I’m a pretty big believer in affiliate marketing. Why not? It just makes sense to me. I’m not talking about you being signed up with and selling for another company. I’m talking about the flipside. I’m talking about creating your own affiliate program for your own business where others sell for you and you only pay them for their sales.

A lot of people identify affiliate marketing with the internet. It seems like most affiliate marketing is tied to the internet but it certainly doesn’t have to be. Affiliate marketing may not work great for every scenario but usually if you are selling something then an affiliate program will most likely cash flow for you.

If a stranger walked in your office and said “I have 100 customers who want to purchase your product/service. If I give them to you will you pay me a 10% commission? I’m happy to receive my payment after the sales transaction has successfully been completed.” would you say no and send them away? What entrepreneur turns away business handed to them on a silver platter? One moonlighting as a McDonald’s manager, that’s who! Affiliates are a way to capture extra business like this.

Hiring a traditional sales force can be a good option for increasing profits but at the same time an affiliate program can do the same. You don’t have to usually choose between the two. A traditional sales force and an affiliate program can work together for your business. There are differences in the two that give them both their unique advantages and disadvantages. Usually the members of a traditional sales force are going to be more professional and skilled than affiliates. There is typically going to be more financial risk with a dedicated sales force. Even if you pay your sales people completely on commission, there is going to be ongoing management and other operations costs associated with a sales team that you have to invest before sales. With an affiliate program you may have minor costs like software, marketing materials, contracts, minor administration, etc, that you have to invest before each affiliate brings you sales. The cost and maintenance is a lot less for affiliates who are independent contractors without much obligation to you. You will have more control over sales people you employ but it typically comes with a higher price tag. Either one could outperform the other depending on the specifics of a scenario though.

Your affiliate program can be customized to your needs. There are a lot of variables to tweak. For example, just because a lot of affiliate programs accept anybody into the program doesn’t mean you have to. You may only want to accept attorneys, CPAs, and financial planners into your program. It could be anything, you get to write all of the conditions of your affiliate program. You may put some conditions in place to help fuel sales. You may put some conditions in place to help mitigate loss of brand equity. It’s your business and it’s your affiliate program. You control it!

Think about creating an affiliate program to boost your sales and profits.