The Affiliate Army Building System
Six steps to recruit businesses that sell your stuff and get you leads forever
Hormozi's Affiliate Army system is his most advanced lead-getting strategy, responsible for over $75M in revenue across 5,000+ affiliates at Prestige Labs and ALAN. The system turns independent businesses into lead-getters who advertise your stuff to their audiences in exchange for commissions.
The six steps are: find ideal affiliates (who has your leads?), make them an offer (position it as a new income stream), qualify them (make them invest via purchase or certification), figure out compensation (tiered payouts based on performance), get them advertising (whisper-tease-shout launch strategy), and keep them advertising (integrate your product into their ongoing offer).
The key insight is leverage: one super-affiliate can bring ten agencies, each bringing fifty businesses, each bringing thousands of leads. This creates compound growth that operates independently of your own advertising efforts. Hormozi positions this as the ultimate play for reaching $100M+ — you get lead getters who get lead getters.
- Affiliates are the highest-leverage lead-getters because they operate independently at scale.
- Getting affiliates to invest (buy the product, get certified) determines how actively they'll sell.
- Use tiered payouts — 25% CAC for signing up, 50% for activating, 100% for sustained performance.
- Launch then integrate — big launches activate affiliates, but integration keeps them selling long-term.
- Treat affiliates like customers — the more value you provide, the more they'll advertise for you.
- Find Your Ideal AffiliatesAsk: Who has my leads? Look at what your best customers buy, where they go, what they do, and who they work for. Create a hit list organized by category: softwares, products, equipment, services, groups, and events in your customers' world.Pro tipBusinesses that fall into multiple categories (e.g., they sell to your audience AND attend the same events) are your highest-potential affiliates.
- Make Them an OfferPosition your affiliate program as a new income stream: make more money from current customers, get more leads than their current offer alone, high chance of working since their customers already want the product, no need to build or deliver it themselves, and they can start immediately.
- Qualify Them Through InvestmentMake affiliates invest by becoming a customer (buy and use the product) and/or becoming a certified expert (pay for onboarding/training). Charge 10-20% of what the average active affiliate earns in their first 12 months.Pro tipIf you don't get enough people to start, lower the commitment. If you don't get enough to follow through, raise it.WarningAffiliates who don't invest enough won't put in the effort to sell. Free affiliate programs have low activation rates.
- Design Tiered CompensationCreate three tiers based on your maximum allowable CAC: Tier 1 at 25% CAC (anyone who signs up), Tier 2 at 50% CAC (activated affiliates), Tier 3 at 100% CAC (sustained performers). The blended average will be below your max CAC, giving you extra profit.Pro tipNever cap payouts. Affiliates who know their income is unlimited will work harder. Use leftover profit from the blended average to run contests and recruit more affiliates.
- Launch with Whisper-Tease-ShoutWhisper (curiosity, behind-the-scenes) every 4-6 weeks until 60 days out. Tease (reveal product, show value elements) weekly until 14 days out, then twice weekly. Shout (CTAs, bonuses, scarcity, urgency) twice daily starting 3 days out, every 30 minutes on launch day.Pro tipThe longer something appears to take, the more people value it. Start whispering years before launch if possible. Do all the advertising work for your affiliates so they just plug and play.
- Integrate for Long-Term RevenueChoose one of three integration strategies: (1) Affiliates give your lead magnet away free with their core offer, (2) Affiliates sell your lead magnet separately, (3) Affiliates sell your core offer directly. Each creates ongoing lead flow rather than one-time launch spikes.Pro tipIf you let affiliates keep 100% of the revenue from selling your lead magnet, they'll send you far more leads. You make money on the upsell.
Hormozi invested $3M in supplement inventory and $1M in affiliate software. Initial launch produced only $150K in three weeks. But on week four, as affiliates completed training, $450K came in. Revenue stabilized at $400K+/week across 400+ active gym affiliates selling supplements to their members.
ALAN used three affiliate levels: super-affiliates brought agency leads, agencies brought local business leads, local businesses brought consumer leads. One super-affiliate added 10 agencies/month, producing 50 local businesses and 2,500 leads per month at $5 per lead ($12,500/month).
A friend's $50M business partnered with entrepreneurs who train new business owners. He offered free LLC setup (high-cost lead magnet) to affiliates' audiences, then sold bookkeeping and tax preparation services to those leads. Affiliates integrated his free LLC offer into their own packages.
Hormozi built two companies primarily through affiliates: Prestige Labs (supplements) and ALAN (software). Prestige Labs launched to gym owner affiliates with $3M in inventory and initially did only $150K in sales over three weeks. But on the fourth week, $450K came in as affiliates completed training and activated. The affiliate machine eventually printed money on autopilot — no paid ads, no sales team needed. ALAN scaled to $1.7M/month within six months using a three-tier affiliate structure.