Problem is, you need to pitch to find a good partner match ...they're also clients.

Sorry, but you'll need to get comfortable pitching ...learn to say what your company does in 30 seconds. Painful or not, practice it out loud in the car every day. Create a video of your pitch and watch it. Create a deck of 10 slides and give a 10 minutes presentation. Practice in your sleep. Use comparisons to other companies and methaphors to hammer the point home.

I find most good matches (whether partners / investors / advisors) are busy & don't have the time (or make the time) to truely learn your business. I have a top level CEO 'advisor' and he's too busy to answer any of my e-mails.

With prospective partners, you need to court them and get to know them over at least a few meetings ...get to know their family situation etc. If he/she has 3 kids under 4 years old, they won't have the time. Look them up in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. Do they have tons of other partnerships? Are they running in a million different directions?

However, when you first meet a prospective partner and they love your business, before any courtship begins, you need to lay down the rules right there and then. You expect the right partner to be highly motivated and highly responsive. All e-mails must be answered point for point. All voice-mails answered. The business must be learned inside and out by a certain deadline. It's all or nothing.

For any partner to agree to all or nothing, you must have a really groundbreaking and lucrative business idea and your pitch must be perfect. edit

I feel your pain man. I'm a designer/developer, and I hate sales. I've also had very little luck having a sale person in the past. They can't answer questions. Clients get frustrated. They over-commit. Clients get disappointed. The don't/can't keep up on current conditions, usability research, standards, etc...clients don't understand that either, and then it's two against one.

Here's what I'm doing now: I have a consultant helping me identify businesses that need help. We send them a targeted series of mailers. The consultant then calls and follows up. He sets an appointment, and that is it.

I do the selling. I communicate the passion. I answer the questions, and I still somehow manage to over-commit. ;-)

Here's the real deal man - Business is about building relationships. Sometimes they're really little ones, but if you can't embrace that, you need to look long and hard at whether or not you need to own a business or just get a job as a web developer somewhere.

Once I realized that this was a crucial part of my job, it was a matter of figuring our where you are weak and either getting stronger, or outsourcing. I'm bad on a cold phone. I outsourced the phone part. That's it.

Now I never have to cold call or walk into a room where I don't feel like the business isn't mine to lose. I feel much better. edit

Thanks for the insightful response, Jon. edit

I have developed a training program for entrepreneurs such as yourself, based on 30 years of business development experience. You don't have to be a super star in sales, you have to learn to work smart. Small companies such as yourself in the beginning has to play different roles, that will end when sales come in. That is what I am all about "how do you make money with your product or service. I have a free outline at my web site that describes all of the marketing strategies known to man, based on real experience not theory. IT's free for your review, please check it out.

www.BigProfitflip.com
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Hey guys,

I work with a company that provides excellent sales people with a successful track record at a fraction of the cost. If you need more information send me an email.

brian@teamspan.com

thanks, edit

I can help you for free. I have several years of sales exp. and I can tell you it's so easy a cave man can do it. I primarily do a lot of technical sales my self which is fairly different then your typical retail sales strategy. Feel free to email me at uokgames@gmail.com to discuss this matter further. Thank you. edit