4 Steps to Building Profitable Business Relationships
Issue #2176
- WEALTHY: Canadian tourists bring new ways to profit (Rick Pendergraft)
- HEALTHY: My advice on how to deal with sports injuries (Michael Masterson)
- WISE: Bill Gates on partnerships
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- How I turned the Laugh Factory into a business partner (Paul Lawrence)
- Who’s opening your e-mails? (Wendy Montes de Oca)
- It’s Fun to Know… about next-generation skydiving
- Add "inveterate" to your vocabulary
Imagine Knowing of a Casino Where the Dealer Tipped His Hand Before You Made Your Move and Didn’t Care How Many Times You Beat Him.
When would you stop going there?
This is nothing to do with games of chance, but I hope your answer to that question would be a resounding, “NEVER!!” Assuming you’re sane that is… Well, that is a virtually PERFECT analogy of the power of the insider signal!
It’s often said, “The Stock Market is just a big casino”. And it’s true. But the important omission in that statement (to keep the masses out!) is the dealer in this casino tips his hand to the select few… the insiders.
Such powerful knowledge could make YOU very rich indeed… Click here to learn more…
A Canadian Invasion
If you live in a touristy area, you should get used to seeing more Canadian visitors - and get used to finding ways to profit from the falling dollar. After the Fed cut rates on September 18, the value of the U.S. Dollar dropped, and, for the first time in 30 years, was of equal value with the Canadian Dollar (also known as the Loonie).
So why would this bring Canadians into the U.S.? As the currency of one country becomes stronger against that of another country, the prices of goods and services become cheaper in the country with the weakening currency.
For example, if a hotel room in Chicago goes for 150 U.S. Dollars and the Canadian Dollar is only worth 80 percent of a U.S. Dollar, the room is actually costing a Canadian 187.50 Canadian Dollars. Now, with the Canadian Dollar and the U.S. Dollar being equal, that same hotel room would cost the Canadian 150 Canadian Dollars.
Another side effect of the Canadian Dollar and U.S. Dollar being of equal value is that goods imported from Canada will become more expensive for U.S. citizens. The most abundant exports from Canada are agricultural products, such as beef and grains, so you will likely see a rise in the cost of these things at the grocery store.
There are several ways to benefit from a falling U.S. Dollar, but two of the easiest are to invest in Canadian stocks or to invest in an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that goes up when the U.S. Dollar falls. One example: the CurrencyShares Canadian Dollar Trust (FXC).
[Ed. Note: Rick Pendergraft is a market expert and two-time winner of the "Top Trader" award at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. In ETR’s free e-zine, Investor’s Daily Edge, Rick and a select group of market specialists will give you to-the-point analyses and tell you how you should act TODAY to make the most money with the least risk.]
"Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning."
Bill Gates
4 Steps to Building Profitable Business Relationships
Just a few months ago, I knew almost nobody at the top levels of the entertainment world. Then I signed one piece of paper, and bam!… vice presidents were returning my calls. I went on to produce a live entertainment event - the International Sketch Comedy Competition - on Hollywood’s famed Sunset Boulevard that was covered by virtually every major network in town.
I was able to do it because I aligned myself with a very powerful partner in the entertainment business - a prominent comedy club and production company. By partnering with this company, my International Sketch Comedy Competition suddenly became a "must attend" event within the industry.
Making deals with powerful partners is one of the best ways to "leapfrog" your way to a position of influence and profitability in the blink of an eye. And not only in the entertainment world. I’ve made many lucrative partnership deals, including another one this year where I became the CEO of a large direct-mail business. Again, I was the "small fish," but the big fish was more than eager to team up with me.
You, too, can take advantage of this idea to help build your own income. One strategy that I’ve put to use time and again is what I call "Incremental Relationship Building."
But first, you need to come to terms with a cold, hard truth: Your potential power partner probably doesn’t need you at all. So if you simply approach him with a proposition, he isn’t likely to be interested in it. Why? Because there is no relationship. And powerful people generally do business only with someone they already have a relationship with.
That’s where my Incremental Relationship Building strategy comes in. This technique allows you to initiate a relationship and then widen it until it is strong enough for your potential partner to feel confident and positive about working with you.
Here’s how you do it…
Step 1: Choose a Potential Partner
Let’s say you sell a natural herbal toothpaste, primarily on the Internet via your website. You realize that if you could connect with an e-zine publisher who has a huge subscription base of readers interested in natural health products, you could greatly increase your sales. So you identify a few publishers that you might be able to build a relationship with. (That is the kind of logic you want to use when choosing potential partners.)
