hardly believe it.  And he never looked back.

Goodbye Elevator Speech

He started carrying business cards with just his name and contact information on them and he stopped delivering his little “Elevator Speech” sales pitch.  He became a confidante, a helper, a friend, instead of a salesman. People started to seek him out – after all, he provided solutions to their problems – why wouldn’t they look for him?

Many people think Joint Venture’s are “Networking” or “Paying a commission for leads” or “Referrals”.  Joint Ventures are much more.  They can be triangulated, include barter, you name it.  Simple.  Quick.  Safe.  Easy.  Fast.  No money or risk.  Huge Return On Investment.

When I was approached by the frantic owner of a failing business in 1995, we stood back and rationally analyzed the situation. By leveraging the Hidden Assets in the business, getting rid of unproductive staff and refocusing, we turned the corner and the business is still flourishing today.

Leveraging Hidden Assets

You know that, when a business is in trouble, logic often flies out of the nearest cracked window and emotional choices rule the day. Yet this is could be an opportunity for you and the owners to benefit. Instead of simply closing the doors and selling off the inventory and equipment on a fire sale, look for the Hidden Assets in the business:

• A sales team
• Intellectual property
• Customer database
• Unfulfilled orders
• Access to residual sales of consumable products and services
• Relationships
• Inventory
• Equipment
• Distribution
• Goodwill

These could be converted, with little or no upfront costs, to windfall profits and ongoing income for both you and the owners of the distressed business. You could possibly establish a lucrative, win/win Joint Venture that leverages these Hidden Assets by adding your own distribution, inventory piggy-back or other resources.

Who to Work With

• The key is finding an open-minded business owner who realizes that he needs help and is mature enough to get his ego under control.
• Make sure you have adequate contractual protection.
• Be prepared to negotiate. After all, you’re in a position of strength and you can often turn a seemingly bad situation around.

Smart business owners know that it’s wise to talk with objective experts when they’re panicking about cash flow. I know I have had occasion to regain my perspective and regroup when I did so in the past. Together, we can do amazing things.

I heard a story on the radio recently about two interesting men. One was the king and was extremely obese. He ate continually and was so fat that he couldn’t even get through a door. He was deposed by the second man, who had a room built around the former king, with normal windows and a door that wasn’t locked. He told the large man that he could leave anytime he wished, but at the same time he supplied him with four huge meals every day. Of course, the fatty couldn’t resist the food, so he never escaped his own prison.

Is Your Captivation Enriching or Depleting You?

In our world today of “Sugar and Spice and Everything Thrice”, self-discipline and frugality are seldom found. We complicate our lives, create prisons of debt and illness and miss out on the finer things of life. My wife Rika, and I were walking along the beach at Indian Arm on a lovely summer day when we saw some kids lying on a huge blanket, playing with their hand-held Game Boy computer games. They could have been talking, swimming, boating, fishing, playing ball or just enjoying nature’s incredible beauty. The Game Boys captivated them.

Set Yourself Free

My prison guard could be television, food, drugs… but it is my own choice to be in jail.

• Simplify, cut back and get back to basics, lean and mean, sober and clean. Anything that you think you NEED, controls you and imprisons you.
• Set yourself free.
• Use your resources to create a happy, healthy and contributing lifestyle.
• Take stock of your choices and project the consequences. Enough small choices lead to great consequences. Enough spider webs can be as strong as steel cables.
• We always have a choice, and it’s never too late to change.

Try This:

Set a goal to get up 20 minutes earlier every day and exercise, read a self development book, pray, meditate, or just take a brisk walk. In a few weeks you will see a difference. Create success habits.

Norman Lear said,

“Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don’t collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don’t really mean anything.”

One of my wise mentors told me about the time he needed the advice and assistance of a well-known business expert. This expert charged very high fees and produced amazing results.

He was well known and very busy. My mentor was convinced that he could never afford the fees required, however he is a highly motivated and courageous entrepreneur, so he approached the business expert with the following proposal, which I think may be of value to you, should you wish to use it.

“I can’t afford your consulting fee, but I have a way to pay you even more. I have a solid business and, in return for your consulting, connection to your contacts and training of my salespeople and employees, I will happily pay you a generous percentage of my increased profits. I will pay you every single week, and my books will be open to you. You can spend as much or as little time as you like working on my business, as I am paying only for results. It is easy to track sales and results in my business so you are not at risk. Yes or no?”

Well, the business expert took a good look at the business, made a few adjustments to the tracking process and then accepted my mentor’s proposal. Sales skyrocketed and both my mentor and the expert made serious money. Eventually, the business expert accepted shares in the business.

Remember: Everything is for sale.

Everyone has his or her price. Everything is negotiable. It’s not always about money. The best words to use are, “What will it take?” And, it’s easier than you think. If you don’t ask, you won’t get. I once heard of a man who owned a car dealership, who gave a business guru a car in return for his services!

When next you tell yourself that you can’t afford something, think again. There is always a way when you think out of the box. We don’t have money problems; we have thinking problems.