Make sure you're watching your genealogy carefully for red "<500" flags. This flag indicates your affiliate has generated less than 500 VersaPoints in the last 90 days and, hence, is in jeopardy of having their SFI affiliateship cancelled at the end of the month.

Please note that starting on the 15th of each month, SFI sends all such flagged affiliates a series of e-mails to let them know that they are under 500 points and need to take action quickly. However, our e-mails may not get through, so we encourage you to be pro-active and contact your flagged affiliates yourself too.

What should you say? Here's a sample letter:

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Hi Tom,

My genealogy is indicating that you have less than 500 VersaPoints in the last 90 days. This is less than SFI's Minimum Activity Requirement, so your SFI affiliateship could be cancelled at the end of this month.

You are an important member of my team and I'd really hate to lose you! So how can I help? Are there questions I can answer for you? Is there anything I can assist you with?

I'm extremely excited about what SFI is doing. With their new E-Commerce Associates program, for example, the SFI opportunity has just taken a huge leap forward. I'm going to be very active with SFI personally and I would really like to be able to work with you as a key member of my team.

Please drop me a quick e-mail and let me know what I can do to help you get the points you need before the end of the month.

Thank you! I look forward to hearing from you.

Your Name
Your contact information

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RELATED TIP:
For quick, easy points, TCredits are one of the best values and can even be tax-deductible if used for attracting new TC members. One TCredit is just $1.99 and comes with 110 VersaPoints. Two TCredits is just $3.98 and comes with 220 points. Three TCredits is just $5.97 and comes with 330 points. Four TCredits is just $7.96 and comes with 440 points. What can you do with TCredits? See TCredits FAQs HERE.

Note also that many additional uses for TCredits are coming to TripleClicks. Order TCredits at TripleClicks.com. Just log in at TC and search for "TCredit."

The SFI Pay-Per-Action Report is now live and ready for affiliates to view from the My SFI Business Reports index at the Affiliate Center. This vital tool provides a valuable and informative resource for affiliates participating in the SFIPPA program. Learn more about the SFIPPA program and its rules and policies HERE.

Upon arriving at the SFIPPA Report, you'll notice the View and Sort By options near the top of the page. The view option lets you focus your report results to a specific month and year, while the sort option lets you tailor your report listing by date, last name, or key code.

Below these options, you'll find your report statistics--the percentage of PPA sign-ups with confirmed SFI registrations, sign-ups who have obtained EA rank, and sign-ups who have opted out of SFI. If you're participating in the SFIPPA program, you'll want to check these figures often, as they provide a current and potentially helpful summary of your success rate.

The SFIPPA Report organizes results into six columns listing the names of your PPA sign-ups, the dates they signed up, the appropriate key codes (if applicable), the Gateway sites from which your sign-ups arrived to SFI, the sign-ups' current SFI ranks, and their status*.

If you are participating in the SFIPPA program, you will want to take a moment NOW to check out this important report...and encourage your team members to do the same.


*Status will appear as one of the following:
"Paid"—A sign-up for whom you have received payment.
"Pending"—A sign-up who is still being processed by SFI.
"Processed"—A sign-up who has not initially qualified for payment (but who may still boost your pending and future payments).

The SFI homepage is now sporting a new tab called "SFI Basics." This tab is now the default tab when you land on the homepage. All other tabs, such as the SFI To-Do List, My Movers, etc. are all still available of course, and are instantly accessible with a single click.

We've made this change to make SFI simpler for new affiliates. As the new tab explains, there are just three basic parts to SFI, but many new affiliates often get lost or are overwhelmed by the information on the SFI To-Do List (the information previously defaulted to). So we want to set the To-Do List back a little bit and make sure that new affiliates understand the three basics first.

For the first five days of every month, you can now extend the affiliateship of any PSAs (personally sponsored affiliates) in your group who have fallen below the 500 VP in 60 days minimum.

In other words, we are now giving you, the sponsor, the final say. If you believe someone has shown a reason to retain their affiliateship, you can now grant this. Here's how:

1. Go to your Genealogy.
2. Click the SFI ID number of anyone who is displaying the red "<500" flag
3. On the Affiliate Manager page you will see a "1-Month Extension" link in the top, right corner. Click this link to extend their affiliateship for another month.

