Five rules of affiliate sales. Affiliate sales from scratch

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Affiliate sales of insurance products remain one of the most attractive sales channels for Russian insurers. Damir Aksyanov, a member of the Board of Directors of Rosgosstrakh, tells readers of the Insurance Today portal about the key trends in the development of the partner sales channel after the crisis and about the specifics of the work of insurers with brokers, banks, and car dealerships.

What role does affiliate sales play in your insurance organization’s sales system and why? What in your company is included in the concept “ affiliate sales»?

Affiliate sales for our company are among three key areas. Firstly, there are direct retail sales - through our own sales offices, of which there are almost 3 thousand, and our own agent network. Secondly, there are direct corporate sales. And thirdly, there is a partner insurance unit, which includes sales through external intermediaries of various forms: first of all, these are banks, leasing companies, car dealers and car showrooms, mortgage companies, as well as insurance brokers and other legal entity intermediaries.

The share of the partner channel in the total collections of the Rosgosstrakh company in 2010 reached about 30%, the premium collected by it amounted to 23.5 billion rubles, that is, our fees through the partner channel exceed the total fees of such top ten companies as ROSNO and AlfaStrakhovanie” and are only slightly inferior to the total fees of “VSK”. This indicator includes not only new business, there is a considerable share of renewals and contributions under multi-year contracts, but of course, so far new contracts bring more.

Let's talk about brokers, that's enough problematic topic for Russian insurers. How does your company respond to current changes in the brokerage market?

Regarding brokers, our strategy underwent fundamental changes in 2010. We deliberately stopped working with those brokers who, by the nature of their business, are direct competitors of our insurance company, whose agents compete with ours, whose call centers call other people’s databases, etc. Such a broker is essentially a mini-insurance company. We decided not to work with such intermediaries, since we have a large own network of sales offices and agents, and we do not want there to be direct competition with our own policies in this field.
At the same time, we continue to work with those brokers who have specialized sales points, with brokers who are represented in car dealerships, car markets and in MREO, that is, where there is a large flow of clients. The volume of business they generate is quite significant and is of interest to the company. In general, through brokers we collect more than 5 billion rubles per year.

Has your company been affected by the scandalous departure of a number of network brokers from the market?

There are probably no companies that would not suffer from their actions. Naturally, Rosgosstrakh, with which a large number of partners sought to cooperate, was faced with the fact that among them were those who were unable to pay on time. We have suspended issuing policies to these intermediaries and continue to work to collect the money they owe us in accordance with the established repayment schedule.

Do you agree with the opinion that the current situation has forced insurers to build relationships with brokers more strictly, in particular, to use deposit schemes and more carefully select partners? And there is no return to the previous aspirations to make maximum convenience for brokers?

Yes, of course, we had to make our approach extremely tough and reconsider the key terms of cooperation. We just had to do this because it is extremely important for us that the policyholders’ money that our partners receive reaches the destination in full. But we treat each of our partners with respect, and with all good partners we strive to build relationships with the prospect of cooperation for many years.

Do you think that now a more stringent approach will remain in practice for a long time, since the previous conditions of cooperation with intermediaries were too lenient and allowed them to “put pressure” on insurers?

Yes. The fact is that before the crisis, our market was actively growing, and many insurers themselves created the prerequisites for intermediaries to dictate their requirements. Often the inflated level of commissions was due to the fact that many companies, not among the largest ones, dumped and spoiled the intermediary market. And large insurers were, to some extent, forced to adapt to the market. Now the situation is different. Key car dealers work almost exclusively with top 15 companies. Most brokers also work with the 10-15 largest insurers.

Just 3 years ago, it was not uncommon for brokers to build a “pyramid”: a large agent network was recruited, and agents were promised very high commissions. At the same time, remunerations to agents were actually paid from future income. This grew like a snowball, and at the moment when the crisis began, such brokers simply could not pay the insurance companies.

It is unacceptable to offer commissions higher than a reasonable level, because insurance is a business that involves payments, this must not be forgotten. Any tariff is based on profitability; it is clear that for some type, where the loss rate is 70%, it is impossible to pay a commission of 40% - this means either working at a loss, or creating a similar “pyramid” in which money is “borrowed” from the future. But such stories always end badly: the money is paid first, and the one who came last receives nothing.

But now the situation has improved, although it still cannot be called ideal. Commission rates have been adjusted, in particular, we at Rosgosstrakh pay the remuneration that, taking into account the unprofitability of specific types of insurance, allows us to bring our business with each partner to the level of profitability.

Is it possible that a network broker, illegally duplicating an insurance company in the agent part, contributes to the escalation of commissions and RVD in the market as a whole, because it is indifferent to unprofitability and does not pay payments? And if so, then does our market even need network brokers at this stage?

I would still rate all of the above as a temporary market situation. After all, at first, intermediaries began to develop business where insurance companies were not represented; intermediaries generally “reach” the client faster. In some countries, today the entire insurance business operates mainly at the expense of brokers; there are practically no insurers’ own sales offices, although sales through banks and car dealerships are also seriously present there.

And strictly speaking, operators who collect money and then do not fulfill their obligations very well can happen in any type of activity - we had insolvent banks and other organizations.

Therefore, to restore order in this area, I think it is necessary, first of all, for regulatory authorities to more closely monitor what is happening in the insurance intermediary market. And the insurers themselves should more carefully monitor what is happening on the market so as not to fall into similar situations. Many insurers, like us, have now refused to work with such network brokers. We understand that their business is built on the work of an agent with the deduction of a high commission immediately, the volume is increasing and for some it may become critical for solvency.

