JV partners and affiliates are a huge asset for any coach or product seller. They’re the ones who are out there singing your praises, spreading the word about your services, and helping you reach a larger audience than you could on your own. Not only that, but they generously lend their good name and reputation to your business, so it makes sense that you want to treat them as well as possible.
But there are some mistakes that product sellers make over and over again that will frustrate and even turn your potential affiliates away. Here’s how to fix them.
No Promotional Calendar
Busy entrepreneurs are obsessive planners. They know they need to produce content, mail their lists, create products, speak at events, and all the other marketing tasks that go with owning a business. They very likely maintain a calendar that helps them stay focused and on track. If you want them to promote you, it’s a good idea to publish your own promotional calendar so they know what’s coming up.
This doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and it doesn’t have to stretch for weeks or months ahead, but it should give them a bit of notice about upcoming launches so they can work your products into their schedule.
From my experience the best affiliate marketers have their list scheduled out at least 2 weeks in advance – as a minimum. If you want to attract the best, you will have at least that much lead time before a launch.
Launching Without Them
Got a big product launch coming up? Excellent! But don’t even think about launching without your affiliates on board. Your lists most likely have some overlap, and promoting to your list before you allow affiliates to mail will result in lost sales for them—and angry JVs who won’t be anxious to promote you again.
For some JVs, this will cause them to cross you off their list of product creators they will mail for. Keep that in mind even if you are doing a beta test offered to your list. An alternative would be to ask a few of your best affiliates if they would segment a small portion of their list to help you beta test, and offer them something in return such as a back end bonus they can add to the download page of the released product.
Stealing Their Sales
This should go without saying, but if you’re considering creating your own affiliate link for your products, stop.
Mailing your list, or posting on Facebook with your own affiliate link will – in most systems – result in your promotions overriding those of your affiliates. In short, you’ll be stealing their sales, and no JV partner will want to promote you after that. This one is a huge no-no and can destroy our reputation.
If you need a tracking link, there are far better ways to go about it than to create an affiliate link in your own system. I use ClickMagick. It can track just about anything you need and has a great reporting system so you can export and analyze your tracking data. I highly recommend it, as this level of tracking will get you more profit for the same work. They offer a 14-day trial, if you want to test them out.
Slow Pay
No excuse is ever good enough for failing to pay your affiliates on time. If you promise to pay monthly, then you must make that a priority. It’s never okay to “borrow” from your affiliate payments to cover an unexpected bill or take advantage of an opportunity. To do so is bad form, bad karma, and will give you a reputation for unreliability. Your JV partners and affiliates are some of your most precious assets. Treat them as such, and they will return the favor with increased sales, more leads, and plenty of social love.
This applies not just to commission, but to bonuses. Be sure to pay any bonuses in full, on time, and as promised. There is never an excuse to not pay a timely bonus. If you don’t have advance funds to cover bonuses, then be sure to put minimum sales rules that will cover them. Even if it means no profit because the launch was smaller than anticipated, you must pay your bonuses out. If you don’t, word will spread, and you will forever have a hard time getting affiliates.
Remember: The more good affiliates, the more traffic. The more traffic, the more sales. The better you sell, the more good affiliates will be attracted. Don’t lose affiliates, as they can be one of your greatest assets.
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