Though direct deal or selling is by no means the get-rich-quick scheme it’s often touted as it does offer some distinct advantages to the aspiring entrepreneur. Chief among these benefits is the flexibility to set your own schedule and the infrastructure of a larger company manufacturing your products, boosting your brand, and hopefully providing you with sales and leadership training.

The central rule for weighing the legitimacy of a multilevel marketing or direct-selling opportunity is the promises the company makes. “Any company that tells you you’re going to make $1 million or that this is something that’s so simple, is a joke,” says Nick Beste, the founder of Man Cave. The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based direct-selling company focuses on grilling accessories and meat; a rare find in the industry that largely sells and caters to women.

• How to Choose The Right Direct Sales Opportunity
• How to Facilitate Deals And Succeed
• How do You Find New Clients For Direct Sales?
• How do You Get Leads For Direct Sales?
• How do You Identify New Sales Opportunities?
• What Companies Will Pay me to Sell Their Products?
• What Are Direct Selling Techniques?
• How do You Start Direct Selling?
• How to Promote Direct Sales Business
• Sales Opportunities Example
• How to Generate Sales Opportunities
• Types of Sales Opportunities
• How to do Direct Selling Business
• Direct Selling Skills
• How to Find Off-Market Properties
• How do You Find Prospective Clients?
• How do I Find my Customer?
• What is The No 1 Direct Sales Company?
• What is The Best Direct Sales Company to Join?
• How do You Attract Customers?
• How do You Target New Customers?
• How do I Find High Paying Clients?
• How do I Get a List of Potential Customers?
• How do You Find Market Opportunities?
• How do You Identify Growth Opportunities?
• 5 Ways to Identify Sales Opportunities And Close The Deal
• How to Assess a Direct Selling Opportunity
• 10 Most Profitable Business Opportunities
• Direct Deals And Cross Promotions For Mobile Apps And Games
• How do You Generate, Develop And Close Sales Opportunities?
• How to Identify Sales Opportunities
• 3 Ways to Consistently Source Deal Flow
• Sales Opportunity Management
• Small Business Opportunities From Home
• Sales Opportunity Quotes

How to Choose The Right Direct Sales Opportunity

There are five stages in all: research, qualification, strategizing, execution, and review. Here’s an overview of the stages.

Stage 1: Research

The first stage of a sales opportunity is one of the most intensive. While in the research phase, you want to learn as much about your leads as you can.

Read Also: Email Marketing – How to do it Right For Effective Sales Conversion

You’re not disqualifying anyone yet, just absorbing information like a sponge.

Stage 2: Lead Qualification

In the second phase, you’ll move on to qualifying your leads. You want to review your company’s sales criteria and use that as the basis on which you compare each lead.

If a lead doesn’t fit your criteria at this time, then set them aside until another sales opportunity arises.

The leads that do fit the criteria could become your SQLs. These are the people you want to focus your attention on.

Stage 3: Strategizing a Plan

How will you win the sales opportunity and close the deal? That’s what you have to figure out next.

By gleaning more information about the lead such as their pain points, you can begin to formulate a plan that might work to convert them.

Stage 4: Plan Execution

With the plan put in place, by stage 4, you’re ready to execute your plan.

Stage 5: Review

Even a well-detailed sales conversion plan doesn’t always succeed. Many unpredictable factors abound that can impede progress, some of which you can control and others you can’t.

For instance, if a lead has a budget issue and changes their mind about their purchase last minute, there’s nothing you can do but try again another time.

Whether you succeeded or you failed, the review phase is crucial in rounding out the sales opportunity process.

Analyze what you did right and wrong so you can plan even better for next time.

How to Facilitate Deals And Succeed

1. Listen and understand the other party’s issues and point of view. Some of the worst negotiators I have seen are the ones who do all the talking, seeming to want to control the conversation and expound endlessly on the merits of their position. 

The best negotiators tend to be the ones who truly listen to the other side, understand their key issues and hot buttons, and then formulate an appropriate response. Try to gain an understanding about what is important to the other side, what limitations they may have, and where they may have flexibility. Refrain from talking too much.

