It seems everyone I talk to says that it is getting harder to get responses from their marketing.
Imagine having access to a marketing strategy so powerful, it could add tens or hundreds of thousands to your bottom line overnight… but few people ever do it because it seems too simple! In my experience, logic and simplicity are disarmingly powerful simply for that reason. Few people recognize their power. I personally have generated millions of dollars for my own businesses, using the strategy we call Host Beneficiary Relationships.
Today, I want to focus on how to benefit from the investment other businesses have made in building their customer base.
First:
An important question for the entrepreneur who is looking for new leads: “Who already knows the people I need to know?” The answers to this question can lead you to one of the most powerful business building strategies I know.
Second:
List down every organization or person who is already connected to the people you need as your customers. Cross off, for now, those with whom you compete directly. (We will deal with how to form alliances with competitors in a later newsletter.) The rest of the list represents a direct line to an avalanche of new business.
These people have spent years and vast sums of money to build their customer base. Their customer list is far more than a list of names; it is a list of buyers, who are predisposed to buying from their business. It embodies goodwill and trust and thus a willingness to at least try out anything offered by their business.
This is an asset which would take you years to build but which you can access for very little cost.
Third:
Approach your most suitable alliance partners. Be careful how you execute this, as it is very easy to make people suspicious of your motives. Make sure your motives are win-win. This will only work if done with absolute integrity.
Approach the president of the target company with an offer to increase their revenues and profits with no risk, no cost and virtually no effort. Offer to share profits on all sales generated from their customer base, if they will either introduce you to their customers, or if they will send a mailing endorsing you.
Promise to pay all the marketing costs and do all the work. Few people have time to spare, so don’t expect them to invest time in your idea. But be prepared to let them handle the mailing, they may not feel comfortable giving you their list. Your intent must always be win-win. You must provide the funds, you must provide the endorsement letter for them to sign, you must protect their customer base and you must be generous with their share of the profits. In short, you must make it easy for them to buy. Don’t expect them to do your thinking, so work everything out before you engage.
If you do this right, you will gain on-going streams of revenue from new customers generated through other peoples’ assets. Not only will you help yourself, you will help them leverage their sunk costs in building their customer base through the revenues you generate together.
Remember this can also work very effectively in reverse. If you have a respectable size of client base, you can be the host, and offer your customers all sorts of products that they need, by setting up these kinds of relationships with businesses who need distribution.