Recruiting Super Affiliates

As a one-man shop I’m a very busy guy. Even though I work full-time (over-time) as an affiliate, I have a lot of stuff on my plate. Between managing bids, checking search engine rankings, and building new sites, I don’t have a lot time to consider offers from new merchants.

Every week I get e-mails and phone calls from merchants trying to recruit me into their programs. I ignore or delete about 95% of these messages.

Here’s how my e-mail filter works:

If it’s a canned e-mail sent to all affiliates, I delete it.

If it’s a personalized e-mail from a merchant I’ve never heard of, I will give it a quick-scan. If something jumps out at me, I’ll read it more carefully, otherwise I delete it.

If it’s a personalized e-mail from a merchant I’ve met or spoken with, I read it, consider it, and either send them a “thanks, but no thanks”, or reply with a request for more info.

Here’s how my phone message filter works:

If it’s a message from a merchant I’ve never heard of, I erase it.

If it’s a message from a merchant whose e-mail I previously deleted, it’s erased with prejudice.

If it’s a message from a merchant I’ve met or spoken with, I generally follow-up; unless it’s a merchant who I already sent a “thanks, but no thanks” e-mail to.

If it’s a message from a merchant who wants to take me to lunch, I return the call the same day by noon.

A merchant finds a hole in my filter:

As you can see, the chance of a merchant getting through my highly sophisticated filter is slim. That’s why I was impressed when a new merchant I’ve never even heard of was able to break through.

I received a package via snail mail today from a gourmet gift company called Cheryl and Co. Inside the package was one of their gift baskets, a product catalog, and a personalized recruitment letter from the company’s Affiliate Manager.

What a great idea! The cost for them to send me one of their gift baskets was nominal, and it gave me an opportunity to sample their products as a customer. The icing on the cake (or cookie in this case) was the personalized letter. It shows me that this company values their affiliates like real business partners.

In our fast-paced world people and businesses rely heavily on e-mail and phone for their communication needs. As a business professional I get dozens of e-mails and several phone calls each day. Generally speaking, nearly all the solicitations I receive through phone or e-mail are ignored. I don’t care if you’re selling Viagra, or the next big affiliate opportunity, it all gets filtered.

Here’s my advice to Affiliate Managers trying to recruit Super Affiliates:

Do your homework first. Know my website(s) inside and out. Try and understand my promotion methods. Think about how your affiliate program is going to benefit me, and how it fits in with my marketing strategy.

Make your offer stand out. If you’re going to push me your standard commission rate, and not provide me with any performance incentives save your time.

I’m busy, so make it easy. The easier you make it for me to start earning money, the more likely I will be to consider your offer. Tell me all about your target demographics, seasonal trends, and the best way to market to your customer. Show me your best converting creatives, and ad copy. If you really want to peak my interest give me a partial or full keyword list to work with.

Personalize your offer. Talk to me like a real human being. I got a voice mail from an Affiliate Manager the other day that sounded like a phone script from their PR department.

Make contacts. Attend conferences, and join industry groups and message boards. You want to be where the top affiliates are. If I met someone face-to-face there’s a much better chance I’ll respond to them when they call or e-mail me.

Go the extra mile. When Cheryl and Co sent me that gift basket and personalized letter it got my attention immediately. What can you do to get that kind of response? Maybe you could consider sending out a product or service sample? If its cost prohibitive, maybe you could send out some company-branded marketing material like a t-shirt, hat, pen, etc. You could even reach out by sending a personalized letter with a business card.

In order to sign Super Affiliates you need to become a Super Recruiter. Do you think college recruiters could attract top athletes by sending templated e-mails and making scripted phone calls? Of course not! They go out of their way to create personal relationships and make their programs appealing. Do the same as an Affiliate Manager and you will be able to build your own team of Affiliate All-Stars.