Ok affiliate and sales funnel guys: is this a smoking deal or what?

9 replies
Working through a lot of the JV stuff from Jay Abraham, Mromeo09, etc, and I have now built a relationship with the founder of a company in the music industry from a cold email.

He currently has an affiliate program that is pretty straightforward and just pays you a set small fee if you send someone to his company and they buy.

However, I have negotiated a deal with him in return for partnering him up with other large companies in the industry for JV sales. In a nutshell, he's offered a souped up Affiliate Program for "them only" where they get 20% OF THE SPEND of that client for the LIFETIME of their relationship with them. No 60-day cookie, etc etc. As long as they are spending cash with them then they are sending 20% our way. And the niche they are in is one that really works best with a monthly spend. It's not something you buy once and done, by any means at all. Unless something goes wrong and they are dissatisfied, they will continue to spend money regularly with them over at least a couple years or more.

I am going to structure it where my cut is 5% for facilitating it and they get the remaining 15%. I'll get monthly reports of the sales activity, etc.

My main question is this: in the world of affiliate programs, where I see small commissions, sales fees, and very limited cookies....is this a sweet deal??

It appears so, in my eyes, but I am not an affiliate marketer. Wanted some honest input from guys that had a lot of experience.

Lastly, although I am currently working relationships in the music industry, I have considered seeking a partnership with someone who was a stone cold killer at building a sales funnel and converting traffic to them. We could make unlimited money....and the nice thing about it is we don't depend on brand new traffic each and every day. Each long-term spender that comes on board just makes the snowball bigger as it rolls downhill.

Again, not being a sales funnel guy....could one be built to selectively target and drive traffic to this offer and get reasonable conversions?

Input? Advice? How fast do you see results from the funnel?
#affiliate #deal #funnel #guys #sales #smoking
  • Profile picture of the author Phil Wilkinson
    Depends....

    A funnel can be made for almost anything. Conversions depends largely on the offer.

    You say that the company is in the music industry. What do they do? What is the offer?

    You don't have to be specific, and give anything away. Just basically, what's the offer?
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  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    Originally Posted by CLSVentures View Post

    My main question is this: in the world of affiliate programs, where I see small commissions, sales fees, and very limited cookies....is this a sweet deal??
    It really depends on the product/sales volume/cost etc.

    There are many affiliate programs that offer a lifetime cookie so that, in itself, is not unique.

    The revenue share and commission percentages depend a lot on revenue, price, sales, etc.


    I have considered seeking a partnership with someone who was a stone cold killer at building a sales funnel and converting traffic to them. We could make unlimited money....and the nice thing about it is we don't depend on brand new traffic each and every day.
    Why partner with someone just for their sales funnel building skills?

    Why not outsource for a one-time fee instead of sharing profits?


    Again, not being a sales funnel guy....could one be built to selectively target and drive traffic to this offer and get reasonable conversions?
    There are many different ways to build sales funnels.

    The primary purpose is to capture an email address and present your offers.

    Having an email list allows you to continue to market to people who may have said "No" at first.

    You said it is the kind of product that is recurring once people get in. So having a list gives you multiple opportunities to get initial naysayers to buy in later.

    You didn't mention it here but what are you using to manage your affiliate program?

    You don't want to leave tracking sales and affiliate commissions to manual methods. And you want to make sure the supplier is paying affiliates fairly for all sales.

    It sounds (from what you wrote) that you (they) are implementing their own program.

    Do they have affiliate tracking, commission payouts and returns/refunds all managed?

    You want to make sure that is in place before the sales and volume get so much that you need an automated solution.
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    • Profile picture of the author CLSVentures
      Once the funnel is all set up, autoresponders etc are functioning is that something that runs pretty much automatically from then on out? Or does it require constant monitoring?

      To be honest, my time is not best spent becoming a funnel builder or affiliate pro. It's spent orchestrating deals, marketing strategies, brokering offline ad space, and bringing people together. I don't have the time to do any justice to maintaining and optimizing a funnel if it requires a lot of attention, evaluation, and tweaking throughout the process in order for it to convert aggressively.

