Once you have your joint venture established, your thoughts must turn to the most effective ways to market your product or service within your JV partnership. A key component to successful marketing is the way in which you price your goods or services. Sometimes the smallest tweak to your pricing structure will make a big difference in your bottom line. We have four tips to help you motivate buyers by simply setting your price just right.

Price for “Savings”

Customers like savings, even if the savings are merely psychological. For example, you will see many more items on the market priced at $9.99 than an even $10.00. Why? Customers will see the product priced below the $10 threshold. In a customer’s subconscious, there is a big difference between those two numbers.

On larger ticket items, the psychological savings perception might even be greater. Try pricing a $400 product at $395 and see if your sales increase. If you use the perception of savings effectively in your JV marketing venture, you are sure to get much more value from your agreement.

Price for Affordability

Many companies find that when they have a large ticket item or service to sell, customers are much more likely to pull out their wallets if they break the full price down into affordable increments. You might see companies advertise the goods for “just $1 a day,” so customers don’t get overwhelmed with a yearly bill of more than $350. The customer will be more likely to bite because they won’t feel like they are getting more than they can chew all at once.

Price for Value

Another good marketing strategy is to bundle products into a single purchase so customers perceive they are getting more value for the money. A popular approach is to throw a freebie or two in with the regular purchase. You might advertise your special as a “buy one, get two free” deal. Customers love the idea of getting more for less, and they may be more likely to snatch up your offer if you toss a few extras in for good measure. You can even add free sample of complementary products that may boost your sales the next time that customer heads to your website.

Price for Bulk

Package deals also work well in the JV marketing realm if you price your products in groups or sets for a single low price. While one product may sell well at $20 a pop, you may find that three items selling for $50 a set sells even better. In this case, your customers believe they are getting the bargains they want, and you are boosting your sales by encouraging customers to purchase more than one product at a time.

Once you have your JV agreement in place, it’s time to make the most of your marketing approach by throwing in a few pricing strategies that have been proven to boost sales. These simple pricing tips are not hard to implement, and they may reap big rewards in terms of higher customer retention and larger sales overall.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? Anyone who has sat down for a job interview has probably been asked these questions. However, have you actually sat down and truly analyzed your weaknesses?

Weaknesses may appear to be strengths. For instance, a perfectionist may consider his need for superior craft, design, or process an asset, when in actuality; it hinders his progress and prevents forward momentum. By carefully determining where your weaknesses are, you can work toward improving them, or using them to the advantage of your business or your JV business.

As an example, during your JV efforts, you find that your marketing strategy for billboard advertising is not what you expected, but your online marketing is showing results. As a response, you and your JV partner modify your strategy to reduce billboard advertising and focus more on online SEO searches and pay per click advertising. This helps to generate the most out of your marketing dollar and improve sales.

The same holds true for your own weaknesses. You might determine that something is not working as well as you’d like. However, by modifying your behavior or capitalizing on a weakness, you can improve your own personal achievement.

Write It Out

The first thing you must do is take some time to write out your weakness. This is not the time to be over-confident and deny that you have any. Consider what hinders your progress. Are you a procrastinator? Do you have trouble with authority and taking directions? Are you a slow typist? Any of these could be a weakness that prevents you from getting work done. Be honest and list what you think are your weaknesses. Then ask others as well.

Determine the Impact

What do your weaknesses cost you? Does your procrastination cost you time and money? Does your problem with sharing authority prevent decisions? Knowing how your weaknesses affect your external outcomes is important to know before you can begin working on internal changes.

Dedicate Yourself towards Improvement

Now that you know what you can improve, and what happens if you don’t, you must dedicate your efforts toward improving that weakness into an asset. Were your communication skills determined to be a weakness? Take writing and speech classes. Procrastination an issue? Read books on organization today (don’t put it off!), or take a local community center class on improving organization and motivation skills.

Capitalize on Weaknesses

With your work set before you, you can set a goal to capitalize on your weaknesses. Take the classes. Face your fears. Focus on improvement. And don’t forget to measure the results. When you can measure your improvement in certain areas, then you know you are on the right track to turning your weaknesses into assets.

Remember, there is strength in your weaknesses. You merely need to crash through the blocks of doubt and denial, and focus on changing behaviors.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Are you a perfectionist? Do you obsess over little mistakes? Do you feel like a failure if you don’t succeed every time? Are your projects never complete because “it’s just not quite right”? If you answered yes, you may be a perfectionist.