That's it. They will not be purged this month and they will have the rest of the month to get above the minimum activity requirement again.

Can you do this more than one month? Yes, currently there's no limit. However, we do not recommend indefinite extensions. If you feel extensions are merited, of course feel free to grant extensions, but if not, it's best to allow them to be purged.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because we are just getting this in place today (on the 5th), we are going to give everyone–this one month only–two extra days. That is, you have until the end of Wednesday, April 7th, to grant your extensions for this month.

Check out the overhauled Marketing index at the SFI Affiliate Center to find the marketing methods and aids you and your team members want. Now labeled "Mktg" (replacing "R&S") in the main menu, the Marketing index organizes Marketing Methods and Marketing Aids into categories for Referring Members, Sponsoring Affiliates, and EyeEarn, as well as the E-Commerce Associates (ECA) and ClickBucks Supplemental Income Programs.

As part of this re-organization, EyeEarn marketing aids and methods have been completely separated from the Refer and Sponsor marketing sections. This change lets affiliates interested in using EyeEarn to simultaneously sponsor affiliates and refer TripleClicks members easily find only the EyeEarn aids and methods they're looking for. Note: Though encouraged, participation in the EyeEarn Co-op is NOT required to use EyeEarn marketing aids.

As of noon today, our big purge of inactive affiliates has been completed. All of your inactive PSAs (personally sponsored SFI Affiliates) are now PRMs (personally referred TripleClicks Members).

Your genealogy should now be uncluttered of "deadwood" and much faster. You may have also picked up one or more PSAs who rolled up from inactive sponsors to you. Similarly, you may have a new sponsor yourself if your previous sponsor was not active.

You should also notice a speed difference in maneuvering and doing various activities around the Affiliate Center.

Also, a reminder, we will be purging inactive affiliates every month from now on, on or about the 5th of each month, so make sure you are monitoring your genealogy. When you see someone with a red flag indicating they have become inactive, you need to jump into action! Contact them individually. Offer your assistance to help them get active again. That said, always remember that you can't "drag people across the finish line." THEY have to want it. If they don't want to help themselves, MOVE ON. And always remember to replace those in your organization who become inactive. Bringing new blood into your group is something you must always be doing to build a profitable SFI business.

ONE MORE THING: If you have any former affiliates from your group (those purged today or otherwise) who wish to get back in SFI and become active again, all you have to do is send them to:

http://www.sfimg.com/convert

Logging in at this special page will instantly reinstate them as an SFI affiliate with their previous sponsor. Also note that this new "/convert" page is also the mechanism for converting TC Members into SFI Affiliates. That is, if you've referred a TC Member who would like to be an SFI Affiliate, all you need to do is tell them to go to to http://www.sfimg.com/convert and log in and they will immediately become an SFI affiliate--personally sponsored by you.

With the new 2010 SFI affiliate requirements of maintaining at least 500 points every 60 days or being an active EyeEarner, inactive affiliates will no longer clog the Genealogy report, resulting in a leaner, more user-friendly, and easier-to-navigate resource for you and your team members. Consequently, effective next week, links to the old Condensed Genealogy will redirect to the full Genealogy report.

Check out the homepage at www.TripleClicks.com. We've just added a splashy new banner to greet visitors and tell them what TripleClicks is about.

Meanwhile, at the SFI Affiliate Center (www.sfimg.com), we've added a new banner (see below) that links to the recently-published "Essence of SFI" article. Check the banner on any page at the Affiliate Center that has a sidebar. We've also added this banner to the sidebar of every LaunchPad lesson.



We've also upgraded the "Essence of SFI" article with an audio track. That is, you can now click the audio icon in the top right corner and HEAR it straight from the article's author and SFI president, Gery Carson.

It's a fact; If you're not employing regular communication with your team, you're building your business with both hands tied behind your back. Referring TC members is great. Sponsoring SFI affiliates is great. But more than anything else you do, it is the act of driving duplication in your group that will create the exponential growth that can send your income skyrocketing. And one of the prime ways you drive duplication is through quality and regular communication with your team. Starting today, we've made this easier than ever.

