IN THE SPOTLIGHT

This week we are proud to have Diana from SexyAds.net as our In The Spotlight guest. An Australian known as “SexyDi” on the boards, Diana is a great friend to all of us at YNOTMasters, and manages to get away from “down under” to attend several industry events every year.IN THE SPOTLIGHT

This week we are proud to have Diana from SexyAds.net as our In The Spotlight guest. An Australian known as “SexyDi” on the boards, Diana is a great friend to all of us at YNOTMasters, and manages to get away from “down under” to attend several industry events every year. Let’s take a look into the life of a woman who definitely knows how to work hard AND play hard…

YNOT: Thanks for being our guest this week Diana! It was great seeing you at our last YNOT party in Mexico. For everyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of meeting you, please tell us about SexyAds and what you do over there.

Diana: I’m the affiliate program manager for SexyAds (the worlds best Adult Personal site!), and have been with the company for just over two years. I also attend industry shows, so I do a little marketing as well. Some of our staff would say my general duties are traveling! I mainly take care of our affiliates and recruit new affiliates. I open all new accounts, answer any questions our affiliates have, work with all of our team to introduce new ideas to the site and to the affiliate and referral programs in order to increase revenue and retention. This keeps our members, affiliates and me happy!

We set out to provide the best adult personal site backed with customer service you’d go a long way to beat. We get so many emails from members saying, “Wow, you are a real person and actually answered my email, I haven’t had that before!” Our support staff works 365 days a year. I’d also like to add that our charge back rate is less than 1/4 of 1%. No rest for the wicked!

YNOT: That’s great! Excellent customer service is so important these days on the Internet. More so than ever.

Diana: I don’t think you’ll find another personal site like ours. We are set up in such a way that our affiliates will get paid on recurring billings regardless of the time between becoming a member and upgrading… whether it’s three hours or six months.

YNOT: So how did you get involved in the adult industry? I’ve actually met quite a few Aussies…

Diana

Diana: Oh wow… long story! I met the owners of SexyAds on their boat on the Sydney Harbor on New Year’s Eve 1999-2000. I was dating their banker at the time and John and Maureen had invited us to join them since we were going to Sydney for the biggest party ever! We ended up spending the night because the harbour was so rough. Maureen asked lots of questions, like what did I do for a living. At the time I was working as an international and corporate travel consultant. Maureen said they did a “bit” of travel (understatement!) and that they weren’t really happy with their current agent. A few months later I received a call from Maureen to book a trip to the U.S. (the New Orleans show). I ended up as their agent and they were pretty happy with my customer service. A few months later Maureen and John invited me around. I had no idea what they did… some sort of Internet programming I thought. (We live in a smallish town so it was not common knowledge that an adult site was being run out of this little office). They offered me a job as their affiliate manger. I thanked them very much and said NO CAN DO! I really had no idea what they did and my knowledge of computers sucked! After turning them down three times they invited me and my banker friend for dinner. Dinner was awesome! They showed me the site, offered travel opportunities (with the possibility of moving to the U.S. down the track) and increased their initial pay offer. I really had no confidence that I could do this job and it was a very huge step out of my comfort zone! So began my life in the Adult Industry!

YNOT: Well… you strike me as a very adaptable person, so I’m sure you got comfortable pretty quickly! Tell us about your travels and previous jobs prior to working in the industry.

Diana: I’d worked in the travel industry for 15 years, on and off. I took off overseas for three months every winter so I had a constant span of summer. Backpacked around Europe, worked at a crazy place called the Pink Palace in Corfu, Greece, and traveled to the U.S. for one month and came home seven months later! At home I also worked at a Water Ski Club for eight years, between trips, and continued to work there on weekends right up to April this year.

YNOT: Being so worldly, getting started in the biz must have been a snap…

Diana: Oh my, getting started was so scary! I only knew travel reservations systems and very little about any other program on a computer. Without giving too much away, let’s say the office staff at SexyAds had their fair share of laughs for the first few months! My first show was en eye opener and a real learning curve. I met Steve Sweet in the hospitality suite on my first trip. It was about 2 AM and I went there alone. Can anything prepare you for Steve?

YNOT: Not really! Ah… now we are getting into some of the “good” stuff here. Continue please!

Diana: Here you go, trying to embarrass me! Hmmm, where to begin. At my first show on the first night in the hospitality suite, Maureen and John stressed to me to ask if I am not sure of any questions asked of me. Best to check with them than to make something up. OK, no problem, since that’s not me anyway. I happened to be talking to two of the largest players in the industry (and had no idea) and they were quizzing me to the hilt! I thought I was going along OK, then they asked what our average retention was. Ah shit, I didn’t know! John was too far away and I couldn’t see any of our other staff to ask. We were full into the conversation and I didn’t want to lose them at this stage. (I was on my first sales pitch and doing well!) I plucked “six months” out of the air and hoped like hell I was somewhere near the correct figure. These two guys finished quizzing me and then told me they knew I was new and that I did very well. Still sweating from the six months answer I rushed over to John and casually asked, “Oh, by the way, what is our average member retention?” John replies, “Six months.” PHEW! I’ll never do that again though.

Otto, Diana, Doug & Melissa (CCBill)

YNOT: Nice! Good thing you didn’t say something like six days or six years!

Aside from all of the travel, anything else you specifically love about our industry?

Diana: I love being in an industry where a change today means more dollars tomorrow. I love the flexibility and the fun we can have in this job. I also love being part of a business that enables sexy adults to find each other. It’s so rewarding to get positive feedback that we’re doing good things.

YNOT: Where do you see yourself in the long run?

Diana: Rehab! Just kidding. My goal is to do my job from the U.S. Most of our members and affiliates are in the U.S. and I think I’ll be more efficient working from there. I have a traffic target I have to meet for John and Maureen and if I meet it, they’ll move me to the U.S. Anyone with any extra traffic? Email me! I’m close, so any bit helps!

YNOT: What are some of your hobbies? What would you be doing now if you weren’t in the industry?

Diana: I enjoy water skiing, wake boarding, snow skiing, hiking and visiting wineries.

I’d be stuck at home selling travel (but not getting to travel) or serving the drunk tourists arriving for the water skiing season back at the water ski club if I wasn’t working in our industry. Give me the adult industry any day… fun people, challenging job and I get to travel!

YNOT: Got any newbie advice?

Diana: You either need to be content to work your ass off day and night for months and months or have a ton of money to get started. Maureen and John worked long hours every day for a year when they started SexyAds with only $500. They say they could never do it now. Do your homework and ask lots of questions. Go to as many seminars and shows as possible and maximize the resources on YNOTMasters. (Do I get extra points for that?)

YNOT: Yes you do! For that I’ll be even nicer to you in your intro to this interview. [Editor’s note: How can anyone be anything BUT nice to Di?]

HELP SEND DIANA TO THE U.S.! She loves Phoenix, but can’t get there without a bit more traffic to SexyAds, so if any of you are looking for a personals affiliate program that’s meticulously managed and supported, please visit http://reseller.sexyads.net or email diana@sexyads.net!