Ep# 105: Leveraging Affiliates, Referrals, + Partnerships with Laura Sprinkle

This episode is going to ROCK. YOUR. WORLD. Get ready to fall in love with the sweet and brilliant, Laura Sprinkle! With a name like that, just try to tell me she wasn’t born to charm the freaking world!

But don't be mistaken, she is fierce in her work!

This episode is where you next level your business, your income and the way you operate your company - YES, I said company. We’re not playing small anymore, we’re talking about partnerships, affiliate programs and referrals and how they can absolutely sky-rocket your profit and scale your business!

Laura Sprinkle teaches entrepreneurs how to grow their businesses using strategic, high-touch partnerships through her signature training, Rock Your Affiliate Program™. Affiliate programs are a brilliant way to collaborate with others to expand your reach and give other people amazing opportunities too.

She’s helped industry leaders such as Amy Porterfield, Selena Soo, and Todd Herman build their partner programs, has seen over $12 million in partner revenues come in through her methods, and supported thousands of partners across dozens of industries. Her motto is “Partnerships First, Fun Always,” and she sprinkles that message throughout everything she does.

Okay, let’s get down to the good stuff!

In the episode, we chat about:

What is an affiliate program?

If you have a good product or program that is getting your customers results, you can start an affiliate program! Find other business owners whose product or services complement your own (most likely NOT anyone you would consider competition). These business owners will share your offer with their audience because they believe that your offer will help their audience in a different way than their own offer. When someone from their audience purchases from you, that business owner you partnered with will get a commission. You can set your partners up with an affiliate link so that the commission payout is automated -- no need to make more work for yourself!

Why should business owners take advantage of affiliate programs?

There are 3 ways that you can bring in leads to your business:

Organic traffic (social media, your blog, podcast, etc.) - Everyone should be doing this in their business, it’s incredibly meaningful. However, it does take a lot of time.
Paid advertising - Many people do this too soon. It can be very effective, but it takes money and time and a lot of testing to get it right.
Partnerships and Leveraging other people’s audiences - This can be started as soon as you start your business. Referrals are amazing leads because they’ve already been told you’re awesome! They’re coming to you as a warm lead.

Why should we leverage partnerships with other business owners?

One of the obvious answers is because this type of partnership can create an additional income stream for your own business.

Let’s say you bring a new lead into your sales funnel. They become a paying customer and take advantage of your offers. Eventually, they are going to run out of offers to buy from you, but they’ll still have other needs that you don’t offer. This is when you can refer them to someone that you trust and know will take care of them, and you get a kick back from them. So you are still serving your audience, you are still profiting, and you don’t have to create a million offers that cover every little thing someone may want to learn from you.

How to ensure that your affiliate partners are successful in promoting your offers

Setting things up the right way is crucial to the success of these partnerships.

You should do an official launch (or relaunch) of your product when you launch your affiliate program. You can have it running on evergreen after that if you want!

Set up all of your partners with their own affiliate link and use a system that can automatically track this for you. That will ensure an accurate payment to your partners and it will keep you out of the actual tracking and admin.

LAURA’S 4 PHASES OF A SUCCESSFUL AFFILIATE LAUNCH:

Attraction - You want to partner with people who have the same core values as you. Otherwise, they will bring in an audience that doesn’t mesh with you and the audience that you’ve already built. Don’t be so focused on the number of followers; it often seems like someone with a smaller audience who really believes in you and your offer will do way better.
Activation - This phase comes in between when someone says Yes and when they actually start promoting. Use this time to train them in exactly what you want them to do and provide them with assets: swipe copy for emails and social media, graphics, templates… make it as easy as possible for them to promote you.
Amplification - Start to get the word out! Emails, podcast episodes, social media promo, Facebook groups… Have fun with this! You can set up a leaderboard to promote a little friendly competition and offer prizes, too!
Appreciation - Make sure payout is accurate, send small unexpected gifts, stay in touch in between launches, and make sure you communicate when you will be launching again

Okay this is all great, but HOW do I actually get people to be an affiliate for my offer?!

WHO:

First, take a look at your inner circle: your friends, clients that already love you
Then, look at your acquaintances: who could be a good fit?
And finally, make your dream list! Who are the people who are “above” you in your industry or have larger followings, but you think would make a great partner?

HOW:

Never cold pitch for an affiliate! If someone has a connection to you in some way, they will do so much better at actually promoting it.

Go into all of your pitches knowing that this is an amazing opportunity for all involved. It’s a win for them, it’s a win for their audience, it’s a win for you and your team.

In your pitch:

Lead with why you think this will be a win for them and their audience.
Include the basic details.
Make sure you explain how you’ll make it easy for them to promote.
Send the pitch yourself, not from a team member - personal connection is everything.

What are industry standard affiliate payouts?

This definitely varies a lot depending on the offer, the industry, the individual, but typically: