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Thursday, September 6, 2007
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   Thursday, September 6, 2007

Two Methods of Marketing Using Joint Ventures
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Two Methods of Marketing Using Joint Ventures
By Abe Cherian
Copyright ? 2005

Whether you're a contractor a local merchant with 150
employees, whichever, however or whatever, you've got
to know how to keep your business alive during rough
economic times. Anytime the cash flow in a business,
large or small, starts to tighten up, the money management
of that business has to be run as a "tight ship."
This is where an Honest Joint Venture will help increase,
not only business sales, but strong business relationships.
When things go together, they're said to be complimentary.
An example of two items that might go together are flowers
and baskets. If you're in the market for one of these two
items, you might be in the market for the other.
You may be able to increase your business marketing
efforts by combining the marketing of one of your products
or services with the marketing of someone else's products
or services.

There are two Methods of marketing using Joint Ventures:

External joint venture marketing- You combine your marketing
with that of another business that uses a product or service
that compliments your own. You both benefit from the exposure
and your customers will be looking to this other business for
its complimentary offering. Likewise, the other business, and
their customers will look to you for their complimentary products
or services. You both access each other's customer database.
An example would be a cabinet maker and a hardware store that
could work together.

Internal joint venture marketing- You probably offer
complimentary products within your own business. If this is
the case, you need to market this so potential customers will
be aware that your business offers certain products or services
that compliments each other. This encourages one stop shopping
and also allows your business to sell one product or service
on the back of the other. An example is 'computer repair store'
that also sells virus protection software.

I've actually seen one business that sells a course on how
to write successful marketing campaigns. The majority of
their customers never find out that in addition to selling
that course, they do consulting and write marketing campaigns
themselves. They don't do an effective job of letting their
customer base know that Those things naturally go hand-in-hand.

Another kind of internal joint venture marketing would be a
combined location or common business. You can have businesses
that shares a common location such as a mall or a strip mall
shopping center. They can market their businesses as complimentary
to each other. This can take a number of forms, but the most
popular is sharing the media cost. An example would be a strip
mall with a number of home improvement products or services.

You want to take advantage of this either by phone or by
sending the other business a letter. You might say,
"Dear Mr. or Mrs. Business Owner. Our company specializes
in (or sells). We have discovered a logical tie into your
business or customer base in that it . We have created a
system for dramatically increasing your profits without risk,
investment or even effort on your part".

where you say, 'Mr. or Mrs., let me ask if you could generate
sufficient profits to - would that interest you?' The process
is relatively simple. First, we create a joint marketing plan
together to consist of either (choose 1 or 2 of the following)
a letter of endorsement from you, a telemarketing campaign,
a seminar, workshop, sales presentation, display or design a
customer/client newsletter, or a display ad. We will share the
profits on a 50/50 basis etc."


Find Your Niche
If you haven't heard the word 'niche' being batted around by Internet Marketers then you haven't been listening. Finding a niche has become the antidote to competing in overly saturated online markets.
What is a niche?
According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary a niche is described as "a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted... a specialized market".
Have you noticed that despite the closing of many businesses in these harsh economic times, the local hobby train store is still around? That the 'hole-in-the-wall' eatery is thriving? Or that trends such as scrapbooking can start with a bang and still close within a year when four similar businesses start up in the same area?
The online business world reflects the same trends as experienced in the offline world - often with faster turnover and startup rates. Those who promote a product or site that targets a small, select audience can tap into a market that is otherwise not being served. Despite the limitations of the client base, the targeted nature of the business creates a devoted and active market - the aim of any business.
HOW DO I FIND A NICHE?
Finding a niche requires diligent research. Whether you have access to software that harvests and sorts information or you take a manual approach you must first start with ideas.
With a pen and paper (or computer, if that's more comfortable) brainstorm a list of businesses, products and industries. Create a list of keywords and phrases you think would be used by individuals looking for these items online.
Use a software program such as Wordtracker or a free resource such as the Overture Keyword Selector Tool to find keywords for your niche that have a high amount of traffic.
Although a program like Wordtracker makes it easy to find details such as how many sites compete for that market, you can also do your own research.
Concentrate your attention on question phrases such as "how do I..." or "where can I...". These questions will clue you into potential markets that need servicing.
Next, look in Google Answers. Type one of your keywords into the search area. What questions are being asked and how much are people willing to pay for answers? If you find a group of keywords with a high number of questions then enter these words in your browser's search engine.
What sites come up? Do they provide answers or solutions to the problem? How are they making money? Can you see an opportunity to service these individuals?
Finding a niche can open the door to a profitable online business. Research the market and be certain that your product or service is valuable to this group. Find forums or groups that target this audience and pay close attention to their concerns.
If you can help these people you WILL make money. The best of both worlds! from winter's barrenness, they desert us too quickly!
About The Author:


Why Communication Skills Don't Work In Customer Service
Every time my firm conducts communication skills training, we know someone is going to object.
"That doesn't work. Everybody's heard of active listening. You can't use that stuff anymore."
And we have to admit, there's a lot of truth in that. Everyone has heard of active listening. And it doesn't work for many people much of the time.
But communication skills can work for your staff.
The problem usually isn't the skills. It's the way people are trained to use them. Learn to use communication skills effectively, and they can create happy customers and higher income.
There are two components to good communication skills: (a) the skills themselves, and (b) what you're trying to do (your intention) when you use them. Many employees learn communication skills from manuals. And many manuals emphasize either skills, or intention but not both. And so, much of what we think of as communication skills training fails.
Here are a couple of examples:
Example 1: How active listening gets a black eye: using good skills, but with the intention to fix or change a customer
I was coaching a hospital social worker through a confrontation with a mother who was terribly frightened. The social worker was doing his best to demonstrate active listening.
"OK, I get that you're upset. And you want to get out of here. And I want to help you. But you've got to go through this process before you can take your daughter home."
The mother didn't react at all the way he'd hoped. "I don't want to hear all this institutional talk," she said. "You leave me alone. I'll sue if I have to!"
This appears to be a failure of active listening. And it is, but the problem goes deeper than that. When I paused the encounter and asked the social worker how he thought the mother was feeling and what she needed, he said, "I don't really know. I was busy trying to get her to do what I wanted and think it was her idea."
Active listening skills are useful, but they're only tools. They serve the intentions of the person using them. And if you don't teach trainees useful intentions, most will fall back on trying to fix people or change them. So you'll be training your staff to be very effective at letting your customers know they need to be fixed or changed. And your customers will let you know how unpleasant an experience that is.
Example 2: How "understand before you are understood" fails: having a useful intention but lacking the skills to communicate it
I paused a training scenario just after an angry man blew up at a nurse. I was coaching the nurse through an encounter with a father who felt the staff was trying to hustle him and his son out of the hospital.
He told her that he worked all day and came into the hospital all night. And where did she think he was going to get the time to go through training before he took his son home?
When I asked her how she thought the man was feeling and what he needed, she suggested that he seemed overwhelmed and afraid, and that he might need some support.
When I suggested she might ask the man if that's what he was experiencing, she turned to him and said, "You need an appointment with a social worker. I'll set something up for you."
This is a classic failure that comes from understanding your customer, but lacking the skills to communicate it. The nurse could describe the source of the man's anger clearly to me. She had real empathy for him. But she couldn't put her words together in a way he recognized as compassionate.
We'd taught her the words, of course. But like most people who learn new skills, she lacked the confidence to use them. So she, like the trainee above, fell back on trying to fix the customer. And he let her know how much he disliked being treated that way.

It don't mean a thing if you ain't practicing
Both of the examples above underscore a third important component of communication skills training, namely, the practice.
The trainee in the first example was a compassionate man with a degree in social work. I'm sure he'd had ample exposure to good communication skills. It had never gelled for him before.
Once we put him in a scenario, coached him through the skills, and alerted him to the fact that he was struggling because he was trying to fix his customer instead of connecting with her (that's the intention we teach), he developed skills rapidly. He even returned to training weeks later to report that he'd created a real difference in his life using the skills at home. He quickly became a valued mentor to others in his work group.
Communication skills are deceptively challenging. It takes no great intellect or dexterity to utter the words. What is terribly demanding is all the processing: keeping your focus on the other person despite your own discomfort, listening for the needs beneath complaints and accusations, drumming up the nerve to suggest to an outraged man that he might value some support.
What gets you through tough interactions is your confidence in your own intention and skills. And you learn confidence through practice.
In my experience, those are the keys to effective communication skills:
1. holding a useful intention like understanding the other person or connecting with them,
2. employing skills that communicate your intention, and
3. practicing the skills and intentions so you have them at hand, even when interactions get intense, especially when they do.
Find training that will provide you all three, and you'll have communication skills that will please your customers and increase your income.
About The Author:
Tim Dawes, founder of Interplay, Inc., specializes in helping health care organizations exceed their strategic goals by demonstrating unexpected empathy to patients. Sign up for free monthly "how to" articles at http://www.interplaygroup.com