Affiliate since: 11/28/2012, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Denise's 11 other Ask SC answers

Well in my opinion I don't think that using gift certificates, TCredits, and other incentives offered from SFI is bribing your downline, but encouraging them to participate in their new business. Plus when they use the gift certificate at the TripleClick store it helps you. I use them as rewards for milestones reached by the team member. When they work hard and reach Executive Affiliate, Executive Affiliate 2, for starting an Standing Order, or making Team Leader status. Each level is a different incentives and different levels of each of the incentives. I believe this helps some of the affiliates that are unable to purchase products from our TripleClicks store at this time because of the lack of funds.

This procedure can never come back and bite you in the butt, if you stick to your own rules for the reason why or how the rewards or incentive are received. I have only had two people that used the incentives the first month and then contacted me the next month to see if I could give them another one for the upcoming month. I sent them a copy of my original Reward Information and just stated that they had not achieved a milestone goal to deserve a reward at this time but would be glad to send them one when they do. They never asked again and continued to work.

My advice to someone building their downline use the rewards or incentives, but have a written plan and stick to it. They can't argue if it's in writing. Please start small and build up.
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Well in my opinion I don't think that using gift certificates, TCredits, and other incentives offered from SFI is bribing your downline, but encouraging them to participate in their new business. Plus when they use the gift certificate at the TripleClick store it helps you. I use them as rewards for milestones reached by the team member. When they work hard and reach Executive Affiliate, Executive Affiliate 2, for starting an Standing Order, or making Team Leader status. Each level is a different
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Affiliate since: 07/24/2012, Power Rank: 320 | Read Beverly's 79 other Ask SC answers

I don’t think I would call a gift certificate, TCredits or other incentive a ‘bribe.’ It’s an incentive and a reward.

Make sure you are also giving good advice, answering questions, staying in contact, giving the free tools and training provided by SFI.

Teach your downline the income streams and the benefits of building their own team.
Whether or not to give an incentive depends on at least three things:

1. Whom you are working with
2. When and why you are giving gifts
3. Your budget

First:

Who you should you help?

Affiliates who log on every day, who are independent, and/or take your advice. Perhaps he or she can’t afford to start a Standing Order or purchase anything at TripleClicks.

Second:

When should you do it?

1. Near the end of the month to boost an affiliate from EA to EA2 or BTL.
2. Boost yourself to a higher rank by the end of the month.

If you think a gift to one or more affiliates would make it worth your while and build your team, then I’d say you could do that once in a while. I wouldn’t keep helping anyone that way, however, because it could make them too lazy and dependent.

Why give gifts?

1. Encouragement
2. Motivation
3. Reward or Incentive
4. To show you care
5. Contest for Competition
6. Be a good Leader

Third:

Of course, this would depend on your budget and how much you are earning in SFI already.

I always put all of my SFI earning to work for me the best way that I can because I know I am building a business that will give me passive income for a very long time and that I can also hand down to my grandchildren.

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I don’t think I would call a gift certificate, TCredits or other incentive a ‘bribe.’ It’s an incentive and a reward.

Make sure you are also giving good advice, answering questions, staying in contact, giving the free tools and training provided by SFI.

Teach your downline the income streams and the benefits of building their own team.
Whether or not to give an incentive depends on at least three things:

1. Whom you are working with
2. When
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Affiliate since: 04/29/2014, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Grant's 22 other Ask SC answers

From my own personal experience of running a number of affiliate marketing websites I would say that bribing & incentivising is something that you need to be extremely careful with.

If you were to tell someone that you would give them a reward just for being active on a website, the result would be that they would become active in order to get this reward, but after they had received it, unless you were to offer them the same incentive over and over again they would just become inactive, and ultimately you would be the one that loses out from having given the incentive in the first place.

The best thing you can do is offer small infrequent, surprise rewards to those in your downline that are active through their own personal motivation as these are the individuals that most likely understand, particularly with SFI, that it is something which requires a lot of time and patience to achieve overall success and financial return.

