List building joint ventures have been a great way to build and grow my lists. And almost every time, it has been a fun, enjoyable and mostly successful experience.

But today, I’ve been through list building JV hell!

Without naming names, I was invited to participate in a gift giveaway which would include the benefit of building my list in return for throwing in a valuable product of mine into the pool.

It was a high profile event, with some well-known people participating (you may recognize many of them)

One of the conditions was that each participant would mail announcements about the event to their list twice in a week. That way, each participant would benefit because people on many lists would hear about the event.

It is an unfortunate reality of this kind of list building JV that a few participants will not adhere to some terms and conditions. The rules of this event clearly said that such participants would have their gifts taken out of the rotation periodically.

Until this point, nothing unusual had happened. Except, for some reason, I did not get access to a unique referral link I was to use to tell my list about the event (and that would track the people whom I referred).

As I had a mailing scheduled anyway mentioning the event, I chose to use a direct link to the giveaway event - and as a result, the organizers were not able to track anyone through my unique link and assumed I had not complied with the conditions.

I received an email saying:

“… your gift has been suspended for not having sent to your entire lists as of yet; it will be reinstated as soon as we see that you’ve sent out.”

I immediately drafted an email response to the organizers, explaining why I had mailed out using a direct link - and then, visited the JV updates page to see if I had access to it at least now…

And There I Got a Rude Shock!Below is a screen shot of a part of what was displayed in the private JV partners’ area of the event:

I was appalled at the lack of fairness of an action that was taken without even the courtesy of first asking why I “hadn’t sent out” - and worse, painting me as a person who doesn’t keep my word… in front of an audience of top JV partners, many of whom have partnered with me in the past, and may do so in the future.

Sure, the organizers were justified in removing my name (and the other two) from the giveaway rotation, if they wished.

But it should have been done without fanfare.

Worse, to use phraseology such as “raking in the subscribers” and “wouldn’t be fair to you” to position themselves as acting in the best interest of other JV partners, while COMPLETELY IGNORING (or being blisffully unaware of) the effect it would have on the reputation of people who they are condemning, seemed an absolutely ridiculous way to run a JV event with multiple partners.

The most basic tenet of successful joint venturing is this: Respect your partner(s).

It was the main point of one of my earlier ‘rants’ about JV deal-making.

There are many lessons from this experience if you’re planning to use joint ventures as a serious part of your marketing mix.

Joint venture partners WILL NOT ALWAYS do what you expect them to do.

When you approach someone for a favor, keep in mind that they have ABSOLUTELY NO OBLIGATION to grant it. If they do, it is a privilege. Treat it that way, and respect them for helping out… even if that assistance is peripheral and small.

Do not place many conditions and restrictions on a JV invitation. The harder you make it for them to say ‘Yes’, the fewer will… and many who do will not follow through.

Never - NEVER - publicly name-and-shame someone you considered important enough to invite to a joint venture. Learn from the experience, and be careful next time. Or at worst, resolve the problem privately… not in public, or in front of other JV partners.

Assume the BEST of your JV partners - not the worst. If something went wrong, there probably was a good reason for it. Ask and find out, instead of just presuming they didn’t do the right thing.

These ‘rules’ have kept many people as my friends, even if they broke promises to help out, or even never mail out for me at all.

Doing JV deals can be very lucrative, easy and fun. They can also go wrong - badly. And it hurts when you’ve put your heart and soul into creating something of value.

I know - and feel that deeply - because my recent efforts to help promote Congenital Heart Defects awareness on ‘A DAY FOR HEARTS‘ - February 14th - met with lukewarm response, with fewer than 1 in 20 people I contacted actually doing something to spread the word.

Did I list their names up on a website or blog?

Did I accuse them of breaking promises?

Did I rant and rave about it?

I sure felt like doing it - but that’s just not the way JV deals are handled.

I should know.

I’ve just been through JV Hell!

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