Thus far, to grow Bridge’s sales funnel, I’ve often been giving referring entities a finder’s fee. I’ve also chatted with sales rep agencies about repping us as a product line. I’d not thought of an ambassador program. These articles prompted me to wonder: could we recruit sales reps or retailers as ambassadors? We could pay reps to be ambassadors on the road and at shows. We could invite stores to be ambassadors.
The goal of a Bridge ambassador program would be to mirror BeReal and Sidechat's growth success. Bridge currently helps 1,000 indie stores. We want to help: 10,000 stores. Ambassadors may help us accomplish this.
This leads us to ask, "How does a sales job differ from an ambassador job?” This site ReferralRock did a nice job of laying out what a brand ambassador is and the 6 types of ambassadors (...I didn’t know that Lululemon, Bumble, and Red Bull have ambassadors).
With a sales role, signing up new members is the pure gauge of performance. One is often paid for signing up new users and not paid for usage of the app.
With an ambassador program, there are a few benchmarks. One is paid to use the app, spread good will about it, and also sign up other members.
How would it work for Bridge? Per the ReferralRock article, I imagine a ‘requirement’ oriented program. Here’s a rough draft of how it may work:
Bridge Paid Ambassadorship (PA) Program
Bridge PA Expectations:
Paid Ambassador (PA) posts news on Bridge on a weekly basis. Goal: 5 to 10 news posts per month. Posts may include:
Industry news
Pics of stores that rep visits
Pics of the rep on the road
Files (price lists, etc.)
On Bridge, PA likes and comments on other members’ content.
PA promotes Bridge to existing stores and prospects. They can mention us on social media, share our LinkedIn articles, etc.
Could host events (virtually).
Could manage a marketing budget.
Attend bimonthly meetings with Bridge. We could have a roundtable on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month at 9:30 am EST.
This is a promotional and good will role. (This is not a pure sales job.) There could be additional benefits for signing up an account that are separate from a monthly retainer.
Benefits to Rep:
Grow your business and professional network.
Cultivate your leadership skills.
Earn 18% more when retailers use Bridge.
Be part of the retail industry’s fastest growing membership program.
Get paid a flat retainer fee each month. Get paid to create content and build your community. Get paid to do what you’d already be doing: growing and promoting your agency.
Take advantage of unique, fun opportunities while furthering their career.
PA Applicant Requirements:
A. For Sales Reps
1. Be a sales rep.
2. Be familiar with Bridge, with preferably a history of being a cheerleader for the platform.
3. Represent one or more of the following brands (these are our best-selling brands):
Juliska
Casafina
Vietri
Annieglass
Beatriz Ball
Royal Crown Derby
Lenox
Mottahedeh
Skyros
Michael Aram
Gien
B. For Retailers
1. Be a retailer.
2. Be familiar with Bridge, with preferably a history of being a cheerleader for the platform.
3. Sell one or more of these brands:
Goal:
Total: 20 PAs.
E.g. 10 sales rep PAs and 10 retailer PAs.
Compensation / Pay:
TBD
BeReal and Sidechat have found success using ambassadors. These apps are also using some good ol’ fashion bribery: the apps are having college ambassadors set up tables on campus and give out cookies. If that’s what generates usage, shoot, I may buy some Levain cookies, put up a card table in front of AmericasMart, and get some Bridge ambassadors to pass out cookies.