2. Be prepared. Being prepared entails a whole host of things you may need to do, such as:

• Review and understand thoroughly the business of the other party by reviewing their website, their press releases, articles written about their company, and so forth. A thorough Google and LinkedIn search is advisable here.
• Review the background of the person you are negotiating with by reviewing any bio on the company’s site, the person’s LinkedIn profile, and by doing a Web search
• Review what similar deals have been completed by the other side, and the terms thereof. For public companies, some of their prior agreements may be filed with the SEC.
• Understand the offerings and pricings from competitors of the party you are negotiating with.

3. Keep the negotiations professional and courteous. This is also known as the “don’t be an asshole rule.” Nobody really wants to do business with a difficult or abusive personality. After all, even after the negotiations are concluded, you may want to do business with this person again, or the transaction may require ongoing involvement with the representative of the other side. 

Establishing a good long-term relationship should be one of the goals in the negotiation. A collaborative, positive tone in negotiations is more likely to result in progress to a closing.

4. Understand the deal dynamics. Understanding the deal dynamics is crucial in any negotiation. So be prepared to determine the following:

• Who has the leverage in the negotiation? Who wants the deal more?
• What timing constraints is the other side under?
• What alternatives does the other side have?
• Is the other side going to be getting a significant payment from you? If so, the leverage will tend to be on your side.

5. Always draft the first version of the agreement. An absolutely fundamental principle of almost any negotiation is that you (or your lawyers) should prepare the first draft of the proposed contract. This lets you frame how the deal should be structured, implement key points that you want that haven’t been discussed, and gets momentum on your side. 

The other party will be reluctant to make extensive changes to your document (unless it is absurdly one sided), and therefore you will have already won part of the battle by starting off with your preferred terms. Having said that, you want to avoid starting the negotiations with an agreement that the other side will never agree to. Balance is key here.

6. Be prepared to “play poker” and be ready to walk away. You must be able to play poker with the other side, and be able to walk away if the terms of the deal aren’t up to your liking. This is easier said than done, but is sometimes critical to get to an end game. Know before you start what your target price or walkaway price is. Be prepared with market data to back up why your price is reasonable, and if you are confronted with an ultimatum that you absolutely can’t live with, be prepared to walk away.

7. Avoid the bad strategy of “negotiating by continually conceding.” Ten years ago, a company was desperate to sell itself. Here is how the event was narated. The CEO was convinced that a certain prospective buyer was the ideal acquirer and he wanted to do the deal with them. 

But the buyer kept coming up with new unreasonable demands, and the CEO kept giving into those demands in the hopes of getting to a closing. So what did the buyer do? It learned that it could just keep asking for more unreasonable things and that the CEO would always eventually cave.

Nine months and $1 million in legal fees later, the company still didn’t have a deal. I then took over the negotiations and told the buyer that we were no longer interested in the terms they had been proposing, and we were walking away unless the price and deal terms got much better for us. By that time, the buyer itself had expended a lot of legal fees and management time to get to a deal, and they panicked at the prospect of losing the deal. 

So they conceded to virtually every point I wanted, including an increased purchase price, and we closed the deal in 45 days. So the lesson was that continually conceding points (while not getting anything in return) can lead to the exact opposite of what you are hoping for. If you are conceding a point, make sure to try and get something in return.

8. Keep in mind that time is the enemy of many deals. You have to understand that the longer a deal takes to get completed, the more likely that something will occur to derail it. So be prompt at responding, get your lawyer to turn documents around quickly, and keep the deal momentum moving. 

However, that doesn’t mean you should rush through negotiations and make concessions that you don’t need to make. Understand when time is on your side and when time could be your real enemy.

9. Don’t fixate on the deal in front of you and ignore alternatives. In many situations you want to have competitive alternatives. This can enhance your negotiating position and allow you to make the best decision as to how to proceed. For example, if you are engaging in a process to sell your company, the best thing you can do is to have several potential bidders at the table.

You want to avoid being locked up into exclusive negotiations with one bidder until you have reached a meeting of the minds as to the best price and terms available. 

Similarly, if you are looking to buy a product, lease office space, or acquire a loan for your business, you will often be better off if you have alternatives—and the other party knows it has viable competitors. By negotiating simultaneously with two or more parties, you can often obtain better pricing or better contractual terms.

