How selling through Affiliates works

I bet that if you aren't yet into selling your products through Affiliates it's because you didn't look for the benefits. And I can also bet that when you are thinking about doing more sales, you are thinking about hiring a new Sales Manager or paying for some advertisements.

No secret that the newly hired Sales will spend about 6 months trying to understand your products and the market (but, well, he gets paid even if he makes no sales in the learning time) and even when he starts selling it will still take 6 months to get him up to speed. About the advertisements, they are a sure cost and a not so sure result.

If you have been there and have done that (or just thinking on doing it) what about hiring not one but 1000 sales people (and promote your products widely) only paying a commission from sales made? If that sounds good, then you are already thinking to sell your products through affiliates - the pay per performance model.

I'm not sure if you know how selling through Affiliates works. Keeping the explanation on the most basic level, it's about Affiliates (webmasters, companies or individuals) that pre-sale your products on their sites and get rewarded for every successful sale. They promote your products on their sites, and should get a commission from the sales they generate. Each one is a Salesman for your products.

Now, let's talk about the benefits:

• It's cost effective You don't have to pay 1000 sales people, you don't even have to pay a single one. You don't have to pay for advertisements. You only pay a commission for successful sales. Think about affiliates as "external sales forces".
• It's the best way to penetrate new markets No matter what products you have on sale, selling in Asia would be completely different from selling in USA. Selling in USA will be completely different from selling in Europe. How many sales people you need to target each market and each country? Well you only need affiliates. They know the niche markets and know how to promote your products there. It's like having a local sales force. Which you only pay on results!
• Have a niche product? No problem, Affiliates are niche marketers. Actually the best practices in affiliate marketing point that you should follow a niche and get the best Search Engine position for it. That means the affiliate will get a good Search Engine position for your niche product - could help for your position in front of the competition.
• Increase your sales If you are in the race of increasing sales, the affiliates do just that: they bring multiple sales from multiple sources. And actually, these sales will be made through your site or payment solution. With Affiliates, sales can only go up.
• Increase the awareness of your products What would you say if your products will be listed, mentioned or at least linked from thousands of sites? Not so bad. It's called Affiliate Marketing.
• Create Added value to your products Some of your affiliates might be experts in your field, and with a genuine interest in testing and evaluating your products. You don't have to pay for it, because they expect to be paid a commission from sales.

Still not convinced? Amazon is doing it (and thousands others) so they must be doing something right.

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