Simple steps to salvage what you can of a situation when it’s time to leave an online income program.
Ther.comes a time in every affiliate career, when it no longer benefits you to continue participating in a plan. The reasons could include
poor management, changes in the product line, or any of a host of other factors that reduce the quality of the program.
It may be tempting to simply stop promoting the program and put an unsatisfying experience behind you, but there is a lot to be gained by making a graceful exit.
1. Contact the managers of the program.
The first thing to do is to get in touch with the managers of the program. They are doubtless very busy, but at the very least they should be able to respond to you in email if you have a genuine grievance with the program. In the best cases, the managers will be able to shed new light on the problems you see, and you might decide to stick with it. If you give the managers a chance to make amends, you might be surprised. In the event that the managers ignore you or cannot satisfy your concerns, continue with the steps below.
2. Contact your upline.
Hopefully you are already in regular contact with someone in your upline, but particularly in Internet- based affiliate programs this is not always the case. If the managers were unable to make things right, it is unlikely that your direct sponsor or anyone above will be able to either. Notifying your upline is more of a courtesy to explain why you are leaving. They may pour more money into retention marketing as their downline shrinks, if they don’t realize that people are leaving because the program has fundamental flaws.
3. Cancel any credit card or PayPal subscriptions.
Many programs automatically withdrawal a monthly fee from your credit card or PayPal account. If the program is going well, this convenience can save you the trouble of losing your downline when you forget to make a payment. When it’s time to get out, however, such subscriptions should be canceled immediately. If the program has a process for ending your subscription, you should certainly start there. Perhaps you are leaving the program because you suspect the program managers are unscrupulous or just incompetent. In either case, it’s well worth the piece of mind to contact your credit card (or PayPal) directly to cancel the subscription. PayPal allows you to do this on their web site, and most credit cards subscriptions can be canceled with a 5-minute phone call.
4. Contact your downline.
Here are the people that joined the program based on your recommendation. If you’ve discovered the program is not what you originally presented to them, you have an obligation to share what you’ve learned with them. If you can develop a reputation with these people as someone whose opinion they can trust. By leaving your current program, you illustrate that you have high standards that not every program can meet. When you share with them why you are leaving the program, you are looking out for them, and they will be more inclined to join you in your next affiliate program. (Obviously this trust can be abused. If you continually jerk them around from program to program, they will quickly lose interest in sticking with you.)
About the Author
Copyright (c) 2003 Clay Mabbitt. Clay Mabbitt writes articles about Internet affiliate and MLM opportunities. Need in-depth reviews of the latest affiliate programs? Find them at
affiliatescreen.com