Although there are some benefits to being a perfectionist, there are also many things you need to let go in order to continue being successful with your JV business and relationship.

Excellence is a goal towards which to strive. It is a noble goal for any business, especially with your JV efforts. However, achieving excellence is not the same as achieving perfection. And many people who are perfectionists confuse the two frequently. If you’re looking to achieve excellence in your JV, it would be wise to gain a healthy sense of perspective.

Don’t Set Out of Reach Goals

Have you set unrealistic goals for your JV business? Many times a perfectionist will “shoot for the stars” and end up being very disappointed when they don’t reach their goals.

Instead, you and your JV partner should set goals that are a stretch, but still attainable. In doing so, you and your JV partner will have something to strive for that is not too easy, but realistic.

Enjoy the Process

Perfectionists have a tendency to never be satisfied unless 100% perfection is achieved. What they should keep in mind is the previous tip and enjoy the process in the meantime. Remember the old adage, “half the fun is getting there”? Enjoy the process of achieving goals. A goal is reached by checking off many steps. Each step is a move forward in the adventure. Learn to enjoy it!

Avoid Paralysis

Many perfectionists also have a tendency to over-analyze things to the point that they suffer from “analysis paralysis”. One reason may be fear of failure. They hesitate to make a decision because they’re afraid they’ll be disappointed if the decision is wrong. This kind of anxiety is unhealthy and certainly unproductive for business.

Instead, learn to make decisions and stick with them. You don’t have to rush or make rash decisions. Do take the time to weigh pros and cons of your choices. However, once you have made a decision with your JV partner, feel free to review the process along the way, but commit to your choice and make it happen.

Learn From Mistakes

Many times, perfectionists believe that mistakes are the ultimate failure. Nothing could be more wrong! Mistakes are the way we learn and improve. Don’t feel that mistakes and setbacks will ruin you or your JV business. Take the proverbial bull by the horns and make the mistakes work for you and improve your tactics, your strategies and your actions.

Joint ventures are a great way for perfectionist to practice letting go. In a solo business or entrepreneur venture, you get to enjoy all the success, as well as the failure. However, with a JV partner, you can learn to compromise and become the achiever.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Many small business owners experience great sales success when they form a joint venture, but some do not. What is the difference between a successful JV and an unsuccessful one? It could be the consumer psychology used to sell JV products and services! Read below to discover some simple tricks to help increase your JV sales.

1. Don’t Give Consumers a Choice

Consumer research has proven that too many choices can deter consumers and actually drop sales. Choices can cause the dreaded “analysis paralysis” in consumers. Rather than providing all things to all customers, a JV that markets a wide variety of similar products may do more harm to their sales because consumers would rather make no choice than make a complicated one.

Too many choices may also cause buyer’s remorse. Why? Consumers will wonder whether they should have made a different choice and possibly regret the buying decision. So why drive your customers away? Don’t give them too many choices. Rather, provide a quality product each and every time that will satisfy customers and give them reason to return or tell others about your JV business.

2. Customers Buy Happiness

Customers will spend more money when they feel good about their purchase. Even if your JV sells a product, the experience that the customer feels during the purchase can make the sale very worthwhile. What does that mean for your JV business? Focus on customer service and atmosphere.

When you greet customers and treat them as friends, they enjoy the experience more than with a sour-faced and bored clerk. Customers always appreciate good customer service, even if they do not acknowledge it in the moment.

If your JV runs out of a brick and mortar location, provide a welcoming place for your customers as well. Hire an interior designer if necessary to create an atmosphere where customers feel comfortable. A fine five-star restaurant is a good example of a place that may create a welcoming dining atmosphere. Consider all the senses, good lighting, creative décor, soft music, and pleasant aromas.

3. Focus Advertising on Your Product

Some general consensuses believe that certain elements in advertising will help sell a product, such as sex or comedy. The belief is that attaching attractive women to a product primarily bought by men will help its recall and sales.

However, researchers at the University College London found that product recall was no better when sexual or comedic elements were used in advertisements on television ads.  Therefore, focus on your JV product and its benefits and problem-solving usefulness in your ads. There is no need to spend more money on clever gimmicks that do not help sell a product.

