Learn From the Experts How to Start Up and Prosper In a Direct Sales Business
By A Distinguished Panel of Direct Sales Experts
Interested in starting a home-based business? Direct sales is a great business opportunity to consider. Direct sales companies manufacture products or offer services. Instead of selling their products or services from storefronts, these companies have independent salespeople (called independent distributors or affiliates) work from home and sell the companies’ products or services. Direct sales companies offer product and service categories in a variety of areas: beauty, beverage, children’s books/toys, clothing, commercial cleaning, cooking/food, cosmetics, energy, fashion, financial, footwear, fragrances, gardening, green, hair care, health and wellness, healing, home cleaning, home décor/gifts, jewelry, lingerie, men’s, nutritional, organizational, outdoors, pets, security, scrap booking, stationery, telecommunications, and so much more. There are riches to be made as an independent distributor for a direct sales company. Commissions are made on what is sold to other people, and the commissions increase over time. Independent distributors also receive discounts on the products or services they purchase from the company.
Whether you are starting a direct sales business or are in need of advice for enhancing an existing direct sales business, you most likely have questions: How do I make sure that the direct sales company is the right one for me? What are the benefits of a direct sales business? How do I develop residual income in a direct sales business? How do I generate leads, both online and offline, in direct sales?
Drawing on their years of experience, a panel of direct sales experts provides the answers to these questions. Their expertise can help you start up and prosper in a direct sales business. Also check out the 55+ Direct Sales Opportunities table in this issue for companies offering direct sales business opportunities.
Researching a Direct Sales Opportunity
By ECP
When entering the direct sales field, you should always do lots of research on the company you are going to promote. Check the direct sales company’s reputation, check the BBB background on the company, talk with other direct sales representatives, and find out everything you can. You want to make sure that this direct sales company is the right one for you and that you are the right independent distributor for them.
Start-Up Costs
Research the startup costs and the costs that will incur for you to maintain your direct sales business through the company. Most direct sales companies will have minimal startup costs. The reason for low startup costs is because the companies want to make it easy for you to get started with them; they are not trying to make a profit off of your startup. A direct sales company that tries to profit from you signing up is not what you want. These companies are usually just pyramid schemes that don’t last very long.
Support
Make sure your direct sales company does everything possible to help with your success. This does not mean the direct sales company will hold your hand through the process, but it does mean that the direct sales company has policies in place that will allow the salespeople to operate in the way that the company makes money. A good direct sales company will not allow retail sales of their products or services; they won’t allow the direct selling of their products online through eBay or Craigslist or other online services. If they do allow these types of sales, your selling will be limited because there will always be someone selling through eBay and Craigslist and undercutting you.
Compensation
Look for a direct sales company that provides a solid performance compensation for you and independent distributors that join under you. Your income can be excellent with just the direct sales of the items or services you sell, but if you have the added bonus of being able to build an excellent team of independent distributors underneath of you, and the direct sales company compensates this fairly, you can create a powerful income vehicle. Once you get started with your direct sales business, you will realize that the income generated by your independent distributor team can quickly overcome your own sales income. After you build a large team under you, and you help this team to be successful through training and informative help, you can actually slow your own sales down and still make a full time income.
Trust and Enthusiasm
Don’t join a company that you don’t believe in. This is a VERY important factor in determining which direct sales company is right for you. You must be excited about the products and the opportunity so you can pass on the excitement to your customers and clients. If you believe in the products and the company, you will feel confident about telling your friends, family, and complete strangers about it, with no regrets. Don’t be the people that sell something they don’t even own themselves… it won’t work in the long run. Be true to yourself, be true to your direct sales company, and the success will follow with the work you put into it.
ECP has years of experience running successful direct sales businesses. Learn more direct sales tips and information. You don’t have to suffer through trial and error for months, get your direct sales business information! http://www.directsalesresource.com/.
Benefits of a Direct Sales Business
By Janette Stoll
Especially in this unstable economy we’re in and the recent recession we’ve experienced: There’s no such thing as security. You can’t look to anyone to save you — not the government, and certainly not any company.
Self Belief
The only security you have is YOU. In fact, you are the most powerful weapon against poverty because you are capable of achieving more than you think. First, you must believe in you and desire success badly enough to make a change. Change won’t happen unless you first change your mindset.
But if you already have the self-belief that you are worth more than what you’re getting paid in your job, then starting a business might be a perfect fit for you. With cheap technology and the power of the Internet to connect people from anywhere and at any time — it’s easier than ever to build a home-based business with a laptop and Internet connection.