Whether it makes sense for the state to ban them completely is a moot point (although it would be beneficial for us, since our company is represented on the market everywhere, and we could increase our share due to this ban). In addition, network brokers are already being squeezed out, since few of the large insurers work with them now; this is more the responsibility of small insurance companies, for whom the question of the sustainability of their presence in the market is also, I believe, open. Network brokers work only in car insurance, but we see how unprofitable it is now, and paying inflated commissions is a consistent move into the abyss.

Well, how will the state monitor if the powers of supervision are limited to issuing licenses to brokers and collecting some very meager reports...

Yes, there are very few officially licensed brokers. Moreover, after the license is revoked, brokers most often simply switch to another form of work - as agents-legal entities. But more often than not, there is no license from the very beginning; simply enterprising people who understand how business works register as individual entrepreneurs and enter into agency agreements. Or they don’t even conclude contracts, they work “by convention”, providing their agent network to the insurer on a personal agreement, this also happens.

Then, perhaps, the State Duma’s proposals to tighten control over agency activities and the responsibility of insurers for the actions of their agents are reasonable?

Certainly. The specific composition of these measures is also a matter for discussion, but control needs to be strengthened. We are now very strict in selecting partners and checking their points of sale. And the question for other market participants is in which direction we want to move further in this area, this is a topic for further analysis and discussion.

What other changes, besides the restructuring of the broker market, has the crisis in the partner channel caused? Did you feel it in the form of a drop in fees?

No, our company experienced an increase in fees in this channel during the crisis. This was due to the fact that we were able to correctly build a strategy for working with partners and capitalize on the trend of transfer to large insurance companies. The withdrawal of a number of companies from the market led not only to the fact that their field was freed up, but also their partners became higher value impart reliability to the insurer. During the crisis, the main problem was the loss of solvency, this affected both banks and insurers, so all partners began to focus on the insurer’s ability to pay insured events in a timely manner. In addition, the departure of small insurers in the regions from the market allowed us to better use our advantage in the form of a developed regional network.

What is the comparative importance of such factors as the level of tariffs, the amount of commissions, quality personal contacts, company brand, product range, company financial indicators and rating, perhaps some organizational and service components (such as attaching a personal manager, holding some promotions for partners, etc.) during a crisis and during a period of growth? How (besides the commission) do the preferences of partners fundamentally differ from the preferences of policyholders?

Absolutely all of the above factors are important. But in a crisis, the most important thing for the client is that payments are guaranteed to be made, on time and in a place convenient for him. The client does not want to spend extra effort to obtain a refund.

For partners, in addition to the fact that it is also important to them how those clients whom they attracted for insurance will be served during payment, it matters how they themselves will be paid. In addition, there are some subtleties when, for example, we cooperate with car dealers.

At the time of selling a car, a car dealer offers a policy taking into account the fact that many people buy a car with their last money, and not everyone has the opportunity to ensure proper conditions for its storage and operation. Since the car is under warranty, the car is repaired after an accident at the dealership, and our procedure is structured in such a way that Insurance Company Rosgosstrakh transfers money to the car dealer upon completion of the repair. Here it is important to him how the insurance company will pay, how reliable a partner it is during a crisis. This allowed us to strengthen our position, since those dealership centers that, for various reasons, did not work with Rosgosstrakh, during the crisis revised their approach and were forced to turn to us themselves to establish cooperation.

And what about those partners who themselves are neither beneficiaries nor contractors when repairing insured cars, for example, the same brokers?

For them the mechanism is different. For a partner working in a relatively small town, it is important that the client is satisfied, since the client field itself is limited there, it is important what reviews about the broker the client will give to his relatives and friends, whether he will recommend taking out a policy at this particular point of sale.

Another question is how to make sure that a partner offering policies in a convenient place, for example, at a car market, offers policies of this particular company. It’s good when the client himself asks for the policies of a particular company. In our case, this choice is facilitated by famous brand and experience in insuring other property at Rosgosstrakh. Therefore, such partners are interested in working with us because the clients themselves ask them to do so.

What are the main current trends in the field of work of insurance companies in the partner channel in 2010 - the first half of 2011?

In fact, the consequences of the crisis are still being felt. If in previous years many partners were only interested in the size of the remuneration, then after the crisis the subsequent service and reliability of the company acquired comparable importance. The crisis led to the fact that the largest players increased their share at the expense of small companies.

And today we continue our strategy aimed at increasing market share in all areas, including when working with banks, leasing companies, car dealers and other partners, reaching 1st place in almost every segment. At the same time, we changed the policy of cooperation with a number of partners and excluded in 2010 those of them whose solvency was in doubt. A number of partners have been transferred to the deposit scheme. This never applies to banks and car dealers, but does apply to intermediaries (brokers and corporate agents) who do not have their own bases. We must be sure that such an intermediary will be able to pay the company normally, so he receives the number of policy forms that corresponds to the amount of money deposited. This approach is also a result of the crisis.

What is the size of your company's affiliate network?

To date, the number of our partners has increased to almost 10 thousand, including about 2 thousand car dealers and car showrooms in the Russian Federation (including all the largest car dealers in Moscow) and more than 400 banks. We work with all key federal banks, including Sberbank, VTB 24, Rosselkhozbank, VTB Bank, Raiffeisenbank, Unicredit, Gazprombank, Rosbank. Our fees in the banking channel exceed 10 billion rubles. We also cooperate with all the largest leasing companies.

