Where do you find your joint venture partner?
September 22, 2008
I read a book called Acres of Diamonds many years ago? The most obvious place to start looking is your own back yard. This story is very well explained in Acres of Diamonds.
So the first place I would look for joint venture partners is in my own back yard. Think of your own customer database or mailing list. This is one of the best places to start because your customers have already done business with you, they know like and trust you (if they don’t, why not). This trust can be converted into more opportunities and more business.
Magazine Publishers
Focus on the smaller or niche magazines and you will find a rich resource of hungry publishers who will often be open to a carefully crafted joint venture. It’s the same with people who distribute newsletters on line or printed material off line. They are a fabulous resource, often with very large databases and hungry customers.
Library
Your local library offers you a rich resource of excellent material that you can research. There are reference books available that show you the numbers of members. In the USA and Canada you can review http://www.mediafinder.com/. They have around 75,000 newsletter for you to explore. There is a cost involved with this service so do your sums first before subscribing.
Another great USA based service is Standard Rates and Data Services http://www.srds.com. In the UK you can go to a list broker like Marketing File http://marketingfile.com/ Buying a large list is not our first port of call because there is a good chance that a business somewhere will already have a large list with a strong customer relationship and that is where I would go first.
Your library is going to have some great resources for research. It may be worth your while buying these directories for your own use. They are normally quite expensive so you could always see if they are available on eBay. Even the older ones still have gems.
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages might be a bit long in the tooth now because there are on-line resources. But, the people who already advertise in yellow pages are a useful point of contact for joint ventures.
Seminars
Seminars can be a great place to meet potential joint venture partners. Be choosy about which ones you attend but generally they can be a rich pool of motivated people. Paid for seminars will have some of the better joint venture opportunities because you won’t get so many tyre kickers.
Search Engines
Go to Google and type in the keywords that you are looking for. You will be surprised what pops up.
Discussion Boards
Are a great place to find passionate people. These forums give you a chance to form relationships and build up trust before suggesting a joint venture deal.
Newspaper Ads
Lets face it if people are advertising in newspapers they are probably looking for business. Why not call them and see if they might be interested in starting a dialogue with you.
Your Website
If you have your own website, think of ways you might be able to use it to search out for joint venture opportunities. Why not mention that you are open to joint ventures and explain what you are looking for.
Ezine Directories
Competitors
I know this might sound a bit odd to start with, but your competitors could offer you useful partnership opportunities. Some of the best joint venture alliances may come from your biggest competitors.
And the mailing will also be very targeted. Why not capitalize on this and make a handsome profit?
Referrals
Existing clients are a great source of referrals for joint ventures. Call them up and see if there is someone they could refer you to.
Other Places to Find Partners;
- Business events
- Newsgroups
- Business Directories
- On-Line classifieds
- Magazines / trade magazines
- Trade Fairs
There are literally dozens of places to look, have fun.