10. Don’t get hung up on one issue. You want to avoid getting stuck on a seemingly intractable issue. Sometimes it’s best to suggest that an issue be set aside for the moment and both parties move on to make progress on other issues. A creative solution may come to you later outside the heat of the negotiation.

11. Identify who the real decision-maker is. You want to understand what kind of authority the other person that you are negotiating with has. Is he or she the ultimate decision-maker? I recently went through a long and fruitless set of negotiations with a person who kept telling me that he didn’t have the authority to agree to a number of points we were negotiating.

He could tell me “no” to my requests but didn’t have the ability to tell me “yes.” My solution (because I had leverage) was that I ended the conversation and said that for us to make any progress, I needed to negotiate with the person who was authorized to make decisions and concessions.

12. Never accept the first offer. It’s often a mistake to accept the first offer from the other side. For example, if you are selling your home and you receive an offer, consider countering at a higher price or better terms (even if there are no other offers). If you don’t counter, the other party will be concerned that they offered too much and may end up with buyer’s remorse and attempt to get out of the deal.

And buyers expect that there will be a counter as they expect that their first offer will likely be rejected. Most buyers will leave room in their first offer to go up by at least 5%-15% in price, depending on the situation.

Counter-offers and some back-and-forth negotiation will most likely lead to the two parties being satisfied that they struck the best deal they could, and thus be more committed to closing the deal.

13. Ask the right questions. Don’t be afraid to ask the other party many questions. The answers can be informative for the negotiations. Depending on the type of deal, you could ask:

• Is this the best pricing or offer you can give me?
• What assurances do I get that your product or solution will actually work for me?
• Who are your competitors? How do their products compare?
• What else can you throw in to the deal without cost to us? (A particularly useful question to ask car dealers.)
• What is your desired timing for the deal?
• How does our deal benefit you?
• We want to avoid unreasonable forms of contracts or unreasonable lawyers on your end. How do we ensure that?

14. Prepare a Letter of Intent or Term Sheet to reflect your deal. It is often helpful, at the appropriate time, to prepare a Letter of Intent or Term Sheet to reflect your view of the key terms of a deal. This can help expedite getting to an agreement, save on legal costs, and continue the momentum for a deal. It is more informal than a definitive agreement and easier to reach an agreement on. 

For example, Letters of Intent are often prepared and agreed to in connection with mergers and acquisitions. And here are some good sample forms to review that can help you draft such a document:

• A letter of intent for a joint venture
• A term sheet for leasing office space
• A venture capital term sheet
• A term sheet for investment by a strategic investor
• A term sheet for selling the company, favorable to the seller
• An acquisition letter of intent, favorable to the buyer

15. Get the help of the best advisors and lawyers. If it’s a big or complicated deal, you want real expertise on your side helping you in the negotiations and drafting the contract. For example, if you are selling your company, it is usually worth the money to hire an investment banker who knows your industry and has relationships with prospective buyers. 

If you are doing a real estate deal, you want an experienced real estate attorney who has done many deals like the one you are working on (and not a general practitioner lawyer). If you are doing an M&A transaction, you want a lawyer that has done 50 or 100 M&A deals (and not a general business lawyer). These advisors don’t come cheap, but are worth it if you get the right one.

How do You Find New Clients For Direct Sales?

While generating business clients and customers takes time, you can speed up the process by learning how to prospect, and how to guide those would-be customers and clients toward a sale. And since many potential customers or clients won’t buy on their first contact with you, you also need to develop a plan for staying in touch until they are ready to buy.

STEP 1: Zero In On Your Target Market

It’s a no-brainer that you’ll save time and money by marketing to people who not only want what you’ve got, but also are willing and able to pay for it. And yet, too many new home business owners don’t take the time to identify their target market. Instead, they toss their marketing message out into the world willy nilly, where, more often than not, it misses the mark.

A more efficient and effective method of marketing is to first define the most likely buyer of your product or service. How old are they? What gender? What is their socio-economic background? Knowing who your market is, makes it easier to find them and deliver messages that entice them to check out your product or service.