Affiliate sales in Rosgosstrakh cover both retail types of insurance (CASCO, OSAGO, life) and corporate (insurance of agricultural risks, property legal entities, including large enterprises). The versatility of this channel is also a very important point.

The task of affiliate sales is, first of all, to attract new customers, who in the future will become the target for cross-sales of other channels, especially the retail block. For example, a customer insured by a car dealership would be asked to purchase home, contents, or life insurance. This means that increasing the share of the partner channel is economically justified, and there is no point in artificially restraining it, so the company is actively concluding agreements with new partners in Moscow and the regions. We value any partner, regardless of whether it is a large bank or a small intermediary at a good point of sale.

Is it obviously more profitable to work with large federal partners than to attract many small partners in different regions?

Not at all. It is difficult to assess where costs are higher and where returns are higher. Using the examples of our large federal partners, we see that in large volumes the benefits are obvious, but this does not mean that less effort is spent on it. It is easier to work effectively with a small regional partner than with a large federal one, because the volume of business is much smaller, and it is easier to control its unprofitability and the costs of interacting with it. When we work with Sberbank of Russia, which has 19 thousand of its own branches, for each joint federal program We are obliged to provide quality service and support throughout the country. Sberbank has very high requirements for any of its partners, including insurers; it is very important for them, since their branches are located in villages populated areas, so that their clients are guaranteed service from the insurance company there too.

No matter the size of the partner organization, in any case it is necessary to train its employees, provide them with timely support and consultations, organize the work of the contact center, and configure the software. The process of working with a large federal partner should not be seen as such that someone in the central office made an agreement once, pressed some buttons - and everything worked, the company received a stable influx. The partner's central office must convey a certain strategy to its branches and regional divisions, and then work begins on the ground, which requires no less labor input than working with small regional partners.

On the other hand, there are not so many large federal partners: about 40 banks and 20 car dealers who do business in different cities. Yes, their market share is very high. But at the same time, the large number of small regional partners, each of which brings a little, ensures a stable total revenue. The insurer's market share is formed step by step, drop by drop.

One can see some contradiction here: in fact, the insurer still does everything (provides training, provides IT activities, creates full service), and the partner only receives a commission...

It is not always so. Large partners, for example, have no problems setting up IT and software. For smaller partners, the expectations from interaction with the insurer are indeed such that the insurance company will have to provide it all. And the insurance company does this because it expects that in return for these costs the partner will be able to give it an influx of clients. If there are only two car dealerships in a certain city, and only through them will the main flow of buyers of new cars go, the insurance company is interested in being present there. In addition, if an insurer wants to ensure the correct conduct of operations and provision of services to clients, he is simply forced to come to partners with a full set of documents, software etc. to reduce the likelihood of errors. Incorrect registration will cause damage, first of all, to the insurer himself. He is a professional in his field, and car dealership employees are, after all, specialists in selling cars, and not in issuing loans and issuing policies. It is right that the insurance company takes on the responsibility of training their staff so that customers can get the most necessary information about insurance. In a relationship financial services It is especially important that the consumer understands what exactly he is buying so that his choice is informed.

Are there any examples of insurance fraud and other forms of dishonest behavior on the part of partners in your practice? What does the company do when such cases are identified?

Fraud does happen, but the company has internal procedures to stop it. There are several levels in the control system that monitors the prevention of fraud. I don’t want to reveal the details of the technology, I can only say that the security service and a powerful division of lawyers are involved in this, and there are certain procedures in the support service and financial service in terms of control over payments.

There is a problem, we can’t relax here. The scale of the problem has now become smaller than in the crisis and pre-crisis periods, and most cases of fraud still come from clients, without the participation of partners. There are people who want to make money at the expense of an insurance company not only in Russia, but all over the world, such is human nature. In no way do I want to create the impression that we consider everyone to be deliberate swindlers; fortunately, they are an absolute minority.

During the crisis period, the dishonest behavior of partners was concentrated mainly not in fraud, but in violation of payment discipline - be it in connection with the subagency pyramids that I have already mentioned, or simply in situations where they were supposed to pay the insurer, but did not pay . Then it was profitable to spin money, justifying the delay with the crisis and hard times. We actively dealt with each such case and tried to deal with such partners as much as possible.

As for the wave of abuses that occurred in the market on the part of car dealers and service stations during the beginning of the crisis, currency exchange rate fluctuations and increases in the cost of spare parts, it affected us to a lesser extent. We monitor the cost of spare parts, and the decision to cooperate with each partner is made taking into account the profitability of the prices applied. The terms of the agreement are regulated in detail, and the partner cannot change anything without notifying us, but if something seems unprofitable to us, we will terminate this relationship. However, there remains a risk of fraud due to the fact that during the inspection period some defects of the car were not recorded, and subsequently, upon settlement, we must pay for these repairs. But this is no longer a purely crisis phenomenon, but an existing practice in our market. Another question is that we evaluate a partner based on profitability, and if such repairs are widespread, this will be visible in the partner’s final statistics. Auto business owners, by the way, understand this, and if they want to work with Rosgosstrakh for a long time, they are forced to ensure that our business is mutually beneficial. Intentional insurance of cars with undeclared defects will very quickly be discovered, and very serious claims will be addressed to the partner.

