Networking Mistakes: Being Unreliable

July 1, 2009 | By nicoledean | No Comments »

Hi. I’m Nicole Dean, and I’m here as a guest expert on Odinn’s blog this week talking about Common Networking Mistakes

So far we’ve talked about being a Greedy Gus and a Fussy Fiona. Today, we’ll discuss our friend, Unreliable Ursula. As an affiliate manager, I run into a lot of Unreliable Ursulas, unfortunately.

Here’s a little insight that I’ve gleaned over the years – paired with a minor therapy session vent.

Oh Ursula, Ursula, Ursula. You promised to do a mailing and you didn’t do it. I arranged everything for you and waited… and waited… I sent a reminder email. You promised to send it. I waited and waited…

Didn’t your mother ever tell you “Don’t make promises that you’re not going to keep”?

Now, I’ll back up just a touch here. People are busy. We all have tons going on and forget sometimes what we’ve promised. Heck, I do so many written interviews that I sometimes let one slip through the cracks. So, I tell everyone to please remind me if they don’t hear from me within 2 weeks just to guarantee that I don’t inadvertently let someone down. Add to that, my helpers sending me payment requests, and tons of JV requests both for my own business and for my clients. Yes, things can and do fall through the cracks.

However, when someone is a great affiliate manager like I am… (and modest, too) – and she sends everything that a JV partner would ever need (a branded report, graphics, and a custom mailing) at the JV partner’s request, and the mailing still doesn’t get sent even with reminders, then that doesn’t exactly make one want to reciprocate, now does it?

What do do when you find yourself dealing with an Unreliable Ursula?

A few things.

Don’t assume that the person is being rude. People honestly do forget and may have every intention of following through. Do check in with the JV partner a few times to give them every opportunity to keep their end of the bargain.
Avoid getting snippy. Bite your tongue (or your fingers), if necessary. There could be a million and ten reasons why the JV partner hasn’t sent the mailing. Family emergency, email gremlins, hosting problems, travel/vacation, etc. Being rude is never acceptable in business. It will usually come back to bite you in the butt later.
Try to pin down an exact action date when communicating with your JV partners so you’ll know when they do intend to follow through.
Kindly remind the person of the effort that you put in and see if you can do anything else to make it even easier for her to do the promotion. Perhaps you can offer to log into her blog and post the promo yourself if she’s super busy, which is something that I oftentimes do.
Give examples of how others are benefiting from similar promotions that you’ve put together.
Offer to spread the word about her promotion once it’s live. (Does that make sense?) Once she posts your promo to her blog – Tweet about it, StumbleUpon it, and Digg it. There’s nothing more motivating to a JV partner than seeing those affiliate commissions come through.

If you find yourself being an Unreliable Ursula…

If you’re not following through because you’re overworked, get some help. Outsource, automate, or get a healthy dose of focus and drop some of your less-profitable ventures.
If you’re not following through because you’re unorganized, get organized. Implement a list system, or do as I do and quickly add the promo into your blog or autoresponder drafts so it’s waiting for you when you have more time.

You certainly don’t want to get a reputation as scatterbrained or unreliable. Even if you don’t have time to do a full promotion, at least give it a quick mention in a mailing, on Twitter and on your blog and communicate to your JV partner that you’ll follow up in X number of days when you’re more freed up. That act alone can make all the difference. Or don’t make promises in the first place, if you can’t keep them.

Lesson of the Day

Everyone is busy. Assume your JV partners are busy, especially if you’re an affiliate manager or JV Broker and are responsible for arranging thousands of deals with people on an ongoing basis. Follow up and give reminders. However, if you find you’re dealing with someone who thinks she wins the “Busiest of All” competition and is an Unreliable Ursula – you might want to move on to someone more reliable.

Recommended Resource

8 Irresistible Ways to Get Super Affiliates
by Jimmy D. Brown