You know the key to a profitable and sustainable business is in having a productive downline that works with and not against you. How do you inspire that downline so they strive daily to accomplish their goals and yours too? You do it by connecting with them as an effective mentor, coach, and trainer.



As an affiliate marketer, you want your people on your side. You want them to trust you as someone who has their best interests at heart. You instill this trust in them by spending time with them so they can learn internet marketing properly. You will establish a connection with your downline when you expend the energy necessary to train them.

When you perform training functions with your downline, you are that coach and mentor they can tap into for knowledge. Merely sending off a product training manual and then never following up with your downline won't work. You will not connect on a personal level as a caring mentor if you don't seek ways to engage your downline in a two-way conversation.

Encourage your downline to make suggestions, ask questions, and maintain regular contact with you. Show them you have an open-door policy in effect. Show them you are available to provide them whatever resources they need. When your downline sees you want to spend time to coach, mentor, and train them, they will respond. With you as their support system, they will feel inspired to work their business with confidence. Why wouldn't they, they know if they run into problems, you're there to help them.

The affiliate product marketplace can often seem very impersonal. Affiliate leaders need to deal with their downline as human beings, not as vague e-mail addresses they correspond with once a month. You can connect to your downline by arranging training sessions whether online or in-person if geographic circumstances permit.

Any training session can allow you to form a personal relationship with each of your downline members. A conference call is a great way to form a connection. You get to hear real people speaking about their concerns in a relaxed forum. Text chat meetings with your downline are also a good way to get the downline team together. There is also the video-conferencing option. This is the next best thing to being there and allows you to show the actual affiliate product as you conduct your training session.

You can arrange an in-person meeting with some or all of your downline. It's the best training option if it's a viable one for your business. You can really shine as a mentor, coach, and trainer when you can look your team in the eye. You can have them touch, feel, and use the affiliate product. You can brainstorm as a group and formulate marketing plans. You can do all this online, of course. There is something, however, about in-person contact. Downline members who see a real person looking after their real needs will work hard to give back to that person.

It's important to connect with your downline as mentor, coach, and trainer because it makes downline members stay. They tend not to leave the affiliate program when they have a strong mentor helping them. They tend to become strong affiliate mentors themselves when they build their own downline. In the end, they are more efficient and profitable, and so are you. Attrition in downlines is a problem that many affiliate marketers can rectify through proper downline training.

Connect with your downline by being that coach that everyone loves, or at least likes a lot. Think of that old baseball coach who guided you in the nuances of the game, while still making it a fun sport. Do the same to your downline. Show them how to be better internet marketers and show them how to enjoy the business. Teach them with enthusiasm and let them know you want them to succeed just as much as they do. You will connect with them because they see you're someone to confide in, just like that baseball coach.