Sometimes, your potential partner may be right in front of your face. Some years ago, for example, I owned and operated a soda/snack vending machine business. I had about 20 machines, and they were all profitable. My problem was that I didn’t have the capital to get more machines. So I gradually developed a relationship with a vending machine distributor who eventually became my partner and provided me with additional machines for a percentage of the profits.
Step 2: Propose a Deal Your Potential Partner Can’t Refuse
As I said earlier, your potential partner probably doesn’t need you. But if you make an offer that is very enticing, he might just say "yes."
I’ve made this work in my own information publishing business by contacting some major Internet publishers and offering to sell their products to my relatively small customer list. Agreeing to work with me in this way would require no investment or effort on their part, but they would receive a share of my profits.
How could they say no? There was no downside for them. And eventually, these relationships grew to the point where I was able to approach them about marketing some of my products to their customer lists - a really good deal for me.
Step 3: Make Sure the Initial Deal Works Out Well for Your Potential Partner
When the initial deal that you make with a potential partner works out well for him, he will begin to trust and respect you. At the same time, he will see that you know what you’re doing. And that is the kind of person successful businesspeople want to work with.
Step 4: Offer to Expand the Relationship
Once you’ve worked together on a deal that has been mutually rewarding, you’re no longer a stranger but a trusted colleague. And with this new status, you will be far more likely to get a "yes" when you propose a bigger deal.
The first year of my International Sketch Comedy Competition, I made a deal with the Laugh Factory to provide a prize (getting to perform on the Laugh Factory stage) for our winner. It wasn’t a hard sell, as the owner strongly believes in helping new talent, it cost the club nothing, and it was sure to lead to some free publicity. Because that first experience with the event was so positive for them, the owner was receptive to expanding their role - and last year, the Laugh Factory became an actual partner in it.
Incremental Relationship Building - I don’t know of a better way for a small-businessperson to increase his ability to make moneymaking deals with people in powerful positions.
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is a produced screenwriter, direct-mail copywriter, and business author. He is also the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR’s program for starting a business for under $100. Paul’s "Get Rich in 90 Days With Small Business Dealmaking" audio program will teach you in easy-to-learn-and-do steps the secrets he’s used over and over to secure powerful business partners.]
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2 Performance Indicators That Can Help Boost Your Sales
Running a successful e-mail marketing campaign is largely dependent on the quality of your products, your mailing list, your offers, and your advertising copy. But even if you have top-notch products, offers, and copy, you aren’t home free. To make sure that your marketing efforts are having the results you want, you need to measure some key performance indicators.
I’ve already given you four of them - Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) and Cost Per Lead (CPL), and Cost Per Click (CPC) and Cost Per Thousand impressions (CPM). Here are two more metrics you want to stay on top of:
- Open Rate - the number of people who opened your e-mail divided by the number of e-mails sent.
This calculation will help you see if your e-mails are getting opened. Per Doubleclick.com, the average open rate for an e-mail to a list size of about 100,000 people is about 20 percent. If your list size is around this quantity and you aren’t getting a similar open rate, you should examine your subject line, sender name, the day and time of the week your e-mail is being sent, the list you’re mailing to, and your overall e-mail deliverability practices. (Are your e-mails getting blocked or reported as spam?) These are all factors that can influence an e-mail’s open rate and should be tested, one variable at a time, to pinpoint the cause of your problem.
- Bounce Rate - the number of e-mails returned divided by the number of e-mails sent.
A high bounce rate means your mailing list is old and hasn’t been refreshed regularly. Unlike postal addresses, people can change their e-mail address at a drop of a hat. If you keep bad e-mail addresses on your file, you’re virtually paying to send e-mails to names that don’t exist anymore. As an industry best practice, most lists are refreshed quarterly or bi-annually. If you practice routine list hygiene - "cleaning" your mailing list on a bi-annual or annual basis and removing non-responders, bad e-mails, etc. - you should have a bounce rate, according to Doubleclick.com, of around 12.5 percent or less.
[Ed. Note: Wendy Montes de Oca, ETR’s Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, has led the marketing efforts for several global leaders, including Chase Manhattan Bank, General Electric, ADP, and Salomon Smith Barney/CitiGroup, as well as consulted for entrepreneurial companies. She is a core contributor to ETR’s new Internet business-building program, designed to show you how to take an online business from concept to execution and beyond. If you’re interested in profiting from all the benefits of starting an online business, click here to join our priority notification list.]
