Rob, this is an excellent post. And I'm wondering why folks haven't figured this out yet.

Now, people may not necessarily agree with all the steps... but one can't deny the message behind your statement:

"What you want to avoid is trying to get the girl into bed before you've even flirted with her a bit."

But that's just what people wind up doing with their generic messages of, "Hi! I see you're in niche XYZ and I'm launching a product on this date. Here's my link!"

Wow! I'm not yet an "A-list" affiliate, but I get messages like this all the time. Sheesh! Flirt with me a little for pete's sake!

Anyway, the above (or similar) should be standard protocol.

Again, good post. Thanks!