That is, even here economies of scale work, and it is easier for a large company to identify abuses using its flow of information, but smaller insurers are being robbed by scammers?

For a company of our level, this is easier to identify because such a company does not live by the tasks of one year. Small companies are faced with the challenge of surviving one year. And it’s also good if it’s a year and not a quarter. We cannot afford this; we live in long-term categories. Therefore, the company is forced to carefully monitor, analyze and control all financial indicators - for each agent, for each sales office, for each client and for each partner. If you don’t do this, then (considering that we have thousands of partners, tens of thousands of agents and millions of clients) it will be very difficult to implement long-term goals; there is simply no other way out. But we also have good resources to do this, in particular personnel.

How do you assess the prospects of the partner channel for the current year and the near future for the Russian insurance market in general and for your company?

World experience shows that affiliate channel extremely important. Opening their own sales offices for insurers often turns out to be more difficult and costly than establishing relationships with partners. In Russia, the partner channel will also actively grow; the scale of our country and the nature of its development clearly predetermine this.

All insurer partners are interested in additional income. Banks, in addition, are interested in providing insurance protection for their collateral. Therefore, the importance of this channel will not go away. If during the crisis the number of partners was frozen, one could see unfinished dealership centers, etc., now new car dealerships are actively starting to be created, banks are expanding their networks of territorial branches. Analysts give a good forecast for the growth of auto sales, macroeconomic expectations are improving, and loan rates are decreasing. All this suggests that the insurance partnership business in Russia will grow.

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Hello, friends! Agree that there are actions in our lives that should not be done for the simple reason that it will be better for ourselves. There are also things that are not recommended in affiliate marketing, because the mechanism for successful sales requires compliance with certain rules. I will talk about the main ones in this article. These are the original whales of a successful information business.

The first rule of affiliate sales states that “you cannot sell everything to everyone.” Or in other words, you need to sell to those to whom your offer is important and necessary. Decide specifically on target audience, make her portrait, paying attention Special attention the needs and expectations of your potential clients.

What is the mistake of many beginners? Yes, the fact is that they are always selling something, forgetting that the sales process should imply a mutually beneficial exchange.

The second rule of affiliate sales states that “you cannot build sales on the principle of “just to sell.” This is why it is important to build relationships with your potential buyers. In my affiliate marketing model, I personally use my blog and newsletter to do this. It is with their help that I show the potential benefits of my proposals and provide interesting and useful information.

The third rule of affiliate sales says: “Don’t promise more than you can deliver.” I already wrote above that sales are relationships that you build. Success comes to those who do not disappoint their clients. When you promise more than you can deliver, remember that you are not a magician. Remember that in this case, almost one hundred percent disappointment in you will certainly follow. Will they trust you after this? Should I come back to you again?

The fourth rule of affiliate sales says: “You can’t sell a pig in a poke.” That’s why I try to pre-test the third-party affiliate products I offer as much as possible. I always try to do reviews, because reviews show that it is easier for the client and inside to make a decision. And the point here is not in distrust of the authors whom I promote, but in my personal image. Yes, this is not my product! Yes, I didn’t record these video lessons! But I’m offering it! Naturally, they will ask me questions, for example, about failures in the payment service, about technical issues and others, which, believe me, there are quite a few. And turning the blame on the author in this case will not only not solve the problem, but will also undermine his personal reputation.

The fifth rule of affiliate sales says: “Real sales are repeat sales.” They are the ones who bring real income. And if you follow the first four rules, then they will definitely come back to you. As a result, you will receive not just financial benefits, but also moral satisfaction from the fact that your information and your proposals are important to people.

Of course, the above rules are not all that must be followed to successfully promote affiliate programs. There are actually a lot of secrets. You can’t write everything at once. This will no longer be an article, but a whole book. But I always willingly share tricks with my students and colleagues in my courses, for example, in the same Affiliate Sales Matrix training system, which is now available with a huge discount for anyone who wants to learn how to make money on affiliate programs.

Anyway, before you sell something to others, try selling it to yourself. Spend a little time in the role of a “harmful and picky” buyer, convince yourself, prove the benefits to yourself first. By doing this, it will be much easier for you to write an article-review of a particular affiliate program, record a video review, and so on. Then everything will work out. And although I did not discover America in my article, I am still interested to know your opinion on this matter, or maybe you have other priorities in your work. Write in the comments. I think it will be interesting to all readers.

P.S. Remember one important thing, you should not sell or push something to customers just to sell. No, this is not the right approach. This is correct when you provide a solution to a client’s problem, that is, the recommended product is a solution to the problem. You must solve the client's problem and then they will thank you.

Best regards, Evgeniy Vergus.

Hello, friends! Free promotion affiliate links will allow you to make affiliate sales with complete zero. Your earnings via the Internet on affiliate programs will be free of cost and will require the investment of only your personal time.

Promoting affiliate links and making money on affiliate programs - affiliate sales

Earning money without investment on affiliate programs is one of the main types of earning money via the Internet, not only for beginners, but also for people who have been making money in affiliate marketing for a long time. Much has been written on this topic.

This article is addressed to beginners who want to learn how to make money online through affiliate programs.

For a beginner, there are two options for starting in affiliate marketing – paid and free. On the one hand, beginners do not have money for advertising, on the other hand, you need to be able to spend money on advertising, otherwise it will be wasted. There is a category of beginners who doubt making money online through affiliate programs, so they would like to try it for free.