Your JV can experience more sales if you know how to effectively advertise, display your products, and treat your customers. Try these simple yet effective psychological tricks and see how your sales climb.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

What causes a joint venture to fail? Usually it is due to the lack of enthusiasm on one or both parts of the partners. However, many times it will fail because the JV partners simply didn’t market or promote their product or service properly.

What is your JV product or service? Tell your customers! But how do you tell them in a way that will get them to try your product or service? Try these promotional secrets that utilize the psychology of the customer who want to indulge themselves.

1. Pricing

How do you price your JV product? Does your service run an even $400? The psychology of pricing can make a big difference in how many sales you make. It has been proven that the pricing method of your product can determine its success.

Take, for instance, your $400 service package. Do you think customers will find it a bargain at $395? Pay no attention to the lost $5 and do take note of how many more sales you will make.

Try pricing in bulk as well. One item may cost $20, but try offering 3 for $50. You will sell more and your profits will prove it.

2. Not All Is Lost

What do your customers stand to lose by NOT using your product? One way to create demand for your product is not to emphasize the benefits, but to let a potential customer know what is lost by not using it. Think of all the side-by-side tests found on TV commercials. Your bathtub will remain dirty with mildew if you fail to use Product X. Your dishes will have spots unless Product Z is placed in your dishwasher. Don’t just promote the benefits, but emphasize what will be lost if your product or service isn’t in use.

3. The Picture That Sells

And speaking of promoting the benefits of your product, are you doing it correctly? Of course, it’s easy to say, “our product will help you by doing A, B, C…” etc. But a list of features is boring and monotonous. Instead, put your features into a colorful description, or better yet, a photograph. Would you rather buy a hamburger, or “a sizzling, fresh, 100% beef burger charbroiled to perfection, inspired by the warm breezes of the Caribbean?” The use of photos can also bring your product closer to your potential customer. Again on the food theme, have you ever noticed that popular restaurants use menus with tantalizing photos of the food items? A picture can truly be worth a thousand words.

Get your JV out of the doldrums. It doesn’t take but a little bit of creativity and imagination to get your product in the proper promotional mindset. Use the tricks that major corporations have been using for decades and you may find that your JV sales will take off.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Business psychology is one of the fastest-growing and exciting areas of business application. Major colleges and universities are creating undergraduate and graduate programs that deal specifically with business psychology. Business leaders in larger corporations are finding that business psychology helps their organizations perform more efficiently and run at optimum levels.

Business psychology can be a vital factor to the success of your joint venture since psychology plays a part in every person-to-person transaction you perform. Here are some of the important ways your JV can grow and succeed when you implement positive business psychology:

Relationship Building

Starting with your own JV partner, you must form, build, and maintain business relationships. Your relationship with your JV partner needs to be cooperative, progressive, and encourage creativity. You’re a team, and teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common goal.

• Interpersonal skills - How do you communicate with people? Does your approach make others feel welcome and receptive, or chastised and put down? Interpersonal communication is a skill and sometimes needs to be learned, honed, and practiced. Learn to be able to communicate effectively with business partners, customers, and employees.

• Build lasting relationships - Using your interpersonal skills along with your personality, you must build relationships in order for your JV to succeed. Talk to others. Make friends and acquaintances. Network. Even shy and introverted individuals can learn to use their strengths to build relationships that help their respective businesses succeed and be a pleasure to with whom to work.

• Teamwork - Are you a team player? Or do you play by your own rules? If you want to build your JV business relationships, be prepared to leave your ego behind and contribute to the greater good of the team. It is important for every member of a team to contribute. And even if you are the leader, your job is to encourage that contribution from everyone and help them do their best, rather than an autocratic “do it my way” approach.

Networking

Whatever your JV business, networking will help you and your JV partner experience growth better than simply hanging out the proverbial shingle and advertising. People carry news to other people more effectively than any other method. Be sure you use positive business psychology and your relationship building techniques to help promote your JV through networking with other business owners, customers, and anyone who can potentially put in a good word about your business.

Professional Development

What about your own professional development? Take classes in business psychology, interpersonal skills, or even classes that can help you work through shyness. Many community colleges offer such classes usually at cheap tuition. Other for-profit companies offer professional development for reasonable prices. Take the time to develop your business psychological skills with your own personal development training program.

