How to Find Partners

[HalfSwede]

I'm hoping some folks can provide some ideas on how to recruit more partners for my muse. Let me explain:

My main muse sells gift certificates that can be used at spas or B&Bs that are a part of our partner network. We have pretty good partner coverage in New England, PA, AZ, and FL, but are a bit thin in other parts of the country. If we had more partners (spas and B&Bs that accept our gift certificates), we would quite likely sell more certificates. (The wife of my partner mentioned to me that many of her friends love our web site, but there aren't enough partners near them where they could use a gift certificate if they were to buy one.)

So, my question is: Does anyone have an idea (or ideas) on how to recruit more spa and B&B partners at minimal cost. We have done some telemarketing and some email blasts through a trade assocation, but the acquisition cost per partner is too high to continue to use those methods.

[jetpacklife]

The two that I can think of:

Recruiting the B&B's in your network to recruit more. They might know other operators or places they go online, etc.

Find the online sites & discussion boards where operators go for support and post.

[iceaxe]

Halfswede - I know a local innkeeper of a B & B and just did a search on your web site for B&B's, inns, spas, etc within 25 miles of us. The search came up with no hits and we know there must be 25-50 within 25 miles of us as it covers the Lake Sunapee, Newfound Lake and other areas in the region. The innkeeper we know is the owner of The Highland Lake Inn at www.highlandlakeinn.com. On his web site there are two other links: http://www.nhcountryinns.com/ and http://www.franklinnhchamber.com/ that both have extensive lists of B & B's and spas. We also have a home in Jackson NH and the web site with the most info on inns and B & B's is http://www.mtwashingtonvalley.org/. Hopefully those sites will help. You have probably already coverd Chamber of Commerce sites...but if you think you have good coverage in New England...there are some definate holes.

Hope that is of some help. Great idea! The key will be getting people to go to your site versus going to the specific B & B directly. There are also numerous travel books that have on-line site now like Frommers that list all sorts of B&B's by region. Also an ad wherby you pay by click or pay by actual booking on teh travel site like Travelocity, Orbits, Cheapflights...may be a place to run ads depending on cost. There are also gift sites like www.redenvelope.com and www.carolwrightgifts.com that are sites that people would find when searching google for a unique gift.

All the best! :)

[HalfSwede]

Halfswede - I know a local innkeeper of a B & B and just did a search on your web site for B&B's, inns, spas, etc within 25 miles of us. The search came up with no hits and we know there must be 25-50 within 25 miles of us as it covers the Lake Sunapee, Newfound Lake and other areas in the region.


Iceaxe, thank you for the suggestions.

Let me clarify two things: First, you are correct that we have no partners within 25 miles of the Lake Sunapee region. I am familiar with the area and do know that there are a lot of B&Bs. When I said we have good coverage in New England I was looking at it from the perspective that if you took a 200-mile radius from the western Boston suburbs (Framingham, Natick) you would find a quite a few B&Bs within 200 miles. Why 200 miles? Because I'm assuming that for many people 200 miles is a "reasonable" distance to travel for a weekend or extended weekend getaway. In other words, someone in Framingham, may be very willing to drive up to Maine, the White Mountains, the Green Mountains, over to the Berkshires, etc., to go to a B&B for a few nights. So, while there are no partners within 25 miles of Lake Sunapee, there are quite a few, overall, in New England. (Also, chances are, if you are going to go to a B&B, you will visit one more than 25 miles from your home :) ).

Spas, on the other hand, are a different story. No hard research to back this up, but if I were to receive a gift certificate, I would probably only travel 20 miles max to go to a spa. As you may have noticed on our site, we have fewer spas.

The other issue is actually getting the B&Bs (or spas) to sign up. Even thought it doesn't cost anything, many have one reason or another that they don't want to be part of our partner program.

And the final issue is just making B&B owners aware of our program. That's the key, in my opinon. We did some email blast via a B&B organization, but when all was said and done, our acquisition cost per B&B was still upwards of $12.00 per B&B. I would like to find a way to get that down to no more than $2 per B&B.

[Feumet]

Have you tried advertising on Craigslist or the Backpage? It is free. What inducement are you offering to them just out of curiosity?

[HalfSwede]

Have you tried advertising on Craigslist or the Backpage? It is free. What inducement are you offering to them just out of curiosity?
No, hadn't thought of Craigslist or Backpage. I'll look into it. Thanks.

The "inducement" for a spa or B&B to join, in addition to being free, is they: a) get to keep all revenue over the value of the gift certificate (we only keep a small percentage of the value of the gift cert), and b) they have the opportunity to convert the new customer/guest into a repeat customer/guest.

So, in other words, for a small percentage of the value of the gift cert, we generate business for the partners that they can then convert into an ongoing revenue stream. Basically, it is inexpensive marketing option with no up-front cost to the partner.

[Drewkerr]

Something simple as a account rep. If you can give up a portion of your profit, hire someone to do all the sales. I use to do door to door and business to business sales.

I sold basically a gift certificate directly to the consumers and we took in all the cost for producing the ertificate and keep all the profit.

I would maybe first start off with getting some stats from your current clients as to how many gift certificates you have sold for them, how much a consumer actual spends when they come (on top of the gift certificate) if any, and if they can provide some proof as to sales this month/quarter compared to last year, showing that the gift certificates increased sales and brought in new business that might not have otherwise come to the location.

Then its sales sales sales. Whiether you do it your self or have someone it can come down to cold calling owners and general managers. Just try to get an appointment for 5 to 10mins to show them you company and the stats.

Best of Luck