This article will talk about free ways to make money online through affiliate programs. We must be aware that making money on affiliate programs using free methods has its drawbacks. First of all, this a large number of time spent on promoting affiliate links, and also requires a very careful approach to their promotion.

Affiliate sales, or more precisely, income from promoting affiliate links is not always stable. However, this approach has the right to life, and many people choose this path.

Affiliate sales (promotion of affiliate links) on free of charge not so simple. More precisely, everything is simple, but you need to know certain rules. If you work in the dark, you will definitely not succeed. So, briefly about free promotion of affiliate links.

A good option is to leave comments on other thematic sites. To do this, you need to have a good understanding of the topic of the product being promoted. Choose a high-quality affiliate product in a topic that you understand.

It is necessary to select in advance the blogs on which you will leave your comments. Blogs must have high traffic - hundreds of readers. On a blog with little traffic, few people will pay attention to your comments. It is better to choose blogs than websites - they are updated more often.

It is necessary to pay attention to the number of comments, the more there are, the better, but not less than 10. The comment must be one of the first, then it will be effective. In order to find out about the release of a new article on the blog, it is better to subscribe to the blog newsletter. In the comment you can leave a hidden affiliate link to the promoted product.

There are many different thematic forums on the network, so they can serve in promoting affiliate links. This good way attract potential buyers, so it is necessary to communicate on forums.

The method is somewhat reminiscent of working with comments. There, they are usually not allowed to provide a direct link; the link is built into the so-called signature. Forums have their own peculiarities of work. With the correct composition of texts and signatures, the method can work very effectively.

Potential buyers (this is written in detail in the blog article). And it would be a sin not to take advantage of this opportunity.

There are people who don’t go anywhere on the Internet except one social network and external links that appear there.

Selling products directly on social media is difficult. But you can drag visitors for free and make him a subscriber, and then turn him into a buyer. Moreover, interesting statistics: what doesn’t sell well on Facebook sells well on VK and vice versa. Here you can work on recruiting friends with similar interests, but then they will read you and click on affiliate links.

On social networks, you can also communicate in thematic communities and unobtrusively promote your free links there. Communities should be thematic and visited. Of course, it’s not that simple, but you need to start working and gradually gain work experience.

I would also like to say something about promoting your affiliate links on the social network Twitter. To do this, you need to register on Twitter and publish news daily on your microblog on the same topic. Publish an affiliate link 1-2 times a week; the link should be short.

Options for how to do it short link there are many, one of them can be found in the article. This is a very effective way. By the way, I use Twitter to promote my blog articles - it helps a lot (an article on this topic can be found on the blog).

It’s difficult to tell everything in one article. Therefore, I would like to recommend reading the wonderful e-book "". The book is part of the “Library of a Successful Partner” collection of books.

The book is a step-by-step instruction for beginners and answers the question - how to make money via the Internet on affiliate programs from scratch, spending only your time.

Everyone knows that it’s difficult to make money without a blog, but the book has the answer to this question. Recommendations are given on how to make your blog absolutely free. Whether to create such a blog or not is up to everyone, but there is such a possibility.

The book shows ways to use other people's resources and authorities to promote affiliate links, and this is a very effective way. You need to be able to come to an agreement only with the owner of the resource.

The book also gives others effective ways promoting affiliate links. If you are interested in this material, you can read or download the book “” for free using the link provided.

Free promotion methods have their advantages:

• if you fail to earn money, then the costs will be zero, only your time will be wasted;
• In the process of work, you will gain invaluable experience that will always be useful; you will have the opportunity to use the experience gained with paid promotion methods.

Each person chooses the method of promoting affiliate links that gives him the maximum return and makes large affiliate sales. This is how E. Vergus uses free methods promoting affiliate links (mostly). Dmitry Pecherkin prefers paid methods.

During the first months of work, I used free methods of promoting affiliate links, now I use combined methods (some paid, some free). This is everyone's business.

If you want to start making money via the Internet on affiliate programs using paid methods, then read the book anyway, there’s a lot in there useful information. By the way, we recently recorded an interview with a well-known specialist in the field. Evgeny revealed some tricks successful earnings, watch and read this interview.

I wish you good luck and good earnings!

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1. 
   For the company's product to sell itself,


2. 
   To allow external intermediary companies to sell your product to customers,


3. 
   Manufacture (ship) products and accept payments?

But why do some companies have huge partner networks around the world (Microsoft, Coca Cola,..), while others have no one, only their own sales department? In exceptional cases, this is normal and can be explained by the specifics of the business (a product that is too complex and individual, working for a narrow market or a number of key customers), but in most cases, the lack of affiliate sales means only one thing - the company is losing the opportunity to attract additional clients. The potential opportunities for affiliate sales are unlimited, but building them in practice is not easy.

What prevents companies from installing effective partnerships?

1. 
   Uncertainty of the client's portrait (Who can be a partner?).


2. 
   Lack of understanding of the partner’s motivation (Why would he sell us?)


3. 
   The impossibility of direct influence and control over the partner (The partner does not obey us, and it is unjustified to “motivate” him with a whip)

In fact, building partnerships is not difficult task. If your product is really good and has unique feature - this channel sales will make you happy!

I will try to highlight the main steps to solve the problem of building an affiliate sales channel.

0) Client portrait.If you do not have a clear description of your clients, you just need to clearly state who is the client of the product that you are going to sell to partners.