For those that are inactive, try as best you can to coach and motivate them to become active, use real world examples of how they can achieve success with SFI, you will find that proving yourself as a worthy leader will motivate and drive a few, but on the most part, the majority of members will not commit to anything on the long term due to lack of patience.

The sad fact is most people are still in the mindset that the internet is somewhere that you can get rich quick, whilst this may happen for a select few, for the rest of us it's about spending time to grow and develop and watch our residual incomes online grow at a steady rate
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From my own personal experience of running a number of affiliate marketing websites I would say that bribing & incentivising is something that you need to be extremely careful with.

If you were to tell someone that you would give them a reward just for being active on a website, the result would be that they would become active in order to get this reward, but after they had received it, unless you were to offer them the same incentive over and over again they would just become inactive,
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Affiliate since: 01/29/2014, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Sandy's 13 other Ask SC answers

As a team leader, I had raised similar questions in my mind, and thought about (1) how to motivate my inactive PSAs to be really active in SFI and (2) how to give more sound stimulation to some of the really active movers in my team, particularly when they are in 3 months period after their joining SFI.

There are some typical ways, including those already mentioned in the question:

(1) To transfer TCredits (Max. 10) in your Genealogy Report to each active PSA.
(2) To give more than 10 TCredits to a specific PSA, you need to set up Gift Certificates.
(3) To reassign PSAs to another active PSAs in your Genealogy Report

In my experience, I would like to recommend your incentives to be used for the following:

(1) Just focus on already active movers whose sign is logging in SFI everyday
(2) When reassigning existing PSAs, you may wish to reassign the same local language group of PSAs with the reassignee. In this case, you can even reassign inactive PSAs, after talking with the active reassignee, saying to him/her "I would like to reassign 5~10 inactive PSAs speaking your language, so could you please contact with them in your own local language?" etc.".
(3) Do not do excessive incentives or incentives requiring some responses from your donelines, which might be recognised as a bribe or a deal

I hope this would help you.

With thanks and best regards,

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As a team leader, I had raised similar questions in my mind, and thought about (1) how to motivate my inactive PSAs to be really active in SFI and (2) how to give more sound stimulation to some of the really active movers in my team, particularly when they are in 3 months period after their joining SFI.

There are some typical ways, including those already mentioned in the question:

(1) To transfer TCredits (Max. 10) in your Genealogy Report to each active PSA.
(2) To give
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Affiliate since: 10/26/2010, Power Rank: 235 | Read Kay's 289 other Ask SC answers

Bride--Reward?

When you offer a contest with a prize, is it a bribe or incentive to get them to perform the desired action? We look at it as guiding our PSAs and other affiliates to do what is necessary to gain success. When they do it, we reward them. Or if it is a competition, we reward the winners. ---For doing what they should have been doing for themselves all along.

When we send a Gift Certificate or TCredits to someone who needs just a tiny help to get to the next level, we in essence are bribing them to keep in for one more month, We gain their matching vp and we are the ones to profit. We are also not giving them the valuable chance to learn to either plan better or scrape up enough vp to make their goal. We are telling them that we have no confidence in their ability to make it.

We are also setting up a pattern of duplication that many of our PSAs will not be able to pattern themselves to do in our footsteps. They simply can not afford to pay their downlines to amass vp. So they quit.

All but a very small number of those of my downline that I have "helped" have either out and out quit, or slowed way down. It has not given them a fire in their hearts to succeed in SFI. Most have not thanked me, just quit.

I do still give out rewards, though most not pre-announced, like for completing the LaunchPad quizes. I used to give 10 TCredits for that, but now give a Gift Certificate that will buy 10 TCredits. The money comes back if they do not use it, the TCredits are lost forever if not used. Achieving EA2 also deserves an unexpected reward.

I try to give rewards that will teach my new affiliates about how to order products, or some other facet of this business, along with the encouragement and recognition that goes with most rewards.
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Bride--Reward?

