subject: Jeff Usner Shares On Relationship Building And Networking [print this page] Relationship Building and Networking Relationship Building and Networking
The key to success with many types of businesses and especially with affiliate marketing is relationships and networking. Here's a tip - most of the time you will be talking to the affiliate networks manager using IM or email but what works better is to pick up the phone and call them.
The goal is to build a relationship where they like you and want to work with you. Get them talking about themselves. Find their hot buttons, figure out what makes them tick. When you call them, think about FORM which stands for family, occupation, recreation and also your message (what you are doing in your business). Chat with them about FORM and start to build a relationship.
One thing you can do is to give them a gift that is appropriate. A manager that I know is a Red Sox fan so I gave him a Red Sox hat. Whoever you talk to has probably never received anything from an affiliate before and this can be really helpful when it comes to building friendships.
If you have a good relationship with the affiliate managers, it can help you a lot. For example, for one of our first offers that we were running online, we were able to get one of the highest payouts. It was as high as people who were creating ten times the results as we were and the reason for that is that we made the effort to build a good relationship with them.
Right now in your business if someone is helping you, you want to help them back. That's how it works. If you are friends with your affiliate manager it can be very helpful. He can even refer you to other ad agencies and tell them what a great guy you are you so that you will get low rates right out of the gate.
My advice is, if you are working with Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc. find a rep there that you can talk to and build a relationship with. This will really explode your business and make a big difference in what you are doing.
