jayeff

A rep's job should be to increase sales. In this context, the protection of existing sales needs to be the job of the program owner/exec.

Give major affiliates a small edge because it is expected, but don't lose sight of the reality that a dollar from you is worth exactly the same as a dollar from any other sponsor. Many sponsors have already dug themselves a pit, responding to "whales" by paying them too much. They may have got away with it because a lot of webmasters who should know better, are blinded by payout rates just as much as newbies. A smart affiliate knows that his/her bottom line is affected much more by a site's saleability and his/her own efforts, than whether the payout rate is plus or minus a few points.

It is far more effective and cheaper to let solid sales take care of the strictly financial aspect of your relationship on their own and introduce intangibles which are not so easily duplicated. The most effective target is the affiliate's ego (which BTW is what giving them that financial edge is really about, more than it is about the dollars involved).

To this end, keep major affiliates away from reps as much as possible. There are exceptions, but most reps are low-level employees with limited experience and not usually allowed to exercise much initiative. It should be obvious that the average rep has little if anything to offer the most experienced and successful affiliates.

Instead the program owner (or in a corporate organisation, a senior exec) should be the one to deal with major affiliates and that contact should be proactive, not merely responsive. When a sponsor contacts an affiliate, notes about that affiliate and his/her stats should be to hand, sometimes along with a suggestion or idea that is presented as if it were thought up just for that affiliate. Remember personal occasions such as birthdays and use some imagination when sending gifts. Try to meet face-to-face (one-on-one when possible) once in a while. And always have your ears open for any undertone of discontent. Etc. The point is to establish a special relationship that the affiliate will think very hard about before abandoning.

This industry wastes far too much on parties and the like where everyone is thrown in together. Just like a dollar is a dollar, Jack Daniels tastes the same no matter whose bar it comes from, so very little of what I was writing about above is achieved by such events (truth be told, their purpose is probably often one-upmanship vis-a-vis other sponsors). At the same time, many sponsors don't invest nearly enough in reps and employ people who cannot do much more than trawl ICQ. They should be using reps who achieved at least modest success as webmasters.

A good rep's first job should be to make live contact - phone, ICQ or whatever - with every new affiliate, or at the very least every new affiliate who begins to send traffic. This contact is to decide whether that affiliate - it doesn't matter whether a newbie or an experienced webmaster - shows a spark which could be developed. If not, move on. Otherwise the rep's whole job should be to actively help "live" affiliates, not simply by pointing them to his hosted galleries and the banner page URL, but with broad as well as program specific advice and assistance.

Done properly, this would not only generate more income, but it also creates in affiliates' minds the idea that here is a program that is different from the rest.