This is easy to do - look at who buys your product and try to describe those who could be your clients. Everything should come down to clear definitions: company = person, field of activity, region, company size, number of employees, other business features.

1) Portrait potential partner. Without knowing who we need, we will not be able to find him.

Let's also reveal the portrait of our partner in more detail. A potential partner is:

• 
  company or individual (hereinafter simply “partner”)


• 
  a partner who knows or, even better, sells his product to your potential customers (see point 0).


• 
  can use its sales channel to sell your product without compromising its sales (better when your product increases total sales partner - cross-selling, increasing the check, expanding the range, etc.)


• 
  can recommend your product to your potential clients (Most often these are your friends, clients, partners and...). In this case, payment for a recommendation often becomes optional.

For the sake of simplicity, I divide partners into 2 types:

1. 
   Regular partners are those who sell or recommend your product for a long time, with some regularity.


2. 
   “Temporary” partners are those who can occasionally recommend you, or you can use their recommendation (written or oral) to sell your product.

2) Preparing for a meeting with a partner.

Before you offer a person a partnership,Consider the following points:

1. How to introduce yourself and your company in a way that is brief and memorable to your interlocutor. (It is advisable to have a prepared self-presentation for 20 seconds, which the interlocutor will remember, and he can then use it when introducing you).

2. Benefits of a potential partner from cooperation with you:

• 
  for himself - what is the point of working with you;


• 
  for those to whom he will recommend you - why his clients need you

3. How can your partner introduce you to potential clients (what should you tell him about you so that a potential client wants to contact you or take your service along with a partner’s service - during cross-selling; if your partner is a professional intermediary of your services or product - write a script for him “correct” conversation when recommending you, answers to the main objections).

3) Partnership proposal.

A meeting with a partner is no different in essence from a meeting with a client. You need to sell yourself, your company and your product. If a partner does not “buy” you, he will not sell your product.

In addition, it is important to build relationships with potential recommenders and convey to them clear information about how to recommend you. Createsmall simplepresentation of your product (10-20 seconds), which even a child can repeat. Do not use complex words, large sentences and typical descriptions (best, leaders, unique...). The simpler and clearer it is, the greater the chances of correctly conveying information to the end consumer.Homework:ask your friends and parents what you do. Let them tell you who you are and what you do. Usually what you hear does not correspond to what you want to hear. Can you describe yourself and your activities in a few sentences?

It’s not enough to say about % of the deal! Your service should be understandable to your regular partner. It is important to come and explain what its advantages are, what it gives. This will make it easier to recommend that your partner use your service rather than your competitor.

Active recommendations.I divide recommendations into active and passive. Passive is when you or your product are recommended without your participation. It's always nice. But unfortunately, this does not happen so often. People and companies live with their own difficulties and problems; they do not remember you as often as you would like. Therefore, it is important to use active recommendations - take the contacts of potential clients yourself! At the meeting, regardless of how it ended, ask the client to recommend his colleague, friend or partner to you. It is important to provide some clarity in the description of whose contact you are asking for.

For example:

“Peter, our meeting was useful for you.

Yes.

Affiliate sales are effective channel sales, allowing the company that built it to receive significant additional profit from sales of its product. It is only important to remember that this channel at the beginning of its creation requires no less, and perhaps even greater, effort than creating your own sales department. It is important for you to think through almost everything for your partner (why should he do this, what to sell, to whom to sell, how to sell, etc.), giving him a finished product. Relationships with partners will show everything weak sides Your company and your product - be prepared to fix them. Partners are your friends who can make your business better and more successful.

Build relationships and reach unimaginable heights in your business.

“Although there are currently tens of millions of blogs around the world - personal sites only on WordPress platform Owned by about 60 million people, many bloggers still have not monetized their web resources. If you are one of these bloggers, then you are in a great position to start affiliate marketing: direct readers to a product or service in exchange for a commission on a completed sale (or other conversion action)." - Leyl Master Black ), senior director of communications for the American medical company One Medical

Between the seller and the buyer is the heart of online marketing. Affiliate programs take this concept to the next level.

For example, let's say you work for a shoe manufacturing company. Yours customer base I am aware that you are an expert in this area, so I am interested in your opinion about another type of high-quality genuine leather products - bags. It is possible that your clients have asked you how to choose good bag, and you again and again recommended to them the same criteria that should be used when choosing a purchase. As a shoe supplier, in this case You are acting as a marketer in relation to the bag company.

Wouldn't it be great if you could close deals like these profitably?

By using affiliate marketing, you can do this.

Here's what it looks like schematically:

• Company A → refers the client to company B → transaction occurs
• Company A receives commissions from the transaction into Company B's account

Quick Facts About Affiliate Marketing

The earliest days of affiliate marketing date back to the 1990s, when Amazon launched its Associates Program (which still exists today).

Affiliate marketing has developed by leaps and bounds since its inception. One industry study notes that worldwide, affiliate marketing is worth an estimated $6.5 billion across a variety of sectors, including retail trade, personal finance, gaming industry, gambling, travel, telecommunications, education, publishing and various forms of lead generation.

Affiliate programs can be focused on the B2C and B2B sectors of the economy (Business-to-consumer, “business for consumer”; Business-to-business, “Business for business”).

