[Geno Prussakov]

So....

An AM/OPM/merchant finds your website and thinks it is a good fit for the affiliate program they run.

What would be your preferred method of contact?

IMPORTANT: Multiple choice voting allowed!! So please select all options matching your "Sure, I can live with this" thinking, and only then hit the VOTE button.


Many thanks in advance for your help to all AMs, merchants, and OPMs out there!

Geno

PS: Throughout my recruitment efforts I have found out that some affiliates have yet another option -- submit a ticket. I am not including this option in the poll here. If that's your "means of submitting feedback/comments", please read it as e-mail, and vote for the respective poll option(s)

[MichaelColey]

I prefer that merchants communicate with me through the "Gift Message" from my favorite online steak seller.

Seriously, though...

I strongly prefer email, but welcome phone calls for anything that's urgent (to me, not them!) or too complicated for email. Postal mail is fine, too.

[Geno Prussakov]

Thanks for your feedback, Michael.

Added postal mail to the options too.

Thanks,

Geno

[Geno Prussakov]

Interesting spread of votes so far:

E-mail/form on site ONLY -- 40.00%
E-mail or Fax is okay -- 20.00%
Phone or E-mail -- 30.00%
Any: e-mail, fax, phone or postal mail -- 10.00%

Looking forward to more affiliate votes!!

Geno

[Rhia7]

Hi Geno,

I don't have a FAX machine so I would prefer not to use FAX as a contact medium.

You might specify the reason for contact as this might influence preferences.

If the merchants want to let me know about this month's specials or coupons, wouldn't e-mail be easier?

If an actual problem existed within my account (i.e. once Linkshare erroneously deactivated me -- it was their fault too) I would want to talk on the telephone, but that's really the only time I'm interested in spending time on the telephone.

The reason for the contact could be important in terms of the affiliate's preference of choice.

If the reason is ultra-confidential due to legal reasons, then ofcourse e-mail is not such a secure medium -- it all depends on the reason for the contact.

[jrrl]

Originally Posted by Geno Prussakov

What would be your preferred method of contact?

By check!

-John.

[Sam Bay]

Fax?

[Rhia7]

How about a message in a bottle?

[Vrindavan]

am i missing something ?
why no instant messengers ?

[UncleScooter]

My guess is if you cold call affiilates to recruit them you will do more harm than good. I say phone calls are reserved for managers with whom the affiliate has an established relationship.
I say email them, and do not send a canned email. Be specific, tell them why their site is a match and tell them which site you are looking at. I know you know all that Geno, but I posted it for the good of others.
IM rocks but I would say that is also best for those with established relationships.

[Witzer]

Originally Posted by Vrindavan

am i missing something ?
why no instant messengers ?

Am I missing something??

Is IM quicker than e-mail? Is IM a little more intrusive than e-mail? Is IM sort of like that driver on the interstate who passes you so that he can make a quick turn?


I get defensive when a stranger calls me to talk about my business. I get the feeling that I am about to be sold another credit card protection scheme. Save the phone calls until we establish a relationship.(of sorts).

[davidh]

If any contact is necessary above and beyond delivery of checks in the mail, then the program is dysfunctional in some manner.

[webworker]

Personalized email is fine (not form letters), and I don't mind phone calls at all. Personally, I kind of like to get acquainted with an affiliate manager by phone and the conversations can be very productive - if I'm interested in the program to begin with.

[regimantas]

I also think, that email using email form on page is the best choice, because i don't use fax, and as english is not my native language sometimes there are some difficulties in understanding what the other person is trying to say (especially, when he is also from non - english spoken country).

[Leader]

An AM/OPM/merchant finds your website and thinks it is a good fit for the affiliate program they run.

What would be your preferred method of contact?

Their program, in a network I'll look at, with a product that I'm interested in selling, and (if the program is old enough to have stats) some good stats.

In other words, I prefer not to be solicited. When I'm interested in joining more programs, I'll go looking for them. And if I think a merchant is a good fit, I'll find them.

I don't *mind* emails, and I wouldn't mind a snail-mail (because a snail-mail would be so unusual). Definitely no calls. And I don't have a fax.

But if I'm not looking for another merchant, or one of that particular type, all recruitment methods are likely to fail, even the ones I wouldn't be angered by. Personally if I'm not looking for a merchant, chances are low that they'll ever get their stuff on my sites. For the persistant I'll sometimes slap up a section, but it won't do anything because I only did it to stop from being bothered The most convincing or persistent recruitment pitch in the world won't make a product line fit my sites.

For any other purposes of communication, what DavidH said.

[Vinny O'Hare]

I hate getting recruitment emails and just the thought of it when I get one I mark down the program to my never join list. Period

[loxly]

What Leader said...

Recruit via posting at Abestweb is the only way to get my attention if I don't find you myself looking for programs in my niche...

Phone calls, I don't answer the phone if I don't recognize the number calling me.

Email, would get lost in the shuffle, or just plain deleted.

And for clarification of your results, if I hadn't read the thread, I thought you were asking about communication in general, not for recruiting. That is a whole different ball game.

[Mr. Sal]

Paste here what Leader said on post #15

[Geno Prussakov]

Originally Posted by Vrindavan

am i missing something ?
why no instant messengers ?

Added now.

Originally Posted by loxly

And for clarification of your results, if I hadn't read the thread, I thought you were asking about communication in general, not for recruiting. That is a whole different ball game.

Thread title adjusted. Poll question changed to "How do you want AMs to contact you when recruiting?"

Geno

[MichaelColey]

I totally missed the gist of it, too. I thought it was contact in general, which is how I answered it.

For recruitment, definitely email or postal mail only. I despise most recruitment calls.

[Geno Prussakov]

Ok. Sorry for not phrasing the poll question clearer from the start. I assumed people would read my first post and only then vote... Should we carry this poll on as a "general contact" question and start a separate one for recruitment?

Geno

[Paul_Ward]

I voted email or phone, but TARGETTED is the real answer. I joined one of my best programmes after a phone call from a merchant who was starting up, they are always one of my strongest earners and still only recruit directly - no affiliate info on the website at all.

The way the web works, a merchant can easily pick which sites they would like to work with (once they've trawled through the SE's) and so targetting can and should be very precise. I've had very few phone calls to join a merchant (and now I've made it very hard to find my phone number) but I've joined all of the handful that approached me as they were all a good fit, success rate? - about 1 in 3 of these end up making us both money.

I'll always respond to a targetted and personalised email or call. On the other hand yet another form email shot off to the masses spends a fraction of a second before being deleted. Now, were I an AM - I'd spend a significant amount of time each week seeking out targetted new affilaites - but then I used to work in face to face sales and know that it's a numbers game. The numbers here are pretty favourable if you do it properly.