There are other ways to make money from home. You can sell on eBay, Amazon, and Etsy if you’re crafty and make hand-made products, or for as little as $100 or less, you can start a direct sales business. Personally, I think starting a direct sales business is one of the best options to make money from home because of the many benefits for a small start-up cost:
Direct Sales Benefits
When you partner with an established direct sales company — you can expect these benefits and more:
#1 The infrastructure of running a company is already established for you. When you sign up to be a consultant, you have access to all the training, product discounts, earned vacations, and rewards, to name a few perks. The company also drop ships the products you sell directly to your customers.
#2 With most companies, you’re given a company-replicated website within minutes of signing up, which you can start promoting right away.
#3 Direct sales companies are known for their training support, because your success is a direct sales company’s success.
#4 There are hundreds of direct sales companies to choose from with products ranging from jewelry, candles, and cookware to skin care and beauty products.
#5 Because of the flexibility of a direct sales business, you can choose to work your business on your own time. Depending on what your financial goals are, a direct sales business is adaptable to your lifestyle. Your success is entirely up to you, which means that there is no limit on your earning potential. But it’s also not a “get rich quick” business, and like any real business you need to be fully committed to be successful in direct sales.
#6 The most valuable aspect of the direct selling industry is the personal growth. It’s nearly impossible not to grow as a person because as an independent distributor, you begin to shift your mindset and start thinking and learning what it takes to be a true entrepreneur. This to me is invaluable, because this kind of growth stays with you forever.
Janette Stoll helps direct sales consultants generate targeted leads from article writing and marketing. She is a former human resources/recruiting corporate escapee now a full-time work-at-home-mom. Janette is a direct-to-company team leader for a ground floor all-natural direct sales company. As a top online direct sales leader, she is passionate about working from home, and helping others do the same through her natural/organic Radiantly You business. Visit her website to learn more: http://www.janettestoll.com.
Developing Residual Income in Direct Sales
By Walt Gemmell
I have known people who put out over 1000 Avon catalogs on every new campaign. With a lot of hard work, these people earn a full-time living as an Avon sales representative. However, they do not really have residual income, because they continually must put out new catalogs and follow up and make sales. This is still a good way to make money, but it is not a great way to develop residual income. There are better ways to go about that.
Becoming an eRepresentitive
One of the best ways is to become an eRepresentative for a direct sales company. You then develop a customer base that can access your company website and make purchases whenever customers want. This allows you to develop a larger customer base without needing to interact with your potential customers and existing customers. If need be, you can interact via email, or other Internet tools such as Skype which is more time-effective than meeting in person.
Using the Internet
If you are going to join a direct sales company, you can build a worldwide business very quickly when you do it correctly. This does not mean doing meetings in person or prospecting with business cards. These are not effective way to develop residual income. A better approach is to let the Internet prospect, sort, and follow up for you.
When you approach it this way, you can build a worldwide direct sales business very quickly and a residual income much faster as well. You can also become involved in more than one direct sales company which will let you make even more money in various ways.
In summary, these are a few ideas on what is hot and what is not hot in direct sales residual income. Selling to customers as an eRepresentative via the Internet, and building residual income are effective ways to create income for you much faster. It’s also a great way to develop a long-term direct sales business!
Walt Gemmell is the owner and webmaster of MyAffiliateSalesSite which specializes in helping retired people find real home business success. Walt Gemmell is the owner of earn at home, http://myaffiliatesalessystem.com/, a website where you can get your own income generating website ready to take orders. To discover 25 ways to get free website traffic visit free traffic now.
Lead Generation Online and Offline in Direct Sales
By Deb Bixler
The key to success in direct sales is to use every lead generation system available to you, both online and offline. Then build relationships with those leads so that you can figure out how to serve the needs of your niche market and turn them into customers and team members. Whether working online or offline, the relationship-building process is essential to success.
As a direct seller, you will not “sell” your products, opportunities, or services if you just walk up to people and ask them to buy. The same is true online! You cannot just go on the Internet, set up a social page, and start promoting your products without building relationships.
Increased Exposure – Online and Offline
When operating a business offline, a new direct sales business owner should expand her or his influence in the community by becoming involved. You cannot be everywhere at once…. but consistent and routine networking will achieve results. These days, it is impossible to ONLY operate your direct sales business offline, and the time commitment can be overwhelming!
