What You Must Know About Two Tier Programs: It's Not Network Marketing -- It Is A Mastermind

One of the latest moves in the affiliate industry is towards two tier programs that actually reward affiliates for helping you sign up affiliates.

I used to manage a sales force by setting up sales managers, who profited from the results generated by their salespeople. Two tier programs are the EXACT same thing.

A two tier program is simple; you let people sign up as affiliates. Any affiliates that sign up from your affiliates are a second tier of commission. Your affiliate now makes money on each sale, plus each sale that affiliates s/he has signed up make. What better way to encourage your affiliates to help you further your network?

Remember that two tier programs are not necessarily network marketing (not that there's anything wrong with that ;-). You give your affiliates the ability to build their own business.

Done correctly, it can be a great service to them. You give them the ability to get you more affiliates while at the same time making themselves more money.

Instead of network marketing, think of Two Tier programs as online retail. In the retail world, you have a manufacturer, a distributor, and a storefront/retailer. Online, the owner of the affiliate network is the manufacturer, your affiliates are your distributors, and their affiliates are your retailers. Since there is only one level of signing up affiliates, it does not have the complexity of many network marketing structures.

For example, at the ActiveMarketplace we created a two tier affiliate system. It helps smaller affiliates do what we teach, to build your own network. The two tier program is pointed towards a long term relationship with affiliates, instead of just paying them for a few sales.

We took a look at what was out there and built something with all the marketing bells and whistles. Our system was built not in terms of code, but marketing; we have built in follow up tools for customers, for affiliates, along with training systems to help them get going. The result is a fast growing program that benefits all of us.

An affiliate network does not have to simply sign up affiliates. It can build an entire sales force with the tools available. Certain steps should be taken to insure your success. Best of all, you can automate virtually all your initial contacts and personalize the approach.

• First, make sure it is two tier affiliate system, and reward for every action. If your affiliate sends you a customer, pay them per sale...that's obvious.

• If your affiliate sends you another affiliate, give the first affiliate an override commission on the sales of the referred affiliate. At our ActiveMarketplace Affiliate Programs, we also include a 25% per sale commission and 10% per affiliate sale.

• We want our affiliates to reach out and build their own networks; we want to be part of that growth and reward them. In this way, each retailer can also become a distributor. One part is making the sale, and another part is introducing this to other people, sales manager, and sales staff

• Someone who has a large network can get initial sales plus sales of their entire network. When people catch on to what this two tier means, they will advertise for you, introducing you to the key players and getting affiliates for themselves.

• They are building their own affiliate network, while they are building yours.

Most people think affiliate networks are about hardware and software. It's really about relationship building, making your affiliates and customers your close allies. You won't be able to do this as easily in a few years, and frankly few companies are doing a thing about it.

In the two tier system, I am a merchant, building a network of people to refer and resell for me. I'm using all my tools for tracking, testing my ads, and I'm building up a customer list. I take all of that and give it to every one of my affiliates, I give them the ability to do the same thing. They can now do what I'm doing, build a network, build a customer list, and together we can learn more and earn more. Build a sales force instead of a one time lead generator.

It's all about building the lifetime value of customer and the lifetime value of affiliate.

One tier systems don't even have possibility of building loyalty; you can only take customers from others. Two tier will become an increasingly important resource for affiliate networks.

With a two tier program, you can own your network, while building up co-owners who can help coach, teach, and spread the word...it is a marketer's dream.