Dear Michael Masterson: "How did you work your shoulder back to health?"
"I read ETR daily. Great e-zine. Sorry to bother you with this question, but I read your article on Total Health Breakthroughs, and you mentioned that you worked through your rotator cuff injury. Could you share some of the things you did to work your shoulder back to health? I too have a rotator cuff injury (no surgery needed)."
- MP
Orange Country, CA
Dear MP,
I have had lots of sports injuries over the years: two complete tears of both Achilles tendons that needed surgery, one ACL reconstruction, one medial lateral ligament repair, a broken neck, a chronically bad lower back, a broken arm, dozens of ankle sprains, dozens of muscle tears, and two rotator cuff tears.
What I’m telling you is based on my experience, not formal education. I’m not an orthopedist, so keep that in mind.
For many years, I tried following doctors’ orders, which consisted of some version of the following:
- Immobilizing the injured joint/muscle for some period of time
- Complete rest while it healed
- Drugs to reduce inflammation
- Long and boring and expensive physical therapy
That method didn’t satisfy me. It took too long, cost too much, and achieved modest results. Usually, I had less-than-complete motion afterward.
Based on some advice I got from Dr. Al Sears and an orthopedist who helped me with my second Achilles tendon reconstruction, I developed a new approach to therapy that I’ve applied to every injury since then… with much better results.
- Get moving as soon as you can. Mobility is essential. Passive movement is good to begin with. As soon as possible, begin to move the limb yourself without resistance.
- Exercise as soon as you can. Exercise is movement combined with muscle tension. You may not be able to do that at first, but do it as soon as possible.
- Stretch aggressively. Again, you want to challenge the body to repair the injury while using a full range of motion. That way, you won’t develop scar tissue that will limit your movement later on.
- Within reason, ignore the pain. You will know if you are tearing your shoulder more or if you are simply suffering the pain you’d expect to have when you are testing a muscle/joint that is partly damaged.
- Keep stretching and exercising. When you feel like you have recovered, don’t stop. It takes a long time to totally repair an athletic injury. If you stop when the pain stops, chances are you will re-injure yourself because there will still be weakness and possibly tissue damage.
I particularly recommend a combination of Pilates and yoga for joints, neck, and back. Let your instructor know you are working through an injury so he/she won’t expect you to do more than you can.
And do this under the supervision of a qualified doctor. Keep looking around until you have found one who agrees with this method. More and more physical therapists and orthopedic doctors are coming to the conclusion that this sort of highly mobile approach is the way to go.
[Ed. Note: For practical techniques for staying healthy and building your physical fitness, check out ETR’s free weekly natural health e-letter. Click here to learn more.
Have a question for Michael? Write to him at AskMichael@ETRfeedback.com.]
It’s Fun to Know: Next-Generation Skydiving?
Skydiving without a parachute sounds insane, right? Well, engineers are working on making it a reality with a special "wingsuit." Equipped with self-inflating, rigid "wings," these garments allow the skydiver to turn, dive, and accelerate forward.
Owing part of its inspiration to the flying squirrel, the wingsuit has gone through several successful tests. The only problem left for the designers (and it’s a biggie!) is how to land the skydivers safely. Currently, they cannot slow down enough as the ground approaches and need the help of a small parachute. Engineers are exploring options to eliminate the parachute, including landing gear, special landing pads, and enhanced aerodynamic features applied to the suit itself.
(Source: National Geographic)
The Internet Money-Making Secret of a Desperate Housewife.
More bills than money. Dave, bless his heart, was trying, but he just couldn’t keep their heads above water.
Vicky and her husband Dave were caught between a rock and a hard place.
Vicky couldn’t stand to see the pain on Dave’s face.
That night fate intervened… Vicky got her hands on something very special.
What she saw changed her life… forever!
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Inveterate
"Inveterate" (in-VET-er-it) - from the Latin for "to make old" - means habitual, firmly established for a long time.
Example (as used by David Leonhardt in a New York Times review of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes): "She [Amity Shlaes] sees both [Franklin] Roosevelt and his Republican predecessor Herbert Hoover as inveterate economic tinkerers."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker … build your self-confidence and intellect … increase your attractiveness to others … just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR’s new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007