Joint venture (JV) partnerships are a great way to expand your reach, find new customers, and learn new skills. Typically a JV is formed when two or more business owners join together for the purpose of cross-promotion. They work together to promote either a new product or service, or they are individually promoting their own products and services but they have agreed to work together to accomplish the shared goal.

Once you decide that a JV might be right for you, you’ve got to find compatible and interested parties to work with. You don’t want to just form a JV partnership with anyone. It has to be the right person at the right time to be effective.

The characteristics of a good JV are:

* They promote complementary products and services
* They share your core values
* They are honest and reliable
* They share your target audience

Start out by making a list of all the business owners you know who market to your target audience. Once you’ve finished the list, mark out business owners who are direct competitors. Now make a list of each potential JV’s websites, products, and services. Study them closely to determine if the quality matches up to the type of quality you wish to promote. Look at all their online communities and ensure that there are no unresolved complaints about the business owner.

Once you’ve narrowed down your list to about 20 to 30 JV candidates, it’s time to get to know them better. Do not promote your JV ideas now; instead, ensure that you are following them on all their social media accounts, interacting with them on a daily basis.

You want to be sure that these people know who you are, too. Find ways to introduce yourself. Be sure to share their updates, and interact with them as much as possible. Focus on five candidates at a time so that you don’t get overwhelmed and confused. Keep records of your efforts.

Once you are interacting with your JV candidates on a regular basis and you know that they know who you are, take the time to formulate a professional proposal for the JV partnership. By now you should not have to go through any gate keepers to reach your potential JV partnership. If you are still having to go through any gate keepers, it’s not time to approach that particular candidate. Only approach them if you know that they are going to read your email personally.

In your proposal, give them the option of talking to you via telephone, Google Hangout or Skype. Often people who are thinking about joining forces with another business owner want to be able to see who they are talking to. They might even want to find a way to meet up in person. Be ready for this eventuality. Send out letters to only one or two JV candidates at a time because you don’t want to be in a situation where everyone says yes. You want to be able to focus on one JV partnership at a time.