Where are you all building your relationships online?

[Dan Brock]

Whats up everyone?

Quick intro: my name is Dan Brock, have recently got into the IM niche roughly 6-7 months ago.

I was wondering what you all do to build relationships (outside of going to seminars and events).

I feel like there are two ways to do it:

Slowly get known by being on every related forum, blog, and community you can find related to your niche. This seems like it can take forever...years.

OR

Go directly for the relationships.

I'm trying to focus on going directly for the relationships so that I don't have to spend 5 years typing my fingers off.

Where all do you guys go to start building your relationships?

I heard one way is to go and offer assistance/help on a product launch or anything else your new friend needs.

But how exactly do you get into that position?

I'm pretty sure if I were to go and email Frank Kern(or any other guru) asking him if he needed help with anything, the email would probably never be read anyway.

The same could be said for many of the other big names out there.

So where exactly do you start?

Looking forward to your thoughts

Thank you!
Dan Brock

[citrus]

Hey Dan,

There are two ways, IMO, which are in some ways better than live events for relationship building.

1) Paying for someone's high-end services (e.g. 1-on-1 coaching, mastermind groups).

By doing this, you instantly get access to the person. If you have the money to spend, this is an easy way to cut the line and go straight to the top.

2) Selling lots of their stuff.

If you find yourself on a JV leaderboard, the product owner will get in touch with you. You might even find yourself on the phone with them soon after

Anyway, I'm going to give your last question a shot. How would I get into "that" position? I'm not 100% sure because I charge for product launch help.

However, a good place to start would be to get proper training for certain aspects of the launch. If you have special expertise (e.g. recruiting JVs, programming, affiliate management), you can definitely find a lot of people who need you.

Another thing you could do is help for free. I think there's two ways of doing this. One way is to simply provide suggestions to improve someone's product, website, or sales funnel (e.g. your ebook is full of typos, your videos don't play, you could make more money if you added another upsell and downsell). People appreciate it when other people try to help them, especially if these people don't expect any compensation. You could always mention in passing that you're a ________, so if you impress them enough, they may pick up on it and ask if you want to hop on board.

The other way is to offer to work on their project for free (or even to intern at their company). If you have specialized skills and you offer to work for free, it'll be a lot harder to say no. They win because they get an expert who can do important work for them, plus they save money. You win because you get experience, you build your portfolio, and you make that important connection.

Curtis

[John Ellis]

You could also take their product, use it fully and make it work for you.

Then send a real testimonial or case study to them directly, and I promise it won't be ignored as all teachers/coaches love testimonials.

You could then offer to get on a call/webinar with them to demonstrate what you did and talk to them directly.

[Dan Brock]

Thanks guys!

This whole JV thing is still so foreign to me.

It's like the holy grail or something.

So basically what you guys are saying is that if you want to JV, you have to put in work by helping out someone?

Sounds fair...

I just wonder how some of the no names get so many gurus on board for their launch. I mean surely they didn't go around working for all those guys....

[Rob Toth]

Dan, I posted a reply to just the last part of your question. But it kind of went off on a tangent so I set it up as a new thread instead:

http://www.jvnotifypro.com/community...ic,3746.0.html

[Valeriu Popescu]

I'm pretty sure if I were to go and email Frank Kern(or any other guru) asking him if he needed help with anything, the email would probably never be read anyway.

The same could be said for many of the other big names out there.

You have 100% right! Now imagine how many emails those people gets every day. :o
I cannot blame them because this is just a part of the business.

But getting in contact with the owner of a big business is not pretty easy these days. You need a plan and the right approach, starting from knowing their products/services, people in the company, their market, plus many others.

Another GREAT way is to get their attention, and you can do that by simply becoming a super-affiliate for them.

And not lastly, use some Web 2.0 resources. I do this with good results... after all, that why I wrote my JV book.

Val

[Paul Teague]

Hi Dan,

I got into list building when I stumbled across JV Giveaway events.

I've found it a great place to make relationships with other marketers and often you can meet people in these events who are at the same stage as you, so they're happy to chat, make time and maybe even strike up a reciprocal arrangement with you.

I contacted people on the leader boards in Giveaways, people who were doing well, and most times they were happy to chat and answer questions.

I found running my own Giveaways even better for making relationships with other marketers ... I was able to offer other marketers free entry to my events and that always got a dialogue going.

I think that the key thing about Giveaways is that they attract a lot of people who are at the beginning of their marketing careers ... and they're definitely not restricted to just newbies, you get some big players taking part too.

On top of that I'd say that getting involved with Mastermind or coaching groups is the next best thing ... more expensive of course, but hugely valuable.

Hope that's useful, regards, Paul

[Dan Brock]

Thanks guys!

I really appreciate it. And Rob, thanks for writing up such a crazy post. I definitely learned a thing or two!

Internet marketers are so helpful lol.

I appreciate it

[Dan Brock]

Hi Dan,

I got into list building when I stumbled across JV Giveaway events.

I've found it a great place to make relationships with other marketers and often you can meet people in these events who are at the same stage as you, so they're happy to chat, make time and maybe even strike up a reciprocal arrangement with you.

I contacted people on the leader boards in Giveaways, people who were doing well, and most times they were happy to chat and answer questions.

I found running my own Giveaways even better for making relationships with other marketers ... I was able to offer other marketers free entry to my events and that always got a dialogue going.

I think that the key thing about Giveaways is that they attract a lot of people who are at the beginning of their marketing careers ... and they're definitely not restricted to just newbies, you get some big players taking part too.

On top of that I'd say that getting involved with Mastermind or coaching groups is the next best thing ... more expensive of course, but hugely valuable.

Hope that's useful, regards, Paul

Paul, question for you, if you don't mind.

Where all do you find JV giveaway events. Does your list ever get pissed off that you are sending them to junky giveaway events?

Thanks!
Dan

[Rob Toth]

"But getting in contact with the owner of a big business is not pretty easy these days."

Well... I'd argue that one.

Back when I first met Mike (Merz) was when I was a inexperienced virgin to info-marketing... and he could confirm that I first connected with him talking about "launching" my "product". It was a $7.20 general concept product with no upsell, poor conversion and pretty well nothing going for it other than it being a really fun and inspiring read for novices.

But I didn't know any better so I contacted Mike to find out how I'd go about getting it launched. (I clued in shortly after and realized that I simply didn't have an offer and funnel or any event-based launch strategy to make it happen). That was how I cut my teeth.

BUT... get this...

Before I "clued in", I was already in talks with John Reese's main guy, Rich Jerk's main guy etc etc. I had their ear. I had their phone numbers and we were emailing back and forth. I even sent a "product sample" to John Reese's office. NONE of that was difficult.

How I got their info, how I approached the initial contact, how I quickly built rapport and how I positioned my proposal is what got the ball rolling. In my case, my so-called-product back then was a flake (with so many short-comings, in hindsight, that I could fill up a 50 page booklet just examining my ill thought out ways)... but getting in touch and talking to the established marketers wasn't much of a big deal even back when I had zero relationships, zero credibility and (as I mentioned) zero ready-to-launch product.

And these days in the world of Twitter, Facebook, Skype etc... it's SO MUCH easier to get anyone's contact info. Then it's just a matter of the approach.

------------------------
BTW... technically I DID write a "50 page report" detailing my flawed beginner mindset. Direct download here if you're interested: http://www.robthegenietoth.com/rude-reply-report/ (though that rant-in-a-PDF won't teach you how to actually build your relationships. might provide some insights though).