Use Joint Ventures to Promote Your Contracting Company in a Down Economy

Go into a grocery store anytime of the year and you will see a particular marketing concept known as “occasion based marketing.”  For instance, yesterday I went into my local grocery store to stock up for my Eagles ass-kicking of the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. On an end cap they had a large display of soft drinks, chips, dips, peanuts and pretzels all in one convenient place for a tailgating package.  This type of marketing has been used for years by grocery stores and restaurants with great results.

Contractors can do the same thing with joint ventures

A formal joint venture between contractors is a pretty simple process. The both of you simply agree to promote each other’s work to each other’s clients as a package deal. You might even decide to do some advertising together to get a quick start right out of the gate. But let’s look at an easy and simple example to use as a launching point.

A contractor that specializes in interior painting may choose to buddy up with a carpet contractor.  They pool their funds and generate some door hangers and other local advertising, or maybe they launch a website offering a package followed by a direct mail drop to each of their past clients directing them to the site for a “private offer” only available to former clients or customers. The mailer promotes a “3 Rooms Painted & Carpeted for Less Than Your Last Vacation” offer. The strategy outlined above gives you the ability to track your sales funnel from beginning to end in order to make changes if needed.

The cross-promotion ideas are endless

For instance, a roofer and a gutter installer could work out a package that when combined provides the home owner with a great value. The sky is really the limit on who to work with, you just have to be creative, and put your clients or customers first.

How to get started with joint ventures

Your clients and connections are probably unknown to a joint venture partner, and by cross promoting your services with theirs, you reach new people you wouldn’t normally have access to. For example, your happy clients learn about a new company to get their flooring needs handled, and the happy clients of the carpet guy now have you to call for their remodeling needs.  There is no need to discount the prices either.  Simply putting the “package” label on the special offer denotes a promotion that makes people feel they are getting a good price.