“Seriously Michelle, half the battle of being a successful Affiliate Manager is to be available to people in all methods of communication: phone, email, via text message, AIM, Yahoo, Skype…you get the idea…”

These very wise words came from our very wise CEO, before AKMG was even born, and I was getting the 60-second shpiel on Affiliate Marketing, Ad Networks, how to be a good Affiliate Manager–OK, maybe it was more like 70 seconds.

Bottom line is, with each waking day in this industry, I realize how true this statement really is. Yes Steven, as much as it pains me to admit, you were right…again.

It is so important to truly understand the power of communication and how to successfully execute the art of always being available, yet not completely enslaving yourself. Don’t get me wrong, I am still far from mastering this skill, but I do find myself getting the hang of it more and more every day.

Just like with my family and friends, I want my Affiliates to be able to get ahold of me at anytime and more importantly, trust that I will be there. After all, it is impossible for a relationship to progress without a solid line of communication. Sure you can meet new people and establish relationships all day long, but what takes that initial connection and turns it into a productive and progressive relationship is that line of communication (through whatever channel that may be) and having both the Affiliate and Affiliate Manager be able to rely on that line of communication.

It is all too easy to shy away from this constant communication-to ignore the AIM’s, to delete the emails, to screen the calls-but at the end of the day, if you are not constantly working to build and strengthen your line of communication with clients, then you are not progressing…and if you are not progressing, then you are standing still…and if you are standing still even for a second in this industry, then prepare to be passed on by.

So do yourself (and of course me) a favor and don’t underestimate the power of communication on a day to day basis. After all, it’s the day to day that gets you from the year to year, and in a year, I hope to be able to say that I have made great progress with all of you–both in revenue and in our relationship.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 9:03 am and is filed under Michelle's Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.