Introducing...PSA MAILER!

Just go to the new PSA Mailer webpage, enter your message and hit submit. You're done! You've just sent a message, automatically, to all of your PSAs (personally sponsored affiliates). And provided you haven't already earned it for the week, you've also just earned yourself 30 VersaPoints!

There's no need to go to the genealogy or select a segment of your group. And there's no need to worry about messages going to bad e-mail addresses or opted-out affiliates as these are automatically filtered out for you.

Messages are sent to both the PSA's registered e-mail address AND to the PSA's "Team Mail" inbox at the SFI Affiliate Center.

There's also no rank or points requirements to use the PSA Mailer.

Special Note: Weeks will be defined as running from Sunday to Saturday. You can use the PSA Mailer as many times as you like each week, but a maximum of 30 points can be earned each week.

P.S. Be watching for an exciting future addition to PSA Mailer that will allow you to read and borrow excerpts from some of the best messages being sent out each week by fellow SFI affiliates and Team Leaders.

The login screen for the SFI Affiliate Center is now sporting two new mini leaderboards: one for the current month's VersaPoints, and another one for overall Power Rankings. Note: If you're currently logged in, you'll need to log out first and then go to www.sfimg.com to see it.

Is your name on one or both of the lists? If not, make it one of your new year's goals to get on these new lists! Tell the world you're a force to be reckoned with!

Your SFI Homepage is now sporting a brand new SFI To-Do List.

We believe this new format is much clearer and easier, especially for new affiliates, to follow.

You'll also like this feature: Points you've scored this month (for reoccurring pointable actions) are now broken out for you.

Check out the new Recognition section at the SFI Forum and post a good word about your PSAs, upline members, and other SFI Affiliates for their good works, milestones, and more. This recognition is a quick, easy way to give kudos and encouragement to your active team members to remain active in their businesses and provide an example to your other affiliates.

You can access the new Recognition Forum HERE.

TIP: After you've made a recognition post, be sure to let the person(s) know so they can see what you've said about them.

SFI is pleased to announce built-in instant messaging at the Affiliate Center. You can now instant-message with both upline and downline members right from within the SFI Affiliate Center!

To use SFIM, just look for the "yellow SFIM bubbles." That is, on your Genealogy, on My Movers, on Affiliate Manager pages, and on your Upline Team page, you'll see a small bubble icon. If it's gray, that indicates the person is not online at the Affiliate Center. If the bubble is YELLOW, however, that means they ARE online currently and you can initiate an online conversation with them instantly.

Initiating a conversion is super simple. Just click on the yellow bubble!

On their end, a pulsating "SFIM" icon will appear in the header (of the Affiliate Center). Clicking on this icon will allow them to proceed to a live instant messaging conversation with you if they wish to.

Here are four tips for using SFIM:

1. The easiest way to see who's online right now is to go to your genealogy and choose the "Online" filter. Select Online = Yes, then click the "filter" button and you'll see a listing of everyone in your downline who is currently online at the Affiliate Center. You can now initiate conversations by clicking the yellow bubbles beside their names. If no names appear, this means no one in your downline is currently visiting the Affiliate Center, but you can of course try again later.

2. If you're chatting with a person who's primary language is different than your own, keep Google Translate open in a another window browser so you can cut and paste text as needed to translate your conversation.

3. Just as this article emphasizes, when you're initiating contact with downline members, focus on how you can help them. Use SFIM to support and assist your downline and you will build a stronger, more profitable group.

4. If you see the yellow bubble beside your sponsor's name in the top right corner of the header at the Affiliate Center, this indicates your sponsor is online currently. Click the yellow bubble to initiate a conversation with your sponsor.

Check out the Affiliate Center header for a new, small co-op badge image next to your sponsor's name. If you see this icon, it means your sponsor has a co-op in which you might be able to participate!  Contact your sponsor to find out the details (just click his or her name to send an e-mail).

On Thursday, November 5th, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. CST, SFI's sites will be unavailable as we update our servers and perform system maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our affiliates.