Tower - Justin

I’ve been wanting to write a blog recently, but having a hard time deciding the topic. It is much harder than I had first anticipated. Unless you have an actual topic in mind...It is truly quite difficult.

I have decided to take my colleague Adrian’s approach. Here is a blog he posted recently on C.A.L. entitled “Small Fish in a Big Pond” Its, short, sweet & simple – but what I really liked about it was the fact that he related it to real-world experience...It’s the personal touch I think that makes the impact on me, so I shall follow-suit:

This weekend I had a chance to see Terminator 4: Salvation in the theatre. It was an awesome movie to say the least, id go as far as to say the best movie I have seen all year. Definitely not a masterpiece in terms of some of the great theatrical performances that have touched the silver-screen throughout time, but very well assembled none-the-less.

So, it got me thinking...What if I could build an A.M Terminator? A cyber genetic, alloyed metal endoskeleton, indistinguishable from a human being – But not programmed to “terminate” Affiliates of course...It’s just bad for business But rather programmed to be the best damn A.M. that technology could accommodate. This machine would never deviate from its mission, constantly providing the following traits:

· Owning up to mistakes, acting quickly to solve potential problems:

Albert Einstein said it the best: “Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.” Fixing problems is very time-consuming, why not streamline the operation, instead of fixing the problem, think outside the box & prevent the problem from even occurring in the 1st place.


· Patience:

Building a successful Affiliate foundation does not happen overnight, slow & steady wins the race. I try to avoid the ‘quick-buck’ approach. I am not a webmaster, but I do understand that things take time, I never pressure my affiliates, I realize that they devote a lot of time & effort into building their empires, & I move at their pace. I find it all comes down to motivation, either someone is willing to complete a project, or they are not...& although I can make inquires, state benefits, try my best to motivate...I cannot change this base fact.



· Being able to provide whatever tools and services affiliates need to make as many sales as possible:

Constantly keeping their Affiliates informed regarding changes in the program, upcoming promotions & news, software updates. Making sure Affiliates understand the back-end of the program, what tools are offered & how to use them.



· Communication:

Many of the Affiliates I deal with do not speak fluent English, & there is often quite a communication barrier between us. If I was an A.M. terminator I would of course be versed in all known variants of modern communication, but I am not...So I have to compensate. This is another instance where becoming friends with my affiliates benefits me as well. Often times they have no problem translating a quick email for me that is written in Russian, German, Spanish, etc...I do favours for them as well, its reciprocity, & if you have used software translators in the past – than you know as well as I do...many things can get lost in transition.



· When the affiliates are happy, then they will keep promoting products:

My top-performing Affiliates are always the ones I have the best communication with, & I really don’t think it is a coincidence. Affiliates are people, like the rest of us. Sure everyone wants to make $$$, but they are human before anything else. I try & talk with them every day, even if nothing needs to be said in terms of business. “How was your weekend?”, “How are the wife & kids?”, “What’s your favourite color?” – It doesn’t matter the topic, just doing your best to distinguish them from another # is what counts the most.



· Be available, ready & willing:

Always having a baseline of communication. I personally try & have Skype/MSN open as much as possible when not at work. The majority of my Affiliates run on completely different schedules than I do...I try to be available as much as possible to them. The sooner a question is answered – the sooner they can put this question behind them & move forward.



· Thinking Outside the Box:

- As an AM, I find that programs will rarely tell you what you “CAN” do, but they are very quick to tell you what yon “CAN’T” do. It’s up to you to put your ‘thinking-cap’ on & figure out the rest. Always keeping your eyes open, in search of new & cleaver ways to market.



· Offering Pointers:

Not so much for established Affiliates, but for the ones that are new to the business. And again, the A.M. Terminator brain would hold endless amounts of data pertaining to SEO, marketing techniques, geographic targeting, etc...but in the meantime, I try my best to give whatever advice I can. Read as much as I can, pass important articles on to affiliates that I think would benefit them, suggest changes that you think could be beneficial.

Of course, the A.M. Terminator wouldn’t need sleep, food, shelter, compassion, or any other basic needs for that matter, but unfortunately I do. Maybe someday we will be able to provide all these services & still be able to maintain a ‘personal-touch’. But until then, my goal is to get as close to this as I possibly can...without having the luxury of being a machine....Well see what happens, thanx for reading