I lost... now what?

[RiverStyx]

Why would you pay out commissions to a website about your industry if you have a monopoly on your industry?

Simply because another website will have that much more exposure than the industry website. I work for a company now that has a monolopy (or near as to make no difference) and we still have a reseller program and sometimes our resellers outrank us! Doesn't matter because its more exposure overall and it helps sales. This company sounds like they're not thinking straight if they want to cut you off.

Another option is to sell it to that service provider and move on.

This sounds like a good suggestion, if we had a reseller who was bringing in a load of sales but didn't want to continue on a comission basis we'd likey make them a good offer to buy their site.

Lets hope they lose a lot of money by cutting you off and come back begging when the next months sales volume doesn't hit target, I guarantee they'll be calling you.

 

[animalstyle]

@RiverStyx Thanks for the info. Having similar advice from both yourself and @miketpowell has me pretty sure they will come back, but it's tough to decide where to move next.

The issue I am facing is that I don't want to just sit and wait for something to happen. I'm working on a re-brand to a larger scale vertical site that can hold this niche site + other similar niches and grow much larger than just the niche site itself. Started a journal on that here.

I want to roll my current site into the new brand and use the age/authority to give me a massive head start on the new brand. I COULD start a new brand leaving out the current niche, but i'd be building from scratch.

The downside to rolling it into a larger site would be that the company would be less likely to buy me out since now its expanded beyond the scope of their industry. The upside would be that I'd have more leverage to get the past deal back and it would help me expand the new brand to something much larger.

I'm having a tough time balancing the pro's/con's since this is all new territory to me. Any insight?

 

[animalstyle]

So the biz deal I had with the provider ended, but I stumbled upon a very interesting thing...

The provider has a partnership with another site. That site has an affiliate program. I've been accepted to it.

This means rather than direct to the provider, I can feed my traffic through this alternative affiliate program and monetize the traffic.

I haven't tested it yet, but my guess is it would be about 40-50% as effective as monetizing with a direct agreement.

Before I make any moves, I need some strategy advice:

The goal would be to either sell my site to the provider or work direct with them. It's going to be the highest value hands down.

My thoughts so far:

Before finding out about this program, my strategy without a biz deal was to send the traffic anywhere but to the provider hoping choke their revenue and get noticed. This is tough in an organic traffic approach as the searches are targeted and high intention on what I'm offering.

If I feed their partner the provider still gets the sales, but everything now runs through this intermediate 3rd party. Not sure how that would hit them or if they'd even figure out it was ultimately from me.

I could use this as leverage and say "I'm just going to feed my traffic to your partner if you don't want to work with me."

Would feeding my traffic through this affiliate program be good or bad?

 

[secretagentdad]

Don't do it.
They made it clear they want to screw with you.

You want to get full value by selling to them.
Broadcasting your desperation and commitment to them is not a move that's gonna get the world back to working the way you want it.

 

[Durbtron]

My biggest worry is the quality of staff they've had handling my relationship. I wouldn't be surprised if they never spoke to me again out of ego or stupidity. The main point of contact has been my biggest hater telling me I'd never make much money before we started the deal (wrong ), telling me when they gave notice the deal is ending that 'sorry its a bad day for you' and if we start another deal 'it will be at a much lower rate' (also wrong, just yet to be realized - they had a bad day because my rates just went up if they want to work together again).

At what level was your contact in the organization you were selling leads to? If this person is some middle level manager, I would sure as shit put this person in the corporate vicegrips. You never know what kind of bullshit this person might try to spin to save their own ass. Send a cordial email to your contact's boss and the executive team detailing the value you provided to company and whatever business insights and lead numbers you have available. The main goal of the email is to make sure the decision makers know who to blame when their revenue goes south and who to contact when they want to renew the partnership.

 

[animalstyle]

@Durbtron The contact I was working with was previously the head of marketing. The company was bought out by an investment company and now there is a CMO above him. I belive he was there before the buyout and ultimately the c level hire. The company is going through some serious growing pains from expanding too fast and general financial underperformance.

Aside from a name I've been kept at a distance from the CMO. No inclusion on emails or calls, just relay of info and talking with that marketing manager.

This marketing manager showed me his hand on our last call, quoting his conversation with the CMO and falsely representing the length of our agreement. He stated it had been running for about half the time it actually had been.

I like your suggestion, I can relay a pretty strong message fully data supported. I'll dig for the corporate contact info.

Thank you.

 

[darkzerothree]

Hmmm..

This is tricky.

Basically, they are now betting on the promise that they can get leads/sales from n number off affiliates via the affiliate network, instead of just dealing with you individually.

If there is a sizable number, this might actually work out for them.

However, the cost per lead will normally go up, as now they are paying the network that then has to pay the affiliate.

Depending on how solid your numbers are, you could convince the CMO, but you'll need direct contact with him - in person, if possible.