Take the time to understand who your target market is so you don’t waste your time or money finding and selling to the wrong customers and clients.

STEP 2: Build a Potential Customer and Client List

You can’t plan a party without a guest list and, likewise, you can’t start or run a business without making a list of potential customers or clients. Listing people you know is a good place to start as you can make a quick sale and get referrals. But there are other sources from which to start your potential customer list. Here are just a few:

• Personal Contacts: Your friends and family are the most likely to purchase something from you, even if they’re not your target market. Or, maybe they don’t need your product or service, but know someone who does or would be willing to tell others about it. 
• Existing customers: If you’ve already made a few sales, call upon your existing customers to see if they need more of your product or service. Selling to an existing happy customer is easier than generating a new one.
• Ask Referrals: Call your friends, family, and prior customers to see if they know anyone who needs your product or service. Sweeten the deal by offering a referral incentive.
• Internet Research: This is ideal for business-to-business (B2B) businesses. If you know the ideal customer or client, you can go online and search for them, and then reach out to them directly. While you can do this online for all businesses, it works particularly well for doing local searches of businesses you want to work with. Social media is another great way to connect with potential businesses you’d like to work with, especially LinkedIn.
• Trades Shows or Craft Fairs: Events are a great way to network with other businesses that may fit your market (in B2B) or generate new customers and prospects through an exhibit if you sell to the end consumer (B2C). Even if you don’t make a sale, events can allow you to build your contact list. 
• Speaking: The easiest way to show off your expertise is speaking, either at a conference, or buy setting up your own workshops. If you’re nervous about speaking, consider joining a panel at an event.
• Community Networking Events: If your business focuses on B2B sales, consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce.where you can network with other local businesses, attend workshops, and more. Another option is to join groups involving your target market. For example, if your market is moms with kids, join a mommy-and-me group. Again, this is another thing that can be done online through social media, such as Linkedin.
• Social Media: Many service-based businesses find social media one of the best places to connect and build a relationship with potential clients and customers. Do you have social media followers on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin? While you don’t want to annoy them with constant sales messages, you can interact and converse with them, increasing their awareness of you as well as building a relationship. 
• Purchase a Lead List: While this can be expensive and often achieves low results, if you’re in a bind, you can purchase mailing or contact lists of prospects that fit your target market (demographics, location etc). Do a Google search for “mailing lists” and you will find dozens of companies. In most cases, businesses use this list for direct mail marketing, but you can also call or email if those form of contact information is provided.

STEP 3: Make Contact

Once you have a list of potential clients, it’s time to reach out. Here are some ideas.

Over The Phone: Cold calling scares many people, but if you lead by asking what they need and then present your product or service as a solution, you’ll have better results. Use an easy flowing, conversational script to introduce your product or purpose for calling.

Remember, telling isn’t selling. If you are doing all the talking, the likelihood of convincing someone they need your product or service isn’t going to be high. Asking questions and presenting your product or services benefits turns the focus of the call onto them instead of you.

Close with a call-to-action, such as asking them to commit to a trial period or giving you an email or physical address,so you can send additional information. Finally, if an individual says they are not interested, ask them if they know of someone who might be and get a referral.

Email: While email isn’t as effective as a direct conversation, it’s less scary and often a great way to introduce yourself. The trick is to not simply send a “buy” email, but instead, offer something of value. Give a brief explanation of who you are, then provide a coupon or a free article on a relevant topic. Review the anti-spam laws, which require you to include an unsubscribe option to every contact. Here are some additional resources on email marketing.

In-Person: There are many ways to meet potential clients and customers in person. For B2B, you can walk into their business. Or you can call and make an appointment to meet for B2B or B2C. In many cases, you can meet prospects while you’re out and about at the grocery store or on an airplane, or wherever you may be.

It’s important to remember a few key points to effective in-person selling. Don’t tell them everything all at once. Instead, find out their wants and needs and tailor your presentation to show how your produce or service is the solution to their problem. Always have sales material on hand to help you in this process (such as samples or catalogs). Make sure and end with a call to action and a promise to follow-up.

