A wise man once said, "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?!?"... Okay, so that "wise man" was Chris Tucker in the movie Rush Hour, but that still leads to an important topic: Effective Communication.
Regardless of what business or social setting you are in, clear and effective communication is essential. It's like that first time you heard the song "Loser" by Beck. The song itself was different and new and refreshing and something about it was catchy. You'd prep yourself to belt out the chorus, but there was that mysterious line that preceded "I'm a Loser Baby...". Ahoy Matador? Toy Humidor? Keep in mind that this song was released before the "internet" as we know it today, so just Googling the song wouldn't get you the answer, so you actually had to listen to it over and over for clarity. In the end, the mystery was revealed. Not only were my guesses way off, but it was Spanish! I never would have guessed "Soy un perdedor", because I really didn't pay too close attention to my Spanish teacher in 3rd period....except on "Fiesta" days (we got to bring in our own nachos, so that was cool).
My point is this...You can't truly enjoy something or convey the appropriate message if it is not communicated properly.
The same can be said for Affiliate Marketing. Have you ever been in an "Email Tug of War"? The kind where you and another person email back and forth, back and forth, trying to verify what the other is trying to explain? Not only does it waste time, it also still puts the task at risk. If it takes multiple emails to explain the process at hand, simply pick up the phone and talk it through. You'll be surprised how easy it is. The last thing you want to happen is to have an issue come up where you or your client/affiliate have totally different expectations, which in the end could cause panic, stress, and potentially the end of that relationship.
The way you communicate isn't the only key of communication. It's your accessibility that is just as important. Think of it this way. If you are out with your friends and end up spending the whole night talking with some attractive new acquaintance, rather than playing Golden Tee like you promised your best friend you would (You know who you are!!), you want to make sure that you can be reached at a later date with minimal effort on their part. You wouldn't tell the person to send you a message in Morse code or throw a message in a bottle and hope it reaches you. You would provide that person adequate information to reach you effectively. The same can be said in Affiliate Marketing. In this world of lead generation, changes happen on the fly and many negative changes can be prevented if you were more accessible. Ignoring emails or not returning voicemails won't help you to get ahead in the affiliate arena. Get that Instant Messenger set up. Text if you need to but make the effort to be there for that person. The more failed attempts to reach you a person encounters, the more likely they are to move on to someone else or another company. I actually got a business card at a recent conference and the phone number on it was out of service!! That's about as frustrating as getting the "Domain by Proxy" information in WHOIS when trying to contact a website.
We have focused on expanding our communication channels at Credit.com by opening up our Twitter account, Facebook page, as well as this very blog. We want to provide as many means as possible to reach us for our Credit Card, Credit Report or Debt affiliates so we can be readily available for questions and provide precise and expedited answers. So email me, text me, call me, ping me-- heck even pong me, but don't hesitate to reach out......that's why we're here.
-Ryan Zimmerman
Excellent information. Amazing to think, that in today's world of over communication from email, IM, text, Twitter you name it, that we are sometimes hard to reach? The fact is, you can't replace face to face communication or simply picking up the phone.
Ryan, PONG your it!
Posted by: Rory Holland | 02/12/2010 at 05:38 PM