Partner Experiment

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Electronic Light Newsletter
===========================

By André le Roux
Published by Pandecta Magazine
www.pandecta.com

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--- ISSUE # 29 June 12, 2003
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IN THIS ISSUE

1. About Electronic Light
2. Today's Sponsor
3. The Partner Experiment
4. List Info

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--- 1. About Electronic Light
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ElectronicLight has no schedule. It goes out whenever I know
something that might help you make more money or help you
understand e-business a little better.

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--- 2. Today's Sponsor
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The Search Engine Yearbook.
It's NOT for everyone
-- but then --
There are only 10 spots in the top 10...
Not everyone can win in the search engine game.
www.pandecta.com/sey.html

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--- 3. The Partner Experiment
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What's the secret to getting other people to sell your products?

1 - Give them fat commissions?
2 - Give them all the tools they need?
3 - Treat them like 'partners' rather that 'affiliates'?
4 - Find the RIGHT people to do the job?
5 - All of the above?

If you said "All of the above" then you and I are thinking the
same thing. There is a lot to running a successful affiliate
program.

Fat Commissions
---------------

I saw an affiliate program yesterday offering 1% commission.

1%!

Even if I had nothing else to do I wouldn't sign up. Why bother?

So I decided to give Pandecta Partners (I call them 'partners'
rather than 'affiliates') 50% commission.

-- Then I got greedy and dropped it to 40%.
-- Then my brain came back from holiday and I made it 50% again.
-- But 51% sounds so much better, so I made it 51% :-)

The result after 2 weeks:
15 partners signed up, 0 partner sales so far...

All The Tools
-------------

I created a "Partner Section" - a kind of mini-site within the
Pandecta site where partners can download images and sales copy.
You can take a look even if you're not signed up:
http://www.pandecta.com/partners

Please tell me what you think (mailto:and-@pandecta.com).

'Partners' Rather Than 'Affiliates'
-----------------------------------

This is a tough one. I figure if you pay high commissions, give
them all the tools they need, treat them as individuals and are
available to them to answer their questions (personally), then
you are doing ok.

But I really want to get this part right.

I don't want just an affiliate program.

So here's the deal:

Tell me how I can make my partners feel more like PARTNERS and
I'll give you a free copy of me Search Engine Yearbook 2003
($30 value) - even if I don't use your suggestion.

(mailto:and-@pandecta.com?Subject=PARTNER-IDEA)

The Right People
----------------

This is crucial.

I signed up for Ken Evoy's "5 Pillar Program" 3 years ago. I
have 150-odd affiliates under me - with 1 sale (that's 1 (one)
sale in 3 (three) YEARS!) between the lot of them. Most people
just don't know how.

So for my partner program I set out to find the right people.
Those legendary "Super Affiliates" who know exactly how. I found
instead the "Super Affiliate Generator" :-)

It's a program that helps you find them. I was so impressed by
it (while using it I kept thinking 'This is too easy!') that I
signed up for their affiliate program and wrote a review:
http://www.pandecta.com/affiliate-software.html

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I'll keep you posted on how all this unfolds.

Cheers

André

PS: About the ElectronicLight site, I found a new lamp supplier,
so it looks like I won't be throwing the site in the fire (or
selling it). I'll share some details in the next issue.

PPS: If you're not a Pandecta Partner yet, get onboard:
http://www.pandecta.com/partner.html

This article was first published in
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