After you hire an affiliate manager, you keep two things: the relationships with your biggest partners and the story behind your offer. Hand off recruiting, activation, day-to-day emails, and payouts. A good manager takes about 98 percent of the work off your plate. The 2 percent you keep is what makes the other 98 percent work.
I’ve run an affiliate management agency for years now, and the question I get most from new clients isn’t about hiring. It’s about what happens after. Business owners sign the contract, breathe a sigh of relief, and then ask me some version of the same thing: now what do I actually do?
I’ve managed programs for companies like Shutterfly and Michael Hyatt, won four Affiliate Manager of the Year awards, and gone through this exact handoff with clients for most of two decades. The honest answer is less than owners expect, and more than they’d like. Here’s how I split it, what I still don’t let go of, and the mistake that sinks more programs than a bad hire ever does.
What was my own breaking point before I hired an affiliate manager?
My breaking point was a six-hour livestream the night before cart close, texting affiliates under the table the whole time. I was spending 20 to 35 hours a week running my own affiliate program on top of running my company, and there wasn’t a version of that where both things got done well.
That launch is the one I still think about. Affiliates were messaging me with questions mid-stream, and I was trying to answer them from my phone while also hosting. I knew something had to change that night, and it still took me five months to find the right person. I didn’t want to hire fast and hire wrong.
I told this story in a lot more detail on the podcast, including the three ways affiliate managers, me included, tend to get this wrong over time. The Worst Part of My Entire Business: Why You Need to Hire an Affiliate Manager walks through the whole decision, not just the breaking point.
Should you run your affiliate program yourself before you hire anyone?
Yes, especially under six figures. I still tell most business owners to run their own program first, somewhere below $200,000 to $300,000 in annual revenue, because the biggest mistake I see isn’t waiting too long to hire. It’s hiring someone and then walking away.
Owners who hand off their affiliate program on day one and stop paying attention almost always watch it shrink instead of grow. A manager without context, and without you checking in now and then, is just a person sending emails on a schedule. The owners who do this well learn the relationships and the mechanics themselves first, then hire someone to take the volume off their hands, not the judgment.
If you want the fuller breakdown of when that shift makes sense and how to find the right person, How to Hire an Affiliate Manager walks through the process I use with my own clients, start to finish.
Before you decide whether that next hire should be in-house or outsourced to an agency like mine, read the tradeoffs honestly, including the ones that run against my own interest. What Kind of Affiliate Manager is Best: In-House or Outsourced? lays out both sides without the sales pitch.
What happens in the kickoff meeting I run with every new client?
Every client gets a 90 to 120 minute kickoff meeting before anything else happens. I’m not selling at that point. I’m trying to learn the story behind the offer well enough to run it the way you would.
I ask about the actual results customers get, not the results the sales page claims. I ask who the product is genuinely for and, just as important, who it isn’t for, since that’s where affiliates waste the most time sending the wrong audience to the wrong offer. I ask what’s worked in past promotions and what’s flopped. Most owners have never had to say any of this out loud before, which is exactly why the meeting runs long.
That meeting replaces weeks of a new manager guessing. If you want to see everything else that sits inside the role once the meeting ends, What Does an Affiliate Manager Do? breaks down the day-to-day.
If you’re not sure your program is ready for someone else to run, or you want an outside read before you sign with anyone, Your Affiliate Launch Coach includes a free 20-minute call where I review what you’ve got and map out the next 30 to 60 days. No pitch required.
Which affiliate relationships should stay with you, the owner?
The relationships with your top 5 to 10 affiliates, the ones driving most of your affiliate revenue, stay at least partly with you. A manager can run the logistics of that relationship. They can’t be you.
Your biggest partners signed on because of a relationship with your brand, and often with you specifically. A manager inherits that relationship but doesn’t own it the way you do. Keep the personal check-ins, the occasional call, and the moments where a partner needs to hear from the founder instead of a representative. Hand off the scheduling, the swipe copy, and the weekly updates.
This is also where the hire itself matters most. A manager who fits your culture and already understands how to work alongside an owner who’s staying partly involved will protect those relationships instead of accidentally stepping on them. How to Choose the Right Affiliate Manager covers what to look for before you sign anyone.
What should you review with your affiliate manager every month?
Review active affiliate count, payout accuracy, and your top 10 partners’ status every month, even after you’ve handed off the day-to-day.
Active affiliates, meaning partners who made at least one sale in the period, tell you more than total signups ever will. Ask what changed, who moved up or down since last month, and whether any payout dates slipped. A missed or late payment is one of the fastest ways to lose a good affiliate, and it’s worth knowing about before an affiliate has to email you asking where their money is.
If your manager is still setting up the payment side of the program, How to Pay Affiliates covers the schedules and methods that keep that relationship intact. The same goes for new affiliates coming into the program. A clean onboarding sequence in the first week does more for retention than almost anything that happens after.
The full system behind all of this, from the kickoff meeting to what gets reviewed every month, is laid out start to finish in The Book on Affiliate Management. It’s the same framework I hold my own team to on every client we run.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if hiring an affiliate manager actually freed up my time?
Track your own hours on the program for two weeks before the hire, then again about 60 days after. If you’re still spending more than a few hours a week on anything besides your top partner relationships, something in the handoff didn’t stick.
What’s the biggest mistake owners make right after hiring?
Walking away completely. Owners who disappear the week their manager starts usually watch the program shrink within a few months, because the manager has none of the context, relationships, or institutional knowledge the owner was quietly supplying the whole time.
How long should the kickoff process take?
Plan on 90 to 120 minutes for the first meeting alone, plus follow-up over the first week or two as your manager gets account access, reviews past promotions, and meets your top affiliates directly.
Should I still approve commissions and payouts myself?
Not line by line. Set the rules with your manager once, covering thresholds, schedules, and the clawback policy, then let them run it. Spot-check the monthly summary instead of signing off on every individual payment.
How many of my top affiliates should I personally stay in touch with?
Most owners can comfortably maintain personal relationships with 5 to 10 top partners. Past that number, you’re not adding anything your manager can’t, and you’re taking time away from the few things only you can do.
What to do next
Hiring an affiliate manager isn’t the finish line. It’s the point where your job changes from doing the work to protecting the few things only you can do: the top relationships, the story behind your offer, and the call on who runs point when something goes wrong.
Three things to lock in this week. Write down which 5 to 10 relationships stay with you. Put a 90 to 120 minute kickoff meeting on the calendar even if your manager started months ago and you skipped it the first time. And set a recurring monthly review for active affiliates and payout status. Get those three right, and the other 98 percent takes care of itself.