Most affiliate programs operate on a revenue sharing basis, or sales fees(Pay Per Sale). Small part programs are built according to the scheme fees per action(CPA, Cost Per Action). Payment per impression (CPM) and per click on links (CPC) methods are used much less frequently. Typically, the commission amount is set in advance as part of the standard program.

Participants in an affiliate marketing program are generally referred to as the “affiliate” (aka “publisher”, “webmaster”) and “advertiser/merchant”. The advertiser/seller delivers a unique trade proposal(USP), the partner promotes this offer. A publisher can also act as an advertiser; these roles are not mutually exclusive.

Affiliate programs are attractive to advertisers because participation in them does not entail any losses. Affiliate marketing fully embodies the principle of “pay for performance.” In other words, advertisers only pay for additional sales.

But what businesses cannot do is rely entirely on affiliate programs to replace their traditional source of income. Advertisers must actively build own mechanism sales and build your marketing arsenal, since partners, as a rule, represent a third party in marketing interactions and are independent legal entities.

Advertisers have disabilities control of partners. What to do if the program does not contribute to sales growth? There's nothing you can do: partners may always be open to new offers from the advertiser, but ultimately these two structures are independent of each other.

Merchants can run their own affiliate programs or distribute offers through one or more existing networks. An affiliate network, in essence, is a kind of “dating service” for sellers on the one hand and partners on the other. Monetization of affiliate networks occurs due to the fact that they take part of the commission.

Does affiliate marketing work in B2B?

Using affiliate marketing in B2B interactions can be a major challenge, but success is entirely possible in this area. For partners key factor The key to success in sales promotion is web traffic - generally, generating significant traffic will be required to get any significant returns.

If you as an affiliate attract high traffic, this can be useful for promoting B2B offers and generally receiving more high income with fewer deals closed (more “high value” transactions typically occur in this industry).

B2B advertisers can find success by working with partners who blog about corporate business. At the same time, sellers are able to successfully promote additional products and services of interest to their customer base.

Let's check the accuracy of these statements using the example of the practice of marketer Heidi Cohen. She blogs about marketing, so she promotes offers that her audience might be interested in—links to download free guides and white papers, and opportunities to sign up for conferences.

Is affiliate marketing right for you as an advertiser?

2. Who could be your potential partner?

3. What income do you expect to receive from your offer and partners?

Answers to questions 1-3 will help predict potential income. Is the market large enough to continue efforts to enter it? If not, then you should invest yours limited time and resources into more profitable marketing projects.

Next important step— negotiate with potential publishers and business partners. Have they participated in affiliate programs before? What was the revenue like in terms of campaign performance? What share of income do they take for themselves? advertising networks? What are typical conversion rates? What would encourage partners to promote your products and services?

Real statistics and insights from affiliates will help you better understand the role of affiliate marketing in helping your business meet market needs.

Answering all the questions above will help you determine if affiliate marketing is right for you. If you answer “Yes”, then you will need to make the following decisions:

Will you join an existing affiliate network or create your own?

The answer to this question will emerge from a simple cost-benefit analysis:

1. Is there an affiliate network that matches your company's products and services?

2. What is the track record of this affiliate marketing company? Are you confident that it can achieve the promised results?

3. How long will it actually take you to create an affiliate network from scratch? Is there someone in your company who can oversee this initiative by building relationships with partners, resolving disputes, resolving technical problems, and ensuring timely payments? Will the expected returns justify the time invested?

If there is no affiliate network that suits your needs, and you believe that you can achieve a positive ROI, then you should definitely start launching your network. However, keep in mind that you will have to devote resources to build it, manage it and make it profitable.

Is affiliate marketing right for you as an affiliate?

If your company is looking to promote affiliate deals, then you should ask yourself the following key questions:

1. Is this a real income opportunity?

2. Does promoting affiliate offers meet user experience goals?

If the benefits outweigh the costs, then the first thing you should do is run a small test on a random and representative sample of your traffic. Are your visitors converting? Do affiliate deals help achieve conversion goals or do they detract from conversion?

If you see measurable income from affiliate deals, you can gradually scale your test by increasing the percentage of web traffic driven into affiliate marketing programs.

You have a wide range of options for placing an affiliate deal on your site. Suitable for this side panel blog (for example, Heidi Cohen did this) or the bottom of the main content block (the “3 Boys and a Dog” blog). If you work in a B2B company, you could allocate a part of the corporate website for affiliate offers. Test different placements of affiliate offers without limiting their location to a single area of ​​the site.

Be Generous

Treat your affiliates like your most valuable partners and they will line up to do business with you.

Around 2007, entrepreneur Mike Geary, a certified nutritionist and owner of the fitness website The Truth about Abs, joined the Clickbank affiliate program. He noticed that most sellers in this network pay their partners between 35% and 50% of total revenue. Since Mike was selling a digital product (weight loss programs, e-books etc.), then he had freedom of action that allowed him to be more flexible in the matter of payments - he had little overhead.

It sounds crazy, but he started paying eye-poppingly generous commissions. And here's what happened: hundreds of affiliates noticed the size of Giri's payouts and redirected their traffic to his site. Of the more than 10,000 products sold on Clickbank, Mike's product topped the sales list, which brought even more attention to his company.

According to Mike, his income is about $1 million per month.

Case Study: CrazyForBargains

Here's a great case study from the marketing blog Practical Ecommerce and CrazyForBargains, a family-owned business that sells high-quality sleepwear (pajamas, etc.) online. This company is not new to the market - Melissa Murphy started her online business in 2002.

