joint venture marketing
Joint ventures are all about trust, whether it is cultivating an environment of trust between partners or between the business and potential customers. If you want your joint venture to be as successful as possible, trust must be an integral component in the equation. We have five steps for creating trust in your next joint venture.
Subscribe to Transparency
If you want your joint venture partner to trust you, keep him in the loop of what is going on with your business. While you don’t have to disclose every detail of your company, you do want to disclose pertinent information to your JV partner in a timely manner.
Let your partner know how the joint venture is working for you regularly and find out if there are any changes your partner would like to make for a more effective relationship. This open give and take will build a trusting relationship faster than anything else you can do to cultivate your professional relationship.
Keep Your Word
If you say you are going to do something by a particular time, make sure it gets done by the deadline. If you can’t keep your word due to circumstances beyond your control, let your partner know as soon as possible what the new time frame will look like. When your partner realizes that you consistently do what you say, he will be more likely to take you at your word as your professional relationship grows.
Communicate Regularly
Regular meetings are essential for a successful joint venture because it gives both partners the opportunity to discuss potential successes or problems as soon as they arise. When your partner knows that he will be sitting down with you in a matter of days to discuss a current situation, he will be less likely to worry about what you will do to handle a problem. Schedule meetings every month or quarter, depending on what the needs of your joint venture might be.
Understand Differences
While you and your joint venture partner might have plenty of professional similarities, you will undoubtedly have your share of differences as well. The simple act of acknowledging those differences can have a great impact on the success of your relationship. Businesses that go into a joint venture with certain expectations of their partner are almost always going to be disappointed. However, if you head into the arrangement with the expectation that you will have differences and even occasional disagreements, you will be more likely to take those minor hitches in stride.
Learn to Listen
Listening is a big component in building a trust relationship, since this is the most effective way to learn your partner’s position on your arrangement. Active listening involves really hearing what the person is saying and then paraphrasing and asking clarifying questions to determine whether you heard the message correctly. When joint venture partners learn to listen to one another, it is more likely they will both be satisfied with their business relationship.
Building trust is an important step in a successful joint venture. When you and your partner cultivate a positive, trusting relationship, the potential benefits for the partnership grow as well.
christian fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A joint venture marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
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