      I don't mean to sound brash....just meaning that my skillset is not that piece. And I have a hunch that there are MANY folks on here that would do 10x the job I could do in 1/5 of the time.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve B
        CLS,

        Whether this is a great deal or not all depends upon what kind of income your 5% generates . . . and you really have no control over any of it.

        You are what some refer to as an African drumbeater. Your role (from the sound of it) is to walk through the tall grass and scare up game for the company to shoot, so to speak. You beat the bushes scaring up potential partners and affiliates that can help the music company profit and grow.

        In my opinion, that's not the kind of business I want. I would prefer to put my effort into my own asset, like my own business that I control all by myself. I want to work on growing something I can sell for a profit someday and that brings me income while I own it.

        To me, I would rather be the music company making the 80% and leave the drum beating to someone else. Bottom line . . . 5% doesn't seem like a great percentage to me for what you're doing.

        Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author CLSVentures
        And yea they have affiliate tracking and have been doing it for some time with their other affiliates. Again, they have used that model in the past with just like a one time sales commish on the first purchase. So they'd generate the sales reports etc

        It's around a $20 monthly spend on average so we'd be seeing about $5 each user.
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        • Profile picture of the author CLSVentures
          To each his own Steve. Thanks for the "drumbeater" remark....can't tell if that's a jab or not with just words on a page.

          I prefer, as many on this forum who have been quite successful, to leverage my time in having others work to put money in my pockets as opposed to busting my feeble brain 80 hours a week.

          And with all due respect, we don't play the role of drumbeater. We organize the whole darn hunt.

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          • Profile picture of the author Steve B
            No jab intended with my metaphor. I was not making light of the successful affiliate model of Internet marketing - those who drive traffic for others. I was just saying that for what you're doing, "We organize the whole darn hunt," as you said, it seems to me like you ought to be paid more than 5% for that.

            My comments about putting my effort into my own business still apply 100%. That is how I have chosen to build up my businesses.

            I'm not saying it's right for you and I'm not trying to change your mind. As you say, "to each his own." You did ask for advise and input, did you not?

            That's all I was giving.

            Steve
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            • Profile picture of the author CLSVentures
              Let's keep the discussion on point. My whole point of seeking input was simply looking for some direction from experienced affiliate/sales funnel guys with regards to this particular deal.

              I appreciate the one sentence advice at the beginning and end of your post.....however the guts of it are more about my choice of career path or what role I play in the business world compared to yours and really offer no value to the original question.

              I realize you have no idea whether I'm a retired Fortune 500 CEO or a 17yo kid that works at Domino's with a hairbrained idea.

              However, I've spent 18 years owning a brick and mortar type business and did the whole small business thing and sold out and moved on. It wore me out. Owned an e-com business for a couple years and built that and moved it down the road as well. So I have been there and done that.....and that's exactly why I'm doing what I do now.

              I've found that I, like a lot of guys on here that offer a TON of value, I'm skilled and very at home in the thrill of the chase, putting deals together, and simply love to pitch. So I'll play to my skills and do what I do and what makes me happy.

              Again, to keep us focused. I am perfectly content with the 5% cut considering that over the long haul I'm doing none of the heavy lifting. I'd rather swing that to someone who is a killer at the backend sales funnel and conversion and let them have a nice carrot to dangle that makes it worth their while.

              And it's tough to get a $20 million music company VP Sales to answer a call or email if I'm wanting to split commission. I'm looking at the big picture and IMHO I think 1/4 of the commish cut is suitable. It's opened the door at a couple heavyweights already.

              Anyone care to chime in on how this stacks up with similar affiliate programs payouts with regards to length of pay and percentage? Advice on that is much appreciated!
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    in the world of affiliate programs, where I see small commissions, sales fees, and very limited cookies...
    I don't know where you're looking.

    For vendors I deal with, they have a lot of lifetime cookies, recurring commissions and hard coding my affiliate ID in their AR follow-up. I also get a minimum of 50%.
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