Hello everyone,
I've often seen IMers become frustrated with some of their JV partners.
One of the challenges that often pops up is that partners don't keep their promises, they stall or abandon the deal (after you've invested time in it), they don't keep the other party updated as to what is going on, etc.
The longer your partners take between accepting the deal and actually
carrying it out, the more they cool down, the more they have the time to doubt and question and come up with objections, and the more chances you have of being displaced by someone else’s deal.
The following tips will help you prevent and minimize these headaches. In addition, you will bring more JVs to fruition, and bring value to everyone involved in the process.
How to Prevent Your Partners From
Dropping the Deal
1. Spend time communicating regularly with your partners. Build a relationship with them, or if you already know them well, spend some time and effort deepening that relationship.
2. Other people’s expectations of who we are play a major role in the
actions we undertake. For example, if you let them know that you see them as the kind of person that follows through, who is action-oriented, it will definitely affect the way they act around you – as well as how they handle the JV deal.
For instance, if applicable, you can let your partners know that you admire
the fact that they persevere until their projects are completed; that their identity is one of a go-getter who finishes everything he starts. Is that a positive label or what?
For more information, I highly suggest you study the Pygmalion effect (or
Rosenthal effect.)
If you are speaking to your partner on the phone, and he or she has just
accepted your offer, have them verbally confirm (or repeat after you) that they will do what they just said they would.
By reiterating their decision, your partners greatly increase their levels of
internal consistency, and they will have a lot more trouble backing down.
This takes just a few moments, and it can mean a heck of a lot down the
road. In fact, some studies showed that people who confirmed something would come through 20% more often than those who didn’t.
If you are communicating in writing with your partner, write: "Thanks for
confirming in writing that you will do XYZ."
3. Stay enthusiastic about the whole arrangement.
4. If possible, have your partners see you as a close partner, or as a
friend. If they take their part of the project lightly, they risk more than losing the deal. They risk losing their relationship with you.
5. Ask them if you can do anything for them. Doing things for others incites them to do nice things for you. In this case, not drop the deal.
6. Get them to commit to a specific time-frame and come up with a
deadline.. You also want to know how much time it will take them to carry
everything out. So you could ask them: "That’s great. When could you do this?" and "How much time will it take you to finish it?"
Letting them know when you will finish your part of the project (or a
specific part of the project), before asking them, "By when do you think you’ll complete XYZ?" is a great idea.
Draft some time-lines you can both agree on.
Projects will increase or decrease in size, depending on how much time is
allocated to them. This is Parkinsons Law.
People often wait until the time is "right." They wait until they have enough
time, enough energy or enough motivation to do something. It’s simply human nature. If you don’t give them a deadline, they may waste their time and eventually get distracted by something else. Perhaps by something with a deadline?
Convey to your partners that they should do their share of the work now
(or shortly), or else they risk losing out.
For instance, let them know that you only have a limited amount of time to complete the deal. And the reason is, you are eager to start another project at such and such a date. (And perhaps you have other partners who are counting on you to be fully available when the time comes.) This will motivate them to act, because they have one and only one chance to complete the Joint Venture.
7. If you get great testimonials for the product / service they are to
recommend, send a few of them their way.
8. Let you partners know that because you are working on the JV deal, you will have to make changes to your schedule / business.
Why? Because your partner needs to know that there will be
consequences for you if he drops out of the deal. If he knows there won’t be any consequences, he may abandon the whole project on a whim, and justify it by saying that you are no worse off than when you started.
Or they will simply put the whole thing on hold, and tell you that they will
work on it – later. Of course, later often never comes.
9. Convey to your partners how important their help really is to you. In fact, you need them to succeed.
10. If you are the list owner in the arrangement, and you’ve just completed a successful JV where your list did well, let them know.
11. Keep the number of options to a strict minimum.
When someone has numerous choices, they tend to stall – and they may
choose none of them. Why? Because they are afraid to make a wrong decision.
And people hate second-guessing themselves.
If you offer too many possibilities, and your partner later realizes that he
made a bad choice, he may choose to back-track or drop everything altogether.
Furthermore, fewer options = faster decisions. And the faster they decide
something, the less they will dwell on it later.
12. Keep them posted at all times.
A simple two-line e-mail, or a 45 second phone call can do the trick.
I have had partners in the past who didn’t keep me updated as to what was going on at "their end." I eventually lost interest and moved on to other projects.
Hope you enjoyed this post.
I wish you the best,
Gabriel Howes
Copyright © Gabriel Howes - All Rights Reserved
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