On my free call last week I got some feedback saying, “I can’t believe you support kickbacks.” I was actually quite surprised because you see, I don’t. But I did talk about affiliate commissions, which are quite different.

A kickback is a commission that you get from a vendor for referring them. As a wedding planner that could be quite tempting since a big part of our job is referring vendors. But there are a couple of reasons that I don’t follow the kick back model:

1. I want my client to feel like I’m giving them the best referral for their personality, style and budget. I don’t want my referral being jaded by a percentage. I love meeting new vendors and exploring new options. My portfolio gets better and better because I recommend new and interesting vendors whom I’ve met on my travels who have cool new ideas for my brides. If I recommend the same people over and over again because I get a commission, all my weddings would look the same.
2. When my client is given a price for a service or a product, which is then delivered, I want them to feel like they got great value. If a commission is tacked on by a vendor to the regular price the bride doesn’t know this. If regular price is $400 but they are charged $500 because a planner is getting a commission, they are expecting a $500 value whereas the vendor is only providing a $400 value. And that makes everyone look bad. This point was also made by famous cake designer, Silvia Weinstock, at a Engage 09. She said that she had a planner add a commission onto her cake without her knowing it and the bride was disappointed because the amount she paid was not representative of the product she received. Don’t you think that planner looked bad?
3. If a vendor offers me a discount for my client or a commission I’d rather give my client the discount. A big reason brides hire planners is to help them get discounts. It’s so much better when brides walk away feeling like they’ve saved money working with you versus spent more.

But I do work with affiliate commissions for things I recommend online or post as ads on my blog or my ezine. There are a lot of great wedding based companies that have affiliate programs. You get a commission if a bride clicks through from your site and makes a purchase online. Most of the time, you never meet or talk to this bride, and honestly, she’s rarely a client. It’s just a random bride looking through your website, she finds something of interest, clicks through and makes an online purchase and you get a cheque in the mail.

This is a format bloggers have been using for a long time with Google pay per click ads. If you don’t have a very busy blog then you’re not going to support yourself using Google pay per click ads but it doesn’t hurt to have banners for supporting products that your readers would be interested in. Here are some great examples for the wedding industry:

• Kate Aspen Favors
• Wedding Window
• Amazon.com
• Adorn Brides
• Sandals/ Beaches (this is done through bridal associations and organizations)
• Beau-Coup Favors
• Oriental Trading
• Bridaluxe

These are all places where you can sign up for an affiliate account and place a banner on your website, blog or ezine and reap the benefits of brides making purchases. The content you provide is what attracts these potential buyers. Eventually if your blog or ezine is popular enough you could sell ads, which would make you more money than the affiliate commissions you’d earn through the pay per click model.

I hope that this clarifies my feelings on kickbacks versus affiliate commissions. I’d love to see what your thoughts/ comments are on this philosophy.