In 2004, Murphy launched an affiliate marketing program on the ShareASale platform to develop a diversified source of income. At the time, Melissa received most of her Internet traffic through search engines.

As of 2012, the company still relied on search engines, but simultaneously had additional channels for generating funds.

Murphy has grown her affiliate channel to the point where it accounts for 11% of her total revenue. She hopes to increase this figure to 20%. What she likes most about affiliate marketing is that it is based on actual performance: instead of paying to post ads and hope they work, she pays a 12% commission only when a sale is made. The program tracks closings using a 365-day cookie, which means affiliates also earn commissions on repeat purchases within one year of initially referring traffic to the CrazyForBargains site.

At first, Murphy used her own affiliate program. She found that the process was time-consuming, requiring constant monitoring of the program and always being mindful of the need to pay partners. Then Melissa switched to affiliate network, where she could immediately access tracking, reporting, and payment features (plus, she had instant access to partners who were willing to help sell her products).

In 2009, she also outsourced an administrator to manage the affiliate program—Melissa pays him between $2,500 and $5,000 per month. The difference in salary is determined by whether the manager incentivizes site performance and whether there is a need for additional services such as design and development.

Maintain personal contacts

Interpersonal relationships play a critical role in the success of the Murphy program. She often consults directly with top sales partners, keeping her line of communication always “on alert.” Melissa also manages product assortment and optimizes the sales system to improve conversion rates to improve profitability and long-term business value to the benefit of herself and her partners.

CrazyForBargains takes these key steps to keep its affiliate community active:

• Participation in forums
• Purchasing contextual advertising
• Attending marketing conferences
• Actively attracting new partners

Remember that there is a living person on the other side of the monitor. Build strong business-to-business relationships. Ride your phone and use it to find your best partners. Develop a joint strategy.

Case Study: Groupon

Until 2009, Groupon as a business was considered a spectacular failure. But at the end of 2010, the company's traffic seemed to explode. At that time, there were even rumors circulating on the Internet that Google would buy Groupon for $5 billion.

After all, Groupon pulled off the largest initial public offering (IPO) for a web company since Google.

What caused this growth? Two words: affiliate marketing.

One of the most important parts Groupon's strategy was to remove intermediaries - affiliate networks, which took a huge part of the income received. Instead, Groupon focused on creating direct relationships with partners.

Groupon then began synchronizing activities with influential owners of Internet sites. Keep in mind that due to development social media, you don't have to be a webmaster or online publisher to participate in affiliate marketing: you can facilitate the completion of an affiliate deal through your social network.

Groupon marketers knew what it took to make their partners' lives as easy as possible, so they did it ahead of time. advertising banners for affiliate marketing program participants. Every day, partners automatically received new deal offers - all of them were linked to one member ID. It was this strategy that fueled Groupon's growth.

Groupon built partnerships from the ground up. Listed below is what you should know as you begin building your affiliate marketing program.

Lessons from Groupon

1. Attract Bloggers: Reach out to blog owners that are relevant to your product and business in general, and see if they are interested in becoming your affiliate. Don't just target famous bloggers. Find influential online creators who support your brand and have a strong connection with your target audience.

2. Connect with Social Media Influencers: Track down established “mid- to small-caliber” media enthusiasts who might be interested in joining your program.

3. Partner with online publishers: Ask key online publishers and online media outlets if they would be interested in conducting reviews of your products and services. Keep in mind that most major sites will not want to highlight your affiliate program or deals. You'll likely have better luck with smaller media assets.

Ready to get started?

Here are the steps you need to take to start your own affiliate program:

1. Assess your current audience

The key to starting an affiliate marketing program lies in finding the right affiliates. Start by researching your blog readers, email subscribers, and social media followers. Some of these people are your current customers, have been customers in the past, or will become customers in the future.

2. Determine how to promote your affiliate program

If you want your program to be successful, you will need to distribute it beyond your existing subscriber base. Partners won't find you at random.

• You should actively recruit affiliates by tracking down bloggers and website owners who might be advertising your product or service. Also, look for publishers/webmasters in your subscription database.
• Another option is to join affiliate networks and recruit affiliates there.
• There's no reason why you can't create your own affiliate network by participating as a third party to earn small commissions from both parties involved in the transaction.

3. Focus on acquiring traffic

Acquiring traffic is critical to the success of your affiliate program. Help your partners attract more traffic, and most importantly, diversify their sources so you don't rely on your business's only marketing channel. Use paid traffic sources and build relationships with bloggers.

4. Announce your program

Take the time to make sure your target community knows about your affiliate program. Place an announcement about the launch of the program in thematic web directories OfferVault, PointClickTrack or 5 Star Affiliate Programs and on the relevant forums.

5. Measure your results

If you want to achieve something, you need to measure your performance regularly. Use yours to figure out which solutions work and which don't.

Key Findings

• Unlike most marketing channels, with an affiliate program you only pay for the deal you close. In other words, you only spend money when you earn it. This strategy is important for small businesses that typically have a modest advertising budget.
• Becoming an affiliate marketer is very easy for anyone: even if you don't have a website, you can rely entirely on your social media channels.
• If you create difficulties for partners, no one will want to work with you. Make the partnership process as painless as possible.
• Consider your partners as reliable business associates and consultants. Work with them to achieve the common goal of increasing sales of your product.

High conversions to you!

Via: quicksprout.com Image source: jamesjackson9952