Some affiliate managers really know how to get you motivated.....

I received this message today via email from an affiliate manager:

Due to lack of sales this year we are lowering your commission payout to the default payout of $45. We’ve only seen XX clicks from your site and XX sales for the entire year. We want to help you succeed, so if there is anything we can do to help kick start your site, please let me know! If you make more than 10 sales in a month I can again up your pay to $55, and if you make more than 50 sales in a month, I will up your pay to $65.

Please let me know if there is anything we can do to get your program back up and running!

Now, I may not be the most motivational guy in the world, but isn't this a little backwards?  We sign on to many programs and sometimes it takes a little longer to get them going, or in some cases, we test them and they don't gain any traction, so we put them on the shelf and test again later.

Either way, is sending a message that you are lowering my commission rate a way to get an affilaite motivated to pick up the program and run with it again?  I'm particularly fond of the last line:

Please let me know if there is anything we can do to get your program back up and running!

I have found that the best programs that we have are ones where we have open communication from either the OPM or the Affilaite Manager.  one where we can have an ongoing dialogue about the program and how to make it better.  In my humble opinion, these kinds of form emails do not go very far to build long term lasting relationships.