Start networking online gradually and consistently just like you would offline. Create a system of adding one social site at a time. You may start with Facebook or any site that you are already comfortable with. Set it up properly, learn the ins and outs, start posting two to three times daily, and make only 1:10 a direct marketing message. Add value to people’s lives! Go visit other niche pages. Seek out pages that serve your niche market. For example, if you sell makeup, food, or clothing, then women’s fashion pages may be pages to visit, follow, and support. Comment on other pages, validate them, and develop relationships. Meet new people! What goes around — comes around…. get involved!!
Develop Your Online Brand
Once you become fluent with one social site and have a consistent routine, move on to another social site. Take your brand with you. When your followers move from one site to another, they should see continuity in your brand, name, images, and value.
The top social sites, in no special order, are:
- Google+
- YouTube
Develop Systems
To be successful in online marketing, you must be consistent for the long haul! A consistent system of posting content daily that adds value to people’s lives, builds online collaborations and relationships, and is constantly growing is the answer.
You will achieve greater success by doing one social site well by developing a systematic approach. After you have a routine, then add another site and get good at that site before adding another. Running around all social sites without any rhyme or reason is ineffective! A little bit done right will do more than a whole lot done haphazardly!
Treat your online direct sales business the same as you do your offline direct sales business:
- Always dress for success: Your appearance matters!
- Be a real person: People want to know you are real.
- Know your brand: You should look similar in each site.
- Develop relationships.
- Follow up quickly: Often the DM is the way to go!
- Add value to lives!
- Be a problem-solver!
- Don’t kill them with your marketing message!
- Connect the worldwide Web: Use every site and interconnect them.
Using a consistent system of adding to your online presence will pay off. It will just be a matter of time before you have a following and presence in every social site! Keep the service aspect in mind both online and offline, and your direct sales business will flourish! It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen when you stick with it!
Deb Bixler, host of the Cash Flow Show – Direct Sales Radio, is often referred to as the party plan guru and lead generation queen. Famous for her 63 Ways to Find Business seminars, Deb teaches best business practices for direct sellers that work in all companies! Listen to the Cash Flow Show – Direct Sales Radio 7 days a week to grow your business online and offline! Visit www.CashFlowShowRadio.com.
Differences Between MLM And Direct Sales
MLM
MLM (otherwise known as multi level marketing) has been around for nearly 60 years, and is a unique business model where a company’s primary method for building their business is by incentivizing people — known as affiliates or independent distributors — to go out and tell their family, friends, and acquaintances about the company’s products. People not only try and create a successful and scalable business on their own; they will also earn very small percentages on the products that they personally sell as well as on the products sold by affiliates beneath them — hence the name multi level marketing.
The big lure in MLM is that if affiliates can get enough people underneath him or her, those $5 or $10 dollar commissions will add up and eventually create sustainable or residual income over several years; however, the attrition or drop out rate for traditional MLM affiliates (statistics over a 50 year span) is over 95% within 3 months. That means that out of 100 people who start MLM businesses, 95 will quit within 90 days.
Direct Sales
Direct sales is a business model that came along in the past 20 years. Direct sales is very different from MLM in 3 ways:
1) The sales still come as a direct result of the affiliates offering the products to other people; however, some direct sales companies use automated marketing systems to filter and sort the curious from the serious when it comes to presenting the business and the accompanying products.
2) The compensation plan is very different. Typically, a direct sales company will pay 1 to 3 levels deep as a “training bonus” for the person bringing on new affiliates as opposed to down to an infinite number of levels.
3) The commissions are much larger each time an affiliate makes a sale. Normally, direct sales commissions can begin at around $1000 and can go on up to as much as $16,000 per sale.
Brian Magnosi is one of the top Network Marketing Coaches online, who combines a uniquely powerful style of grass roots online relationship building, social media, and Web 2.0 techniques while leveraging tools and systems to create a magical combination of rapid growth, duplication, and massive success online. If you want Brian’s formula for success, visit http://www.brianmagnosi.com/.
Direct Sales Riches!
A direct sales business can be a very profitable home business. With so many product and service categories to choose from, there is bound to be a direct sales company that is right for you to consider. The information provided in this article by these direct sales experts can help you start up and prosper in direct sales. Apply the strategies suggested by these experts to your own direct sales business. Also check out the table of 55+ Direct Sales Businesses and profile information in this issue that offer direct sales opportunities. Find a product or service that interests you, become an independent distributor of a direct sales company, start selling, and work towards achieving direct sales riches. Good luck. HBM
For additional information, visit www.homebusinessmag.com and www.articlesbase.com.