But in the end, your argument boils down to:

I make $xx per sale, I made n sales on average per month, for a revenue on your side of $xxxx.

This could be a strong enough argument, but unless you can find out how much they have to pay to the affiliate network you are missing the second part

You now have to pay $xxx per sale, which raises your costs per unit sold.

If you know the payout for the affiliate, maybe someone with a network background could chime in with approximate numbers?

I would NOT funnel traffic to the aff network UNLESS the payout is comparable.
If you are hurting for that cash, you might think of building a new aff site, but I would not sacrifice the authority site to the aff network for a smaller payout.
This comes from ego as well as your statement that you are expanding the site into other verticals.

Selling
Your sales figures can also make a good hook for selling the site:

I make $xxx sales per month. You can have those, without paying the aff network, for a great one time price of $ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

 

[animalstyle]

At what level was your contact in the organization you were selling leads to? If this person is some middle level manager, I would sure as shit put this person in the corporate vicegrips. You never know what kind of bullshit this person might try to spin to save their own ass. Send a cordial email to your contact's boss and the executive team detailing the value you provided to company and whatever business insights and lead numbers you have available. The main goal of the email is to make sure the decision makers know who to blame when their revenue goes south and who to contact when they want to renew the partnership.

I've got an introductory call scheduled with the CMO above the guy I was working with. My goals of the call are to introduce myself to open a path for future communication, send the black and white details of the biz deal that was ran so the CMO can cross reference the info that was handed up, and listen and gather information.

I am focusing on putting any bias aside and thinking of this as a completely fresh start that could be the foundation of future business - which is something I want.

 

[animalstyle]

Had what seemed to be a very positive call with the CMO who seemed straightforward and intelligent - which was VERY refreshing.

Call went like this:
I introduced myself and my project, the CMO was slightly familiar with the site.

Talked a little content and fielded some light questions. The CMO spoke to the fact that they are looking at doing what I am doing content wise and I think they are interested in how I got where I am... sale opportunity perhaps?

Asked if the CMO was familiar with the biz deal that I ran with the company and first reaction was "No". After a bit of shocked silence I pulled it together and gave a brief description, it changed to what I think was "Just barely aware".

This is huge.

I think the only data driven awareness the CMO had was the fact that the company was cutting me checks and how big those checks were. The CMO was relying on the marketing team below her's (led by my hater) insight on how to handle the program - no attention to it personally. It was a surprise that I was sending sales leads.

Finished by confirming would be appropriate to send an email with full details of my site and the biz deal. I just followed up with everything in black and white. Based on the reaction in the call, I'd assume this data will be new info.

----

I would sure as shit put this person in the corporate vicegrips.

Well, I did my best to get them ready for my hater:

The CMO led with an intention to respond after looking everying over. Kind of shocked me, didn't expect that much.

I feel a giant weight lifted being able to have that call and send that email. I feel like I finally had the chance to present my side of the story to the right person. If nothing comes of it, fine. If something does, great.

What matters is I did my best, but I wasn't alone on that phone call: the support of you bros and bro-etts in this tread got me there. BuSo and the people here is really something special. I greatly appreciate all the feedback and pushes in the right direction - huge thank you's all around.

 

[Durbtron]

The CMO led with an intention to respond after looking everying over. Kind of shocked me, didn't expect that much.

I feel a giant weight lifted being able to have that call and send that email. I feel like I finally had the chance to present my side of the story to the right person. If nothing comes of it, fine. If something does, great.

What matters is I did my best, but I wasn't alone on that phone call: the support of you bros and bro-etts in this tread got me there. BuSo and the people here is really something special. I greatly appreciate all the feedback and pushes in the right direction - huge thank you's all around.

When dealing with corporations, a whisper from the top is often more effective than a shout from the bottom.

Congratulations on establishing a direct line of communication with the CMO. Make sure to nurture this contact, doors are opened and moats are constructed on the backs of these decision makers.

 

[animalstyle]

Congratulations on establishing a direct line of communication with the CMO. Make sure to nurture this contact, doors are opened and moats are constructed on the backs of these decision makers.

Thank you, and rest assured I will be taking great care here.

I also wanted to speak to how easy this actually was to accomplish... at first I was overwhelmed with the thought of trying to get in touch with a C-level seat. It took one phone call to get complete contact info and one email to set up the call.

Granted there was awareness of the project and the work that I'd done, but it wasn't a long, difficult process to get in touch like I though it might be.

 

[animalstyle]

The shimmer of hope that the last call created has basically faded. Followed up via email with the CMO 3 times now over the last month with no response. I even asked very directly if they were interested in any future working together, nothing. Notice the old contact I had has removed me from Skype.

Reading those signs loud and clear and have accepted that this is a dead and done deal. Thanks for the help from everyone in here along the way.