When you offer a contest with a prize, is it a bribe or incentive to get them to perform the desired action? We look at it as guiding our PSAs and other affiliates to do what is necessary to gain success. When they do it, we reward them. Or if it is a competition, we reward the winners. ---For doing what they should have been doing for themselves all along.

When we send a Gift Certificate or TCredits to someone who needs just a tiny help to get to the next level,
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Affiliate since: 07/05/2024, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Nafisa's 286 other Ask SC answers

A "bribe" and an "incentive" have very different meanings. One shifts more towards negativity while the other has a positive impact.

In my view there is absolutely nothing wrong in pushing your Affiliates towards a certain level of achievement. Sometimes people need a little bit of a push to move upwards or forwards and that is not wrong. Picking up from my own experiences with SFI, I HAVE NOT STOPPED WORKING because my upline has stopped giving me incentives.

Incentives give people a competitive edge and they are driven by this inherent quality to "win". In addition, as a Sponsor, you can judge the Movers in your team very easily because they will generate the enthusiasm and wish to do well. This directly affects your performance as well as that of your team.

Perhaps the only part I would be very careful about is to ensure that those incentives are honored - if this is not done, then I feel that is the only time that you may be faced with a situation where you downlines will discredit you and the only loser here is YOU.
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A "bribe" and an "incentive" have very different meanings. One shifts more towards negativity while the other has a positive impact.

In my view there is absolutely nothing wrong in pushing your Affiliates towards a certain level of achievement. Sometimes people need a little bit of a push to move upwards or forwards and that is not wrong. Picking up from my own experiences with SFI, I HAVE NOT STOPPED WORKING because my upline has stopped giving me incentives.

Incentives
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Affiliate since: 10/01/2013, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Nimo's 381 other Ask SC answers

It all depends on how you do it.

I would not call that 'bribe.' I would see such actions as simply part and parcel of being a good sponsor but as I said before it depends on how you do it.

I have had newly signed up affiliates who have not even earned 1VP asking me where they can collect their Gift Certificate. I respond by asking them how they come to believe that they are entitled to a Gift Certificate - where did they get that information from. They never respond because I don't offer Gift Certificate for simply signing up to SFI. I know some SFI members offer these certificate for signing up but I don't have such a generous budget.

The only incentives that I provide are those that tend to build up teams such as competitions and co-opts. I do not send out individual gifts and incentives as a rule.

If an affiliate is working hard and has reached a worthwhile milestone then I would send him/her a gift. Its a congratulatory gift in the sense that I want to recognize the milestone and I want to build up good relations with that affiliate but it is also an incentive to keep them working. I make sure all the other team members know about the 'gift' as an inspiration to all.

I want them to learn for themselves, to stand on their own two feet, be self motivated and get a great sense of achievement when they are successful.

The last thing I want are affiliates who are dependent on me. I am their sponsor not their mother.

Blessings
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It all depends on how you do it.

I would not call that 'bribe.' I would see such actions as simply part and parcel of being a good sponsor but as I said before it depends on how you do it.

I have had newly signed up affiliates who have not even earned 1VP asking me where they can collect their Gift Certificate. I respond by asking them how they come to believe that they are entitled to a Gift Certificate - where did they get that information from. They never respond because
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Affiliate since: 01/14/2014, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Juanita's 94 other Ask SC answers

Hello!

The word "bribe" kind of struck me....When we are giving Gift Certificates, from the word itself - it is a GIFT - something that is sincere from the heart of the giver.

When we give incentives to our down lines, usually we give them to the MOVERS who are really working as hard as us. It is a way of saying thank you for working hard for the team....

TCredits are shared to other team mates so that we can help them in catching up with action VPs...

We can give as low as $2 gift certificate so that they can become W3 members upon purchase of the starter kit in such a way, we are helping others promote SFI and TripleClicks in so doing...

Thinking that it will come back with good results is better than thinking that it will bite you back....Cause when we give something with sincerity, we also receive something good in return though sometimes in the form that we don't expect it because sometimes the results come out better.

