Today, we’re back with another “Ask Charlie” from the newsletter archives, and this one’s all about “traction.”

This topic is one of the most commonly asked questions – and it’s something every entrepreneur goes through. Every successful business has to start somewhere!

Let’s get right to it…

QUESTION: “Charlie, what’s one strategy you recommend for newer entrepreneurs to try when looking to gain traction quickly?”

ANSWER:

This is a great question!

For existing businesses, the lowest hanging fruit can be found inside of your momentum areas.

To be fair, however, you said “newer” entrepreneurs, so I’ll take that to mean startups and businesses without momentum.

So… In this case (and by the way, it also applies to existing business), I recommend leveraging the good will, trust, and likeability of companies that are already doing business with your ideal clients.

Let me explain…

Start by identifying companies that are doing business with your ideal client before or while they would ordinarily do business with you.

For example, if I owned a:

• Home inspection company – I’d reach out to real estate agents
• Landscaping company – I’d reach out to pool installation companies
• Financial education company – I’d reach out to accountants

Approach these companies with an offer to form a “marketing partnership” of sorts, whereby they would promote or endorse your company – essentially, lending their credibility to your product/service.

In some cases, you might have to pay them for an endorsement. In most cases, however, you’ll be able to find a partner to promote for you in exchange for a piece of the revenue.

For example, we work with a client who told their referral partners they’d give them 35% of every sale made to any one of their leads. The agreement was that if the referrer doesn’t make any sales, they don’t get paid. They only get paid for the leads that make a purchase.

And over the course of the year, several of his marketing partners netted over 6 figures in income.

As for my client, he generated as many as 25,000 leads within 7 days, and over a million dollars in sales within the following week.

I also used this technique with my real estate development business, but in this case, I reached out to companies (like landscapers, furniture companies, alarm companies, electronics, etc.) and made them a deal where I would refer a client to them, and they would pay me a percentage of the sale each one of my leads made.

In fact, because Heather (my wife) sold our properties, we were “for sale by owner” – but that didn’t stop us from making a deal with real estate agents.

We knew the agents were getting paid 2.5% for every deal where a partner was involved, so we offered to pay them >3% for each deal they brought us. As a result, we also benefited from additional sales.

This type of relationship becomes a great source of revenue for your referral partners, and they don’t have to deal with product/service fulfillment or customer support. They just have to make an endorsement for you.

So, that’s the 30,000-foot view of marketing partnerships… And how they can be used to develop traction. If you’d like to learn more, I encourage you to also check out some our of business training resources.

Hope this helps!

In your corner,

Charlie