Business psychology, whether you recognize it or not, is employed continually around any business. Don’t let it work against you. Develop your business psychology skills so your JV can grow and prosper.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Most everyone feels that they have a relatively healthy self-esteem, especially business owners. You might recognize positive self-esteem from phrases such as, “I feel good about myself”, or “I like the way things are going.” However, negativity about our ability to perform our duties with our joint venture and our own self worth can creep into our daily vocabulary. If you have recently caught yourself saying things like, “nothing is going my way”, or “I just can’t seem to do things right”, then you may be in need of a healthy dose of self-esteem injection.

Every day is a new struggle to maintain a healthy self-esteem. Some people can get pegged with proverbial rocks and boulders on a daily basis while working on business, their JV, and family - yet still shine through with a shining and untarnished self-esteem.  Others, however, may be susceptible to the rocks and boulders in their path. They get weary of traveling on such a rocky road and wish that things would go differently.

Instead, you should be thinking about how we can traverse the bulky path that makes it work for you. Our self-esteem and JV success depend upon it. Why? Because we cannot control the path upon which we walk, but we can control how we feel about it.

How do you fix or improve your self-esteem? There are many things that help with self-esteem, but here are just a few easy steps you can do each day that will lead to more success in your business and joint venture endeavors:

• Positive Talk – Though it may sound silly sometimes, you can go a long way with improving your self-esteem by giving yourself positive talk. Saying to yourself things like, “I am worthy of my job”, or “I feel great about how my JV is progressing”, can start to improve your inner psych. Soon your subconscious self-talk will start to improve as well.

• Dwell on Past Success - You know when you have felt great success. Remember your triumphs often and it will give you a mindset that you are successful. Events such as making a big sale or completing a strategic goal can give your subconscious a boost in the self-esteem department.

• Dress for Success - Dressing like you mean business can have a huge psychological effect on your self-esteem. You can improve your relationship with your JV partner, as well as impress clients and other business relationships with the dress you choose. Classy, business attire exudes an air of confidence, security, wealth, and importance. All that goes a long way toward improving your self-esteem.

Your JV should not take up all your time, effort and focus. But a struggling JV can result in a low self-esteem because of the difficulties encountered. Keep in mind these helpful reminders and you will be on your way to keeping your self-esteem in a healthy place.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Becoming a business owner is a great endeavor for many entrepreneurs. They get to sort through all the data, have presentations made to them, and they get to make the final decisions on all aspects of their business. But when they enter a joint venture, decisions need to be made on a joint basis between partners. What does one do when a course of action seems like a good idea for the venture but the JV partner needs convincing?

Knowing a bit about the psychology of persuasion can help in swaying a JV partner to your ideas. First you need to know what kind of decision maker your JV partner is. Here are the main types of decision maker types that are found in executive positions around the world.

• Controllers – This type of decision maker is the pushy, take-control type who wants it their way. Usually it’s because of insecurity that they are less easily persuaded. They need cold, hard facts, logic, and an analytical style in order to persuade them. Don’t be ambiguous with this type. Keep your persuasions clear and to the point.

• Thinkers – This type may be tougher than Controllers to persuade. They, too, need cold, hard facts, and lots of them. They like to think and analyze each decision, and they may take a while to do so. Give plenty of information for this type to chew on if you want to persuade them to your thinking.

• Charismatics – Charismatic businesspeople are the enthusiastic type who makes a decision and carries through with it whole-heartedly. They like balance and enjoy choosing the course of action that is familiar with past experience. Give plenty of information to this type as well, but also lean arguments toward their past successes to get a positive persuasion.

• Followers – This type of decision maker is adverse to risk. They like to know that something has worked in the past before they try it themselves. Facts aren’t so important as examples of previous success. Give them a good, sturdy platform to jump onto if you want them to follow you.

Now that we are familiar with decision making types, how do you actually create an argument for your JV partner? Here are some helpful techniques in building your argument:

• Display the need – Each decision maker type needs to know that a decision has to be made. Create a need for your course of action, such as more income, reduction of expenses, bigger market-base, etc. Include the facts and previous success of your plan as needed to help

• Choose the right words – Remember, you need to use the proper words according to your JV partner type. Charismatics like enthusiastic and positive words. Thinkers like intelligent and logical words. Followers need to hear words like responsible, cautious, and proven.

• Call to action – Once you’ve made your presentation or argument, you need to get them into a frame of mind that requires decision. Tell them your beliefs and why you are convinced of a course of action, and ask for their support.

