Top 10 JV Mistakes (Must-Follow Rules of JV Ettiquite!)

[Dave Navarro]

Hello all. Dave Navarro here.

I've been getting into the thick of getting some JVs going and I'd like to get some specific feedback from those of you who have done them successfully.

I think it would be valuable to the board to have a JV-ettiquite reference so that things are done in a stand up way. It's just too easy for JV requests to become spam-ish ...

I'll start. Please submit your personal "rules" for JVs.

#1 - Never email someone you don't know about. If you really want to JV someone, get to know who they are. Read their articles, scan their posts, find out what they do so you can tell if what you have to offer meshes with what they do. Prove you know the person by talking about what you've learned from their online writings (or products you've purchased). It's not flattery - it's simply showing that you are serious about understanding who they are, in the same way that you interview a company you are hoping to work for.

If you email someone with no tie in to how you know of them personally, your JV request is going to look like a mass mailing. And that kills it for you.

Your rules?

[Jeff Casmer]

[NetDebut]

Hi Dave and Jeff,

You both hold great points of your own and I agree. I've had the privelage of setting up some successful JVs and I hope this could be of some use to others. This will serve as an example and even an idea.

Rule # 2: State the benefits for both parties of the JV and let it be more than just money.

It's not ALWAYS about the money. It's too easy to just say "I'll give you 50% of what you sell." It takes more than that to have a successful JV.

Let's say you have a product that has a 30% affliate commission and I like the product, I would first ask you to make an exchange with me. I would offer you access to my product(s) while I had access to yours and if I liked it I would offer to sell your product at 80% and not receive any commission.

Now you're wondering why I'm willing to sell your product and not receive any commissions. It's simple, it's the power of leverage. By doing that I'm actually benefiting in quite a few ways.

I'm willing to sell your product at 80% and receive no commission because I now have an edge on other resellers/affiliates by selling your product at a 20% discount. Though I make no money on each sale this will attract more people to my website and give me the opportunity to sell my own products to them as back-sell or just because they happen to like my products more.

I make the payments go to you directly because this shows you that I am not trying to take any money away from you but in fact trying to make you more money (10% to be exact).

Remember, JVs are based on trust and if I give you any doubt that you're losing money on the sales you wouldn't want to work with me. All in all, we both get a valuable product for free, we both have someone else selling our products and still make extra cash on each sale, and we both have additional exposure to our products and website.

[Dave Navarro]

Van -

Interesting point, Van. I definitely would like to get more of your perspectives on JVs.

Please check your PM soon - I'm about to leave you a message about your site, I've been checking it out.

All the best,

[NetDebut]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for pointing out that broken image on my website. I fixed it and even updated a few hundred pages in my website, lol. Since you want to hear more, I have another 'rule' to consider.

Rule #3: Know your potential JV partner's product(s) before you endorse it!!!

I don't know how many people have made this mistake. I seriously doubt any celebrity would endorse a product they never at least tried and (hopefully) liked. You'll never see Tiger Woods standing next to a new brand of milk called SPILK (yeah, I never heard of it neither 'cause I just made it up - and yes it stands for 'spilled milk').

I ALWAYS test out the product, get to know it and only if I like it would I attempt to set up a JV. Why is this important? Because you are putting your reputation on the line!

If you have no knowledge of your partner's product(s) and your trusted clients tried it out and was bummed about it and asked you questions how will you ever answer them? Give them bs answers? No. You can't exactly recommend a product you don't know. It's like saying, 'You should really watch SOME MOVIE because it's really good even though I've never seen it.'

Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it?

For the JV to be successful, you must both know what the other person is offering and if it compliments each other. That's another rule to consider but I'll discuss that another time. I know this is short but I hope it gets the point across.