Positive mind setting is important in this business. And teamwork is one way of succeeding in this business. Let us focus on getting the best out of it by doing the best rather than preparing ourselves for the negative results...

Sharing our blessings not just in SFI but in real life as well brings more blessings in us in one form or the other...

May you be blessed more as you continue being a blessing to others as well.

Have a good day!
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Hello!

The word "bribe" kind of struck me....When we are giving Gift Certificates, from the word itself - it is a GIFT - something that is sincere from the heart of the giver.

When we give incentives to our down lines, usually we give them to the MOVERS who are really working as hard as us. It is a way of saying thank you for working hard for the team....

TCredits are shared to other team mates so that we can help them in catching up with action VPs...

We
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Affiliate since: 01/14/2013, Power Rank: 499 | Read Sule's 287 other Ask SC answers

The last thing I will ever recommend in this business is for any Sponsor to do anything which remotely looks like a “bribe” as an incentive for his/her downline. This is because there are very many highly effective ways you can literally “fire-up” your downline without offering unmerited gifts or even bribes. If you must give any gifts to your downline, give them such gifts as a token appreciation for a landmark achievement in the business and not as incentives for something you want them to do which they are yet to do. Acting that way clearly demarcates the difference between a bribe and a legitimate gift.

From my own experience, unless an affiliate is sufficiently interested in the business, no amount of bribes or gifts can change their position. What works best therefore is to do such things for and with your downline which help them to take their business more seriously. To my mind, that is the best way to go about it. Some of such things which you must never fail to do include, but not limited to:

1. Regular communications with your downline.
2. Sending down the line regular tips and information on how to succeed in the business.
3. Forming a cooperative and involving your downline.
4. Promptly addressing concerns and requests for information from your downline.
5. Encouraging your downline to engage you with their fears and concerns about the business.
6. Promptly congratulating members of your downline when they make some landmark achievements.
7. Remembering their anniversaries and birthdays and helping them to mark the dates.
8. Occasionally giving away to some of them such gifts as TCredits and even PSAs but certainly not as bribes.

These are the things I believe you can do to and for your downline to encourage them in SFI business. Bribing them is clearly out of the question.

I hope you will find this answer useful. Good luck !!!


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The last thing I will ever recommend in this business is for any Sponsor to do anything which remotely looks like a “bribe” as an incentive for his/her downline. This is because there are very many highly effective ways you can literally “fire-up” your downline without offering unmerited gifts or even bribes. If you must give any gifts to your downline, give them such gifts as a token appreciation for a landmark achievement in the business and not as incentives for something you want them
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Affiliate since: 05/08/2014, Power Rank: 99999999 | Read Don's 1 other Ask SC answers

I would change your word "bribe" to motivate. A bribe is an illegal act done to get someone to do something they would not do but for the giving of the bribe. I assume that everyone who signs up for SFI does so because he or she wants to be successful and the person wants to do the things required to be successful. However, as John Lennon wrote/said, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

The business of life gets in the way of the plans a lot of people who join SFI have for their success. So what we leaders have to do is to motivate these people to keep their eyes on the prize of their success. We have to help them to achieve their goals by encouraging them to follow the SFI Rules of Success.

The awarding of Gift Certificates, TCredits, and other incentives is just one of the tools in our tool box of effective sponsoring. These incentives not only motivate our affiliates but help them to learn SFI and Triple Clicks and to experience first hand what SFI and Triple Clicks are about so that they can tell others with confidence in both.

I am not aware of any instance in which the awarding of incentives come back to bite the one giving the incentives. Of course, I would mind being bitten by success.
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I would change your word "bribe" to motivate. A bribe is an illegal act done to get someone to do something they would not do but for the giving of the bribe. I assume that everyone who signs up for SFI does so because he or she wants to be successful and the person wants to do the things required to be successful. However, as John Lennon wrote/said, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

The business of life gets in the way of the plans a lot
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