No thanks.

When you’re pitching a joint venture (JV) “no thanks” is the second worst response you can get.

What’s the worst?

No response at all.

If you’re looking to turn a profit online, a JV could be your Holy Grail. They’re fast, effective, and can pay long term dividends.

Problem is, much like the Holy Grail of lore, establishing a profitable JV can seem more like a fantasy than a reality.

I know how tough it can be to successfully pitch a JV through email. I’ve created this guide to make that process easier and more profitable for you.

In this guide you’ll learn:

• 3 errors to avoid when creating a JV pitch email
• 4 ways to increase the success ratio of our JV pitch
• A sample of a strong JV pitch email

By the time you finish reading this guide you’ll have the exact template you need to start successfully pitching JVs for your own product launch.

Let’s get started!

3 Errors to Avoid Like a JV Pitch Killing Zombie Plague

 

I’ve got some good news.

The vast majority of JV pitches your prospect (the person you want to partner up with) receives are likely to be utter garbage.

How is this good news? Because if you avoid the common errors that most people in your position make, you significantly improve your odds of forging a partnership.

Here are 3 excellent ways to destroy any potential credibility you might have and send your JV email right to the SPAM folder:

1. Assume the prospect is interested in your product.

They’re not. Like most people your prospect is primarily (like, maybe, 98.8%) interested in himself. Unlike most people, your prospect has earned the right – by virtue of crazy success, wealth, fame, etc – to kind of be a jerk about that. Thus, no responses to your heartfelt JV pitch email.

The fix? When you pitch your product focus on the prospect not the product.

I’ll show you exactly how to do that in just a minute.

2. Show up with a terrible product. 

If the only people telling you your product is awesome are your mother and your dog, chances are it’s not.

Before pitching any product take a long, hard objective look at it. Better yet, let other people – folks you can count on to be brutally honest – give you their opinions of it. Only when you’ve got people saying “Yes, I’d pay money for that” about your product should you consider it for a JV.

3. Talking to the wrong people.

Okay, so you’ve got people who aren’t related to you confirming that your product is awesome. Congrats! But before you start pitching a world-class product make sure you’re targeting the right market.

Let’s say you’ve developed a fantastic fitness product. It may be a legitimately top notch offering, but it wouldn’t make any sense for you to pitch it to Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income or Darren Rowse of Problogger. Make sure there’s STRONG congruency between your product and the prospect’s audience before you make your pitch.

 

4 Tips to Boost the Success Ratio of Your JV Pitch

 

Simply avoiding critical errors (read: not looking like a total jerk) is not enough if you want to successfully pitch a JV through email though.

These 4 tips will increase the likelihood that your prospect will not only read your email, but will be motivated to consider your offer.

1. Make it personal.

In many ways, landing a JV is a numbers game: you’re going to send many, many email pitches.

I understand that this is time-consuming, but whatever you do resist the temptation to resort to a template. A template email may as well carry the subject line “Delete without reading” – because that’s what the prospect is guaranteed to do.

Instead, make your email personal. Take a little time to poke around the prospect’s site and get familiar with her. Does she talk about cats in one of her blog posts? Open your email with a question about her favorite breed. Is she from Chicago? Tell her how much you enjoyed eating at Uno’s Pizzeria when you were vacationing in Chicago a few years ago, and ask if she recommends a particular restaurant.

You get the idea. Be creepy.

2. Always include a benefit.

The prospect owes you no favors.

They aren’t going to risk their reputation with an audience they’ve spent years building just to do you a solid.

That’s why when you pitch a JV you should always include a MASSIVE benefit for THEM. Let the prospect know specifically what’s in it for him if he decides to take you up on your JV.

3. Keep it short.

Your prospect didn’t become rich and successful by opening, reading, and responding to emails from people like you. Respect your prospect’s valuable time by keeping your email pitch short and sweet.

4. Give your prospect a pat on the back.

Butt kissing goes a long way.

No matter how famous or successful a person may get, they never lose the craving for appreciation. Tell your prospect you appreciate what they’re doing; tell her what a source of inspiration, instruction, and guidance she has been to you over the years.

This accomplishes two things:

First, it satisfies the prospect’s deep emotional need to feel appreciated. (And that makes them like you!)

Second, it reveals a relationship between you and the prospect. Yes, it may be a unidirectional relationship – you’re essentially just a fan – but that’s much better than presenting yourself as a stranger begging a favor.

 

An Example of a JV Pitch Email That Works

 

Now you’ve seen some dos and don’ts when it comes to pitching a JV I hope a picture of what a solid JV email looks like is coming into focus.

But to make things crystal clear, I want to show you an example of a strong JV email pitch. For this example, I’m going to pretend that I’m pitching an offer to Brian Clark of Copyblogger.

 

Hi Brian,

How are you? I heard on The Rainmaker that you were out with a virus and vertigo for most of January. I hope you’re feeling on the up and up now. I’ve actually had vertigo myself – nasty stuff.

By the way, I have a new software coming out at [web address] that I think your audience would really love. This is a software that helps copywriters generate high-conversion headlines and the beta version had more than 2,400 people sign up to try it.

I know you’re a very busy guy, but could I borrow just an hour of your time to do a webinar on the importance of media over marketing as a bonus for people who purchase this software?

Plus, I’m going to repackage this webinar with additional content as a separate product (a tactic I learned on The Rainmaker, actually) and would split the profits with you.

Thanks and have a great day!

 

Let’s break this example down:

 

• It’s personal. I address Brian by name and wish him a speedy recovery from illness.
• It’s short. Four paragraphs at a sentence or two each. Easy for a busy guy like Brian Clark to scan and get the gist of.
• It’s relevant. The audience for my hypothetical software – copywriters – squares up nicely with the audience at Copyblogger.
• It flatters – without seeming phony. It’s obvious from this short message that I am a big fan of Copyblogger, The Rainmaker (one of Copyblogger’s podcasts), and Brian’s marketing philosophy.

 

Would he answer it?

Probably not.

And here lies the #1 problem with 99% of JV pitch letters.

They are missing the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of successful affiliate recruiting/joint venturing/etc.

Relationships. 

Why Brian Clark Of Copyblogger Won’t Work With Me

I am sure Brian is an awesome guy.

Contrary to popular belief, to achieve his level of success you can’t be a total ass.

But even if he WOULD jump into a burning building to slap you awake, fling you over his shoulder, and burst through flames like a total bad ass to save you from certain death… that doesn’t mean he has time for you in his business.

This guy is super busy. Like, “Brian… when was the last time you slept?” type busy.

And MOST of the people you want promoting your product as affiliates AND/OR JVs are JUST AS BUSY!

It doesn’t matter if you have crafted the most brilliant JV pitch email of all times… an email so beautiful that it causes convicts in the State Pen to instantly break down, turning them into a blubbery mess of emotional outpouring.

That doesn’t matter with guys (and gals) like Brian.

The super affiliates/Mega JV Partners.

What matters is…

Can he trust you? 

And building trust doesn’t happen in one single email.

It happens over time.

It happens by getting exposure as the “expert”.

It happens by attending seminars, webinars, and meetups.

It happens by joining FB groups, paying for their time, and/or writing articles about them.

It happens by hustling. 

So, even though you can write the perfect JV pitch email now…

That doesn’t mean you should spam everyone and their dog.