What Is The Likelihood That Affiliates Under You Will Promote Products In a Two Tier Affiliate Program?

It’s the same as asking “What is the likelihood that any affiliate will promote a product?”

Some will work their assess off to achieve success while others will be lazy.

Any affiliate, whether they’re in a multi-tier affiliate program or a single-level one simply has to put in the work to see the benefits. There are no magic bullets that will turn a PC or phone into an ATM.

I tend to avoid multi-tier (more than 2 levels) programs are they’re too much like pyramid schemes. The fees of those near the bottom pay the profits for those at the top. And often there’s no real product on offer except membership in the program.

I do promote a couple of 2-tier programs because I believe in them and I use the products from those companies myself. My favorite is Clickfunnels.

[UPDATE October 11, 2019: Clickfunnels no longer provides a 2-Tier affiliate program. However, Builderall does and now’s a good time to become an affiliate as they’re launching Builderall 4.0 on September 24th, 2020]

I did look at BuilderAll but it’s a down-market knockoff of Clickfunnels.

[UPDATE February 29. 2020: I no longer think Builderall is a poor version of Clickfunnels. It’s a different product offering a suite of tools, now including a funnel builder, rather than it being a dedicated sales funnel builder like Clickfunnels.]

What I do is provide access to free training and bonuses to my own referrals and I offer them as much help as they need to build their own businesses.

This is where most marketers take short-cuts. They’re happy to get their referrals but then leave them to fend for themselves.

I also rarely promote an offer directly. That is, I don’t send prospects to a sales page. Instead, I put them into a sales funnel where they get free training and reminders about the program and why it’s a wise choice to join it.

My referrals are taught to market in the same way.

It’s not so much about going out and finding people to recruit with a hard sales pitch so much as educating people about an offer and how it can solve a problem they face.

It’s about building trust and engagement with that audience and then they’ll come to you to do business. They’ll want to work with you.

People who know they can rely on the support of their referrer are much more likely to do the work to recruit their own referrals and know you have their back when they hit difficulties (and they will).

I also make it clear to prospects that they’re building a business and if they expect to make a ton of money in 30 days, this isn’t for them.

Too many people have been seduced by the hype of instant internet riches.

Yeah, some people do score big on their first attempt, just like some people win the lottery after buying their first ticket.

But how likely is that to be any particular marketer?

So a dose of realism is often called for.

The first part of any training a prospect should get is about mindset. And how they need to position themselves for eventual success.

And they should be made aware that they may need to go outside their comfort zone to achieve success.

Making videos is a good example.

Many people feel intimidated about appearing on camera for a variety of reasons.

So they find excuses not to make videos: “I look awful”, “I don’t like the sound of my voice”, “I don’t want to appear amateurish”, “I don’t have a camera”, “I’m not professional” and so on.

Those that aren’t prepared to step outside their comfort zone will never push their boundaries and will be doomed to repeat habits that never bring success.

According to Einstein, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

So what a sales funnel for a tiered program should do is filter out the people who just can’t cut it and leave you with a small collection of people who are fully aware of what they’re getting into and the work required to become successful affiliates themselves.

And knowing that they can count on you when they need help.

Building that trust and engagement with your own referrals is key.

And congratulate them on their successes, even if they’re small.

The approval of a mentor works wonders!

This is a question I originally answered over on Quora.