When contacting merchants, how do I identify myself?
SFI is identified as the “marketing arm” of NOC. Therefore, you may identify yourself as an “SFI Affiliate.” If you prefer, you may alternately identify yourself as an “Independent NOC Marketing Representative.”

Do I need a business card?
It depends somewhat on your approach. If you are doing your prospecting strictly via direct mail, you can probably get by without a business card. However, if you envision yourself ever following up in person or doing door to door in business districts distributing information on NOC, you will definitely want a business card. Even if you’re only planning to do direct mail, a business cards is a nice added touch of professionalism.

How big of a bounty must the merchant pay?
We may set some kind of minimum at a future date, but right now, the answer is whatever they are comfortable with (keeping in mind that the smaller the bounty, the less promotion our affiliates are likely to do on their behalf).

Let's say I enrolled 20 different merchants to NOC. Do I only earn commissions when I refer customers to those merchants?
No, you'll earn a commission on EVERY sale that occurs at those 20 merchants no matter who referred the customer! Line up several good stores with really good offers, and you could be earning commissions on literally hundreds of sales every month from affiliates all over the world who are pointing customers to those stores. And all you did was made the initial referral of that merchant to NOC!

What if a mechant needs to add restrictions to his offer, such as limiting to first-time customers only?
When the merchant creates his offer, he will be able to select/deselect from a list of common restrictions such "not valid with other special offers," "one per household," etc. The merchant can also add any other additional restrictions(s) needed.

There are tons of restaurants. Are restaurants good candidates for NOC?
Yes, although because you're generally looking at a smaller ticket item, they probably will not be able to offer a large bounty, maybe only $2 to $5. On the other hand, the QUANTITY of sales could be much larger. Restaurants may also be interested in our Preferred Customer Program (details on this program will be coming soon).

Who creates the offers? The merchant or SFI/NOC?
SFI affiliates can suggest offers to merchants (perhaps based on a coupon or ad they've seen). And our NOC Merchant Reps will be available to help merchants craft the most attractive offers possible. But the offer is completely up to the merchant. Of course, the bigger the offer, the better!

What is the "bounty" and how is it determined?
Instead of spending money up-front for advertising in newspapers, on radio, etc. that may not generate even a single sale, merchants pay us a "bounty" when one of their offers they've authorized for NOC is redeemed by a customer. The benefits of NOC's bounty system are significant: The merchants pays ONLY when an actual sale is generated (i.e. he pays only for results). In addition, the merchant also pays only the exact amount he or she is comfortable spending to get that sale. Whereas a newspaper ad might cost $200 and generate two sales ($100 per sale), the merchant could authorize a bounty of only $25 per sale with NOC (or whatever amount the merchant is comfortable with). This can be a huge savings for the merchant. It's also just plain smart business!

Are there other benefits affiliates can offer merchants to attract them?
We have LOTS of ideas we are working on! For example, affiliates may be able to offer free e-mail blasts for new merchants. Let's say you're a new Chicago, Illiinois, NOC merchant. Upon authorizing a qualifying offer, SFI would send an e-mail to every SFI affliate in the area notifying them of the new offer, information on how to promote the new offer, etc. In areas where we have substantial numbers of affiliates, this mailing alone could be highly valuable. Affiliates are consumers too, after all, and the merchant may pick up several new customers directly from the affiliates receiving the mailing.

Can I enroll businesses who only have Websites?
Yes, definitely. However, tracking redeemed coupons, ironically, may be more difficult with Web-only businesses, as there is no physical coupon involved and all crediting relies on promotion codes being used and tracked by the merchant. Hence, this is an area that may require additional requirements. We will be monitoring this and making changes as needed.

What if a merchant doesn't report the NOC coupons that are being redeemed?
NOC utilizes, in part, an honor system, so there is the possibility of some under-reporting. However, there are natural and formal barriers in place that we believe will make occurrences rare:

A. If affiliates are not making money on a particular coupon, they're obviously going to stop promoting it. If this occurs, the merchant has "cut his own throat." The whole point of the merchant's participation in NOC is to create sales, so it would be illogical to exercise actions that kill those sales.

B. Affiliates will be strongly encouraged to use NOC coupons freely to earn SVP. If an affiliate uses a coupon to earn that SVP and then does not receive it because the coupon did not get reported, it will get back to us, and then it will get back to the merchant. A "two strikes and your out" policy will likely be used. That is, a first offense will draw a warning from us. A second offense will lead to the termination of the merchant's participation in NOC.

C. Merchants, when they set up a coupon, sign an agreement that they will pay us the agreed-upon bounty for each valid coupon redeemed. In other words, we have a legal contract, and they have a legal obligation to pay us all monies due.

A merchant who signed up for NOC is confused about how coupons are redeemed online. How would a shopping cart at an online site know the value of the coupon or coupons and how to adjust the price accordingly? Does each coupon offered require a Webmaster to adjust the shopping cart to recognize the coupon value?

NOC is first and foremost for physical "brick-and-mortar" merchants. Merchants who wish to promote online sales should use a slightly modified* promotion code. These codes are extremely common and are the cleanest, easiest way to track referring affiliate ID numbers.

*Merchants can use promo codes as normal...they just need to add a tiny bit of code that ignores the dash and SFI ID number as it pertains to looking up the discount that the promo code represents.

Example: Joe's Online Shoestore creates the promo code "NOC20"—which, when entered at checkout, takes 20% off the price of shoes purchased at this site. The buyer, however, would enter "NOC20-XXXXX" (the promo code listed on the NOC coupon; "XXXXX" represents the referring affiliate's ID number). Joe's checkout page would record the entire promo code so the affiliate gets credited properly, but it would ignore "-XXXXX" when it comes to looking up what that promo code represents for a discount on the order.

SPECIAL NOTE:
For an entire list of Merchant FAQs, go to www.niceoffers.com/info and enter using your SFI Affiliate ID number. This is the site that merchants are referred to from the back of the 4”x9” NOC Overview Card.

What if I've got more questions about NOC?
Contact our customer service department via e-mail at support@sfimg.com

What should I do next?
Everything you need to do is listed on your *SFI Getting Started page.

* Must be registered with SFI to view file.