Persuasion is like an art form.  Good salespeople know the art of persuasion well. If you are in a position that requires persuading a JV partner in a course of action, take heed to how you will formulate your action based on the decision-type he or she is. Good luck!

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

It’s easy for the mind to lean toward cynicism and negativity. The dark side of attitude is the path of least resistance. If things don’t work the way we want, we get frustrated, angry, and we want to strike out, lay blame and sometimes even give up. All these can have devastating effects on a joint venture and your relationship with your JV partner.

Where does negativity stem from? There are many rocks that can be thrown at our psych that triggers negativity. Here are a few:

• News – Every day there is another story about the economy, and usually the news is not good. Unemployment is up. Stock market is way down – again. The economy won’t recover for a long haul. All these factors could cause us to give up and stop trying hard to be successful.

• Anger – The emotional response of anger comes easily. And let’s face it – there are many people who have anger issues. When we are angry, we say things we don’t mean and do things we did not intend. Uncontrolled anger festers as negativity.

• Powerlessness – We’ve been told all our lives that we can do anything we set our mind to do. However, achieving lower results, too many obstacles, and yes, also failure, can make us feel powerless and out of control of our own jobs and destinies.

Alternative Positive Strategies

What can you do to keep mentally challenged, remain focused, and stay positive? A positive mental attitude requires continual effort, lest the dark side creep in. Here is what you need to think about each and every day:

Passion – It’s easy enough to say it, but you must be passionate about what you do. If you form a JV, be sure it is something that you will work at passionately and feel passionate about. Passion could come from wanting success in your own business, or a new creative idea for a joint venture. Without passion, you may find you put less effort into it.

Challenge – Form a JV that challenges you and your JV partner. A challenge makes reaching the goal that much more exciting and fulfilling.

Think of Others – Don’t just work for yourself. When others depend upon your work, there is more incentive for you to succeed and meet their needs. Whether you form a JV for non-profit community and social benefit, or just trying to feed your family and send your daughter to college, let others motivate your success.

Balance – Work is great. And it should be fulfilling. But don’t forget to balance your work life with your family, friends, and other obligations. Avoid the temptation to allow work and your JV to take over the majority of your life.

In a world where negativity is all around us, we must consciously remain focused on the positive in our lives. Negativity can be overwhelming. But when we take control of our mental status and focus, success follows. Stay positive!

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Have you tried unsuccessfully to gain a joint venture partner? Perhaps you have given presentations and proposals to other business owners who genuinely were not interested in a JV. Or perhaps you didn’t highlight your own credibility enough. Sometimes a great business idea for a JV is not enough to convince another entrepreneur or business owner to join up. You must earn their trust as a credible potential partner and rainmaker.

Savvy business owners and entrepreneurs are choosy about with whom they spend their time and build alliances. Association with other successful business owners may give them additional credibility and status. Therefore, it’s not just business success, but also the reputation at stake as well.

Subsequently, with this type of business owner with whom you want to partner on a joint venture, you must earn his trust as a credible business owner yourself. Success breeds success, as they say.  If you are after a savvy business owner who is careful with his associations, here are some things you might use to gain his trust:

Client Testimonials

Use your own customer testimonials. Don’t just tout your own success; let your customers do it for you. Your customers and clients can really help your company shine. Whether you provide the best customer service, or produce and sell the best widget, customer testimonials will be the driving force that tells other customers, and your potential JV partner, that you do quality work. Get as many testimonials as you can. A few are good, but 10 shining testimonials are great.

Press Exposure

What have you done in your business that has been noticed by the press? Keep a clip file of any and all media about your business. Perhaps you were interviewed by the local major newspaper or gave a radio interview. And better yet, you got a stellar review about your business in a newspaper or magazine. Clip those articles and reviews and show them to your potential JV partner. Again, praise about your business ability from others gives you additional and heightened credibility.

Endorsements

Positive press is nice, but endorsements from other reputable businesses in your industry or field of business can give you a lot of credibility. People with high status and reputation that say good things about your work are a boost toward greater success. For instance, if you invented a small product and famous pitchman, Billy Mays, chose it to be in his next infomercial, you and your product just enjoyed a jolt of credibility from his endorsement.

A potential JV partner with a discerning eye and a sense for reputation may be one of the toughest pitches you’ll make for a business arrangement. But if you feel that their status, business acumen, and product are a good fit for a JV with you, then it’s worth the effort.  Be sure to appeal to their sense of reputation and status by highlighting your own.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.