How to profit share with another site, based on referrals?

[mattglet]

The background:
There's a site that I'm looking to piggy-back on (Site A). This site offers a service that people pay for. I have a site that I'm currently building (Site B) that will essentially be an add-on to Site A, and will cost people money to use.

The question:
How do I go to Site A and develop a partnership that will benefit both of us?

I'm looking for a way to ask Site A something like: will you decrease your fees by $X as some sort of "partnership special" if they use Site B? I would try to offer to kick back that $X to Site A upon referral signup, because I'll easily make that money back from that referral in a short amount of time.

I guess I'm not sure that my idea is the best one available... does anyone else have a good idea?

Notes:
- I'm could just advertise on Site A, but that's my very last choice. It's very easy to see that Site B is a definite value-add to Site A, which is why I would like to develop some sort of partnership.
- I'd like Site B to be bought by Site A, but it would be no problem at all if that didn't happen.

Thoughts?

[httpwebwitch]

have you talked to a person from Site A?

Is it possible for you to make a personal appearance at Site A's office? Arrange a meeting? Take someone out for lunch and deliver your pitch over some sushi & sake?

Prepare yourself by writing a compelling business proposal, describing how the arrangement you seek will benefit Site A. Support your argument with concrete numbers, proposals, projections.

Consider: If Site B is such a great add-on to Site A that they might want to buy it someday, is there something proprietary about your pitch that Site A couldn't do themselves?

[mattglet]

I have no problem getting a meeting, I'm just not entirely sure my idea/pitch is good (enough).

As for the question about Site A building their own Site B, I'm not worried about that at all. Site A is built on a CMS, and they don't have a development team in house. It wouldn't be feasible to roll their own.

[httpwebwitch]

aha. Well then your homework is to refine your pitch until it's so alluring that they can't say no.

While you're doing that, you'll also hash out enough concrete numbers to know whether it's worth pursuing. Be honest in your estimates of risk and potential. If the numbers say yes, you can pitch it and be confident that your proposal is winner before you go any further.

Accountants and lawyers call it due diligence. They'll do it. You should too. :)