Cutting Through The Affiliate Network Bullshit

At Affiliate Summit there were at least 150 Affiliate Networks. Not all had booths some were just sharks in the crowd. The one thing you will always notice is every affiliate you meet is a "Super Affiliate", making millions a month ballin out of control, and every Affiliate Network you talk to has the best offers, highest paying offers, fastest payments, etc, etc... So how do you sort through the bullshit? Being I am not a network I don't really care. Someone who comes up and tells me they are a super affiliate making millions a month I give the same amount of respect to as someone who comes up and tells me they are living out of their car trying to learn how this business works. The Affiliate Network side though has a bigger impact on our business so I try to cut through the BS with them and in the last 6 years I have come up with a pretty good system. If you were at the Affiliate Summit I am sure at some point you were approached and the conversation went something like the following:

Affiliate Network: Hey John, what do you do? John: I am an affiliate! Affiliate Network: What do you promote? John: Weightloss, grants, dating, ringtones, whatever. Affiliate Network: You should run with us we have the highest payouts, super fast payments, and best converting offers.

Now most people are not sure where to go from here. I know I didn't when I first started. I remember back in 2005 when we were slingin ringtones for 15$ a lead and out of the blue an Affiliate Network offered us $25 a lead. We jumped all over that but soon realized it was junk when we made 20% less per click. And that's what its all about - EPC (Earnings Per Click). So Here is how my conversation goes now:

Affiliate Network: Hey Jeremy, what do you do? Me: I am an affiliate! Affiliate Network: What do you promote? Me: Weightloss, grants, dating, ringtones, whatever. Affiliate Network: We have the greatest ringtone offer ever you should run it with us!!!. Me: Listen don't waste my time. I am currently making $1.50 EPC how much can you beat that by? Are you confident you can beat our current payout. Affiliate Network: absolutely we can beat that epc. Like I said we have THE BEST PAYING OFFERS Me: How much EPC do you think we could make with your offer? Affiliate Network: 1.80 at least. Me: Ok lets do this. I will send you over a contract that guarantees us a min 1.80 EPC and lets test it for a week.

Now its time for them to shit or get off the pot. I have had many networks take me up on this and sometimes it does work out (usually to my amazement). Some might only want to do a 24 hour test. Its up to you what you want to accept... personally I don't like going through all the crap of getting in a new network and switching out links just to find out it does not work (which happens most of the time). If you are going to waste my time I want to atleast get paid for it ;) So what tips do you have for cutting through the Affiliate Network pitch BS ?