You can make MORE by accepting LESS
by Lin Stone
Once upon a time there were three companies with virtually the
same service. Company A paid affiliates a quarter per lead.
Company B paid $2 per lead to affiliates. And Company C paid
affiliates a whopping $8 per lead with a retroactive $2 per
lead bonus if more than 100 lads were produced per month.
All affiliates have to do with any of these three companies is to
send a surfer scooting to the site, and fill in an application
for the free service.
And now a little history. Some leads are quite valuable. When I
first got going in this field I was selling up to 200 leads per
month for a dollar each. I knew those leads were worth up to $50
each, depending on which region the lead was coming from. Well,
it was just flat hard work sending those leads here, there and
gone -- and a dollar each just wasnt't worth it.
Subsequently, I began looking for someone who would pay me $25
per lead, and when I failed to find that volunteer, I lowered my
expectations lower, and lower, and lower until finally Company A
agreed to pay a quarter each for my leads.
A quarter each, when I knew they were worth $50? Yes, well
necessity is the mother of frustration. Even at a quarter each,
my first monthly check was for like $300 and the second was
larger. That means I was sending 1,200 people there each month
who actually signed up for the free service.
Seeing I was hooked up with Company A, Company B offered to pay
me $2 for each lead. 1,200 leads at $2 each is $2,400 --
Big Money in my book. So, I switched to the new server, and
leads dribbled in. Even at $2 per I was only making like $20
per week. Again, I remind you both companies are giving the same
service away for free.
Along comes Company C and offers $8 per lead to me. $8
times 1,200? Wow! We are talking BIG MONEY here! So, I whopped
Company C up there, and made eight whole dollars the first week.
Which do I prefer? $8 per week, $20 per week, or $300 per
month? Well, I decided to put all three on the same page, and
let them battle it out.
Company A went right back to snagging $300 per month at a
quarter each. B kept doing $20 per week, and C, well C never did
do any good at all. That first sale must have been a fluke.
Now, I was writing the ads for these three companies, and none of
the ads mentioned any of the companies by name. People who
clicked did not know which company they would go to until they
arrived. So I switched that golden goose ad to Company B, and
the ruptured duck ad to Company A, expecting an explosion of
leads at Company B and a trickle of ads to Company A. Company B
went up from $20 to $65 per week. Meanwhile, Company A leads
plunged to half their former level. By working hard on the ad I
got Company B to increase again, and again until it was pulling
in more dollars than Company A.
And that's when I realized I was making a big mistake. At $2
each a $300 total my web site was only making 150 people happy.
At a quarter per lead a total of $300 was making 1,200 people
happy. The dollars are the same, but the number of people being
made happy is far different.
For whatever reason, surfers preferred Company A to Company B.
That is what I based my decision on. Subsequently, I moved
Company A back into first place and polished the ad up some more.
Monthly totals went from $300, to $500, then to $700, then to
$900, then to $1,214, then to $1,903. That is a whole lot of
people happy!
Best of all, the monthly total for Company B last month was $258,
and Company C has made another sale too. Wow. Life is good.
Now, I'm sure that the reason my "sales" are increasing is that
the people who find happiness at my site are telling their
friends how much information and service is packed into those
pages. Consequently, the more people I help to find happiness,
the more traffic I will get.
Bottom line, if you ever have to make a choice between two or
more companies, choose the one that makes the most people happy.
When the last dollar is counted, you'll be the winner.
The end.
Lin Stone is a professional author and writer. His book HOW TO BUY
LAND AT TAX SALES is selling more copies now than when it was
first published. His current project is to make the whole world aware
of the delicious gourmet cookies available at
http://www.gerbaut.comwhere the temptations never cease. Enter the sweepstakes at
gerbaut.com to win a free sampler package and you will also receive
up to 11 valuable free gifts. Complete information on
http://www.gerbaut.com/winners.htm?happyThis article may be reproduced free of charge in ezines, magazines
and newspapers, but only in its entirety, including the bio at bottom.
Email checking copies sent to
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appreciated.
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