Traditional Mail: Like email, direct mail doesn’t have as high of an effective rate, but it’s a great way to increase awareness of your business. Create the piece you plan to send, whether that is a postcard, brochure, letter etc. Once you have the finished piece in hand, you can either address and stamp them yourself, or hire a fulfillment house to do it for you.

If you are mailing many pieces, there are both time and cost benefits to using a fulfillment house to address, stuff, and stamp. A fulfillment house is able to get a bulk stamp rate, which can save up to 40% off the postage price. However, a hand placed stamp may be less likely to look like junk mail.

STEP 4: Follow-Up and then Follow-Up Again

The fortune is in the follow-up. You’re going to hear “no” a lot. For some people, that “no” is firm. But for others, the “no” is only “no” for now. Many business owners hear “no” and give up. But 80% of sales are not made on the first, second, or even a third contact! It can take five or more contacts to achieve a sale.

Finding customers and clients requires a thick skin and a strong belief in what you’re selling. Just because someone tells you “no” today doesn’t mean it will be a “no” tomorrow. The trick is to have a non-annoying system of follow-ups such as an email list, or agreement to call again in six months. 

Keep track of your communication with various leads and prospects by using some sort of free CRM database. Create calendar reminders to follow-up in the future with those who said no.

The system for getting clients and customer is straight forward. You need a way to entice them to learn about you through your marketing efforts, then you need to build a relationship with them that will hopefully lead to a sale.

During the process, you’ll want to get their contact information either through an email follow up system or keeping your own contact management list. Finally, you want a system for staying in touch for as long as they’re open to hearing from you. 

How do You Get Leads For Direct Sales?

The best leads will always be the ones you generate yourself—people who have shown some sort of interest in what you have to offer.

Create a website. Be sure to check the policies of the company you’re working with to see what they allow regarding websites. Many MLM companies offer you your own website or a page on their website, and others allow you to make your own. If you can, you should create your own website, because you should try to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

If you’re not allowed to make a website directly about your business, then make one covering a topic related to your business. For example, if you sell health and wellness products, then start a health and wellness website or blog. You can hire someone to design and build a site for you, or you can use a platform like Squarespace, Wix, Wordpress, or HubSpot to build your own.

Build an email list. There is a system for working with leads. The first step is getting them to be aware of and take an interest in what you have—by visiting your website, for example. The next best step is to ask your leads to sign up for your email list. You can get them to sign up by offering something for free, such as a report or something useful, from your website. 

For instance, if you’re selling wellness products, then you might offer a guide to good-for-you ingredients or recipes. This will allow you to communicate with your prospects and provide valuable information related to your business and the general field that it’s in, such as special sales, events, news, and research—and stay top-of-mind to your past, current, and possible future customers. Just be sure that you’re following the laws and regulations regarding email marketing.

Write articles or blogs. Writing is an effective way to get in front of your market through other people’s websites, and your only cost is that of your time in writing. The key to writing an article or blog that another site will run is to make it useful and informative, but not advertorial.

As a network marketer, you have two types of articles and markets: The first is related to your product or service. If you sell candles, for example, then write a Valentine’s Day post on creating romance with candles or something about how candles can improve mood. The second option is related to direct sales and the MLM business.

For example, you can write articles about how your MLM career changed your life or how to be successful in direct sales for lifestyle and business websites. Just know that most places won’t want you to directly promote your business within the article, but they may allow you to include a link to your website in your bio.

Use social media. Posts asking people to join your team won’t likely produce results, but if you’re clever, you can use social media to generate interest in your business and possible leads. For example, if you sell weight-loss products, you can promote before and after pictures on Pinterest or Instagram. If you sell makeup, you can post tutorials on YouTube that you share across social sites. 

Develop a referral program. Just like in other businesses, people who are referred by others are easier to convert to a sale than people who weren’t, because they’re usually coming to you with some interest in buying. Many people you talk to won’t be interested in buying right away, but they might know people who are.

Happy customers may want to share your product or business. You can develop a referral program to give people incentive to refer others to you. For example, you can give them a 10 percent discount on their next purchase for every new customer they refer. 

How do You Identify New Sales Opportunities?

We’ll point out the top three elements to identifying sales opportunities.

PROVIDE AND EDUCATE YOUR REPS ON IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILES

Creating a profile of the ideal customer, one who will recommend you to others, is key to helping sales reps be able to identify which opportunities are more likely to convert. That’s because you know their pain points and key considerations for the product or service you offer. Here are some questions to help you develop your profiles:

• Who are you targeting? (Industry, job titles, location, etc). Having some demographics will help you segment your prospects.
• What are their pain points? What keeps them up at night? Make sure you are prepared to address these needs with strong benefit statements.
• How do they find their information? (Internet, emails, social media, trade shows, etc.?) You’ll increase your likelihood of engaging them if you are everywhere they are and make contact via their preferred method.
• What kind of information do they find helpful? (eBooks, infographics, blog posts, newsletters, videos, etc.?)
• What concerns or objections do they have before making a purchase? If you can solve their business problems, your prospect’s objections may not be based on rational thought. Instead of having FOMO (fear of missing out), they may have a fear of making the wrong decision. Be prepared with case studies or anecdotes of successful customers who had similar hesitation.

Using Salesvue analytics, you can make it easier while more precisely identifying key characteristics of your best customers. Compare performance for cadences, lead sources, industry targets, job role targets, or any other Salesforce data you have using the Math of Sales™, and use this information to build data-driven profiles.

MAKE A HABIT OF ASKING FOR REFERRALS

You have an existing customer base and some loyalists, so get them to work for you! Ask your loyal customers for referrals. Ask your clients to recommend your business to other businesses or customers who may need your product/service. When a recommendation comes from a trusted source, a prospect is more likely to buy. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Don’t ask for referrals until the customer has received value from your products and services. Make sure the existing client is fully satisfied with your services and has established a relationship of trust.
• Make it easy to refer your company. Whether you develop an official referral program or simply ask your loyalists to complete a survey or Google review that you can use in your marketing materials, it should be easy and not extremely time consuming for the customer to complete.
• Once they do recommend you and bring in extra business, be sure to offer them rewards. Offer something of value to those customers so that they will not only sing your praises, but continue referring people.

DETERMINE AND STANDARDIZE BEST PRACTICES

Another great way to unlock sales opportunities and increase sales is to identify the steps and best practices that generate sales. For example,

• Does the contact prefer email?
• Do phone conversations work better ?
• Does the contact download eBooks?
• Do certain days of the week garner better responses from clients over other days?

The Sales Pipeline Report below harnesses the power of Salesforce and Salesvue data together, to help you identify where prospects may be dropping out of the sales pipeline. With this knowledge, you can more easily figure out what characteristics may be lacking in the prospects you are reaching or the sellers that are communicating with them.

Then, using Salesvue, you can scale the best practices you’ve identified with configurable workflows throughout the entire sales cycle based on the needs of your prospects and customers.

Turning your lower-performing reps into higher-performing reps is a matter of showing them how to identify sales opportunities and providing them with tools.

What Companies Will Pay me to Sell Their Products?

Direct sales companies offer a line of products which you can sell. The only way a customer can purchase the products is through someone who sells them.

The benefit of selling direct sales is that you can work under the companies business license. You also have exclusive products which can only be found through distributors.

The downside is that direct sales and other multi-level marketing companies have a bad rap. Often, people see direct sales companies as pyramid schemes. You may also have a hard time selling to people who have experience pushy salespeople.

There are some people who have done well in direct sales. One couple managed to build a $40,000 per month direct sales business. Unfortunately, the company was fined by the Federal Trade Commission for being a pyramid scheme and the couple lost their income, overnight.

Therefore, you should proceed with caution in direct sales.

What direct sales company is the most profitable?

Any direct sales company which you are interested in will be the most profitable. Selling becomes easy when you have a passion for the companies products. It’s easy to lose interest and not earn money when you don’t care about the products.

However, you can measure a companies profitability by their revenue. So, what are the top direct sales companies?

1. Amway
2. Herbalife
3. Avon Products
4. Vorwerk
5. Infinitus
6. Natura Cosmeticos
7. Mary Kay
8. Coway
9. Meleluca
10. Nu Skin

The number one direct sales company is Amway. