How to Play Well with Others to Build Your Businesses

I hope I caught your attention with the subject line and hope you are ready to learn and play.

There are loads of people that you can be working with that can help you get clients. Call them “circles of influence” or “referral sources” or even “joint venture partners.” All are efforts that will reward you with clients and goodwill.

We all do it. We see a great movie or have a fabulous meal somewhere, and we can’t stop talking about it…to everyone within earshot!

These are authentic testimonials and are a reflection of our excitement. The problem is, most times, we don’t get anything in return…other than a good feeling.

Then there are the times when we get a referral, or give a referral, for our business, and it helps both sides. Again there may not be anything exchanged for the effort.

It’s all good, but what if there was a known value for a referral? Or for a whole bunch of referrals? And a methodology!?

Now we’re in the realm of a structure and process for your business.

First consider:

• How much is a client worth to you?
• How many months on average is a client with you?
• How much do you charge in that time period?
• How much would it be worth to you to have someone else “marketing” for you?

If you’ve done the math on the above questions, you now have a sense of what a client is worth and how much of that you might be able to offer as a referral fee to give to someone for a referral. Easy!

That’s a one-to-one, or one-to-few example. Now let’s enlarge this aspect into one-to-many. Or in the case of you as the beneficiary, many-to-you.

Let’s say you have a product you’d like to sell or service or program spots that you’d like to fill. What if you connect with someone who has a group of people who like your kind of product, service or program? Sounds like a good match to me.

If you work with them to build a relationship of know, like and trust, and only then set up a mutually beneficial relationship where they promote you, it would be a joint venture partnership or as I like to call it, a JVP. What makes it more than just a referral source is that there is an agreement of combing or joining resources. For example, you have the program that needs people, and they have the audience that will fill your program. In exchange, the person with the audience gets a commission for every seat filled.

I was first introduced to this concept almost 10 years ago and have established many relationships with great JVPs for one-time and repeat promotions.

I have an audience of coaches who want more coach training. I’ve developed a list over the years of who offers the kind of programs that my audience wants. In exchange for putting them in front of my audience, I get a commission.

JVPs can be established for just one project or used many times. It can be with one JVP or many, as is quite common. Hence why you see the same program, person or service being promoted by several people you know.

So what is the product or program you wish to get sold or filled? Who do you know whose audience is waiting to hear about it? Get in touch with them and see if they agree, and then create a JVP.

I think you’ll find it a rewarding experience both for your growth and your bottom line.