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Coffee Talk with Madeleine McGregor from CSNStores.com

In his quest to bring better understanding to the affiliate marketing industry, James Martell, successful affiliate marketer and President of Net Guides Publishing, Inc., has a coffee talk with Madeleine McGregor, who is the Affiliate Manager for CSN Stores, the third largest online retailer of home goods in the U.S.

Being that both Madeleine and James attended the ShareASale Think Tank in Newport Beach last year, they were able to share some great opinions of what they experienced.  As the head of the Affiliate Marketing department, Madeleine attended as a Merchant while James saw things through the eyes of an affiliate marketer.  Both felt that the hotel was stunning and the networking was exceptional with all the sessions that were offered. As a business experience Madeleine felt that the Newport Beach ShareASale Think Tank was one of the best that she had ever had.  Madeleine and James spoke about the unusual but fantastic set up for Merchants and Affiliates to meet.  The merchants each had their own cabanas which were placed all around the large circular pool.  She said that affiliates signed up for 20 minute slots and that it had gotten dark out before the last affiliate left.

James was able to speak to Madeleine about her business background.  After graduation from college, and applying for several jobs that just didn’t pay enough, she had a friend working with CSN Stores.

After beginning in customer service, Madeleine progressed to the role of Trainer. In this position, she developed a unique Week One program, compulsory for all new employees. During this time, Madeleine trained +400 employees and ran more than 50 training classes, and created material that is still in use today. Her dedication to this role and program spurred the creation of the formalized Training and Development Department at CSN.   At this point, she shared that she really wanted to move on into the sales area, but when a position opened up in the Advertising Department in the summer of 2008, she moved into that position and began working on the Affiliate Marketing team, which she now manages. Her background includes time spent in the AmeriCorps program, City Year, living abroad, and a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts in Psychology and Spanish.

James and Madeleine spoke about many subjects that would be interesting to any affiliate marketer or anyone wanting to become one.  Some of the subjects they chatted about were:

• What products CSN will be adding soon
• Tax laws changed in the Industry and what they learned for affiliates
• CSN online shopping boutiques via online websites
• There are over a million products at CSN

Madeleine is so very interested in working with affiliates and she refers to them many times as “her affiliates”.  She wants to help them with their websites and maintain good relationships with them.  She feels it is so important to get to know each affiliate that wants to work with her.

• The Holiday season is upon us, how this affects the CSN Stores and the Affiliate Programs growth
• Micro-sites for desktop shopping
• Affiliate newsletters for bargains etc important to keep in touch with your customers
• Telephone orders

James discusses auto-subscribing and the different ways that customers might want to be on a list for a free report on particular items that they have purchased and then follow up with that with another email contact.  Especially if they are in a shopping mood.

Madeleine discusses some of the marketing techniques with typing codes into orders and how it tracks the affiliate orders for CSN Stores.

This huge and successful internet store has managed to secure a popular spot on customer desktops within the last few years.  Affiliates that have never been involved with CSN Stores, can find out more from Madeleine by listening to this Coffee Talk.

And if you are…

Ready To Get Serious About Affiliate Marketing?

If you are ready to get serious about succeeding online and earning a full or part-living with affiliate programs — I invite you to check out my Affiliate Marketers SUPER BootCamp Homestudy Program.

Best Regards,

James Martell
Canadian Affiliate Marketer
Celebrating 10+ Years As A Successful Full-Time Affiliate Marketer.

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• Coffee Talk Interview #60 – You Can Look Back To A Past ShareASale Think Tank To Learn The 7 Things YOU Must Look For In A High-Converting Affiliate Program (Audio & Video)
• Affiliate Buzz #157 – James Talks with His Wife Arlene about their Recent Trip to Attend the ShareASale Think Tank 2009′ in beautiful Newport Beach, California
• Coffee Talk Interview #46 – Learn How to Select Quality Merchants, Effects of Seasonality on Sales, and the Hottest Trends From Carolyn Tang, Director of Client Services for ShareASale.com
• Coffee Talk Interview #22 – It Quickly Becomes VERY Apparent that there are Huge Advantages to Chatting with Your Affiliate Manager to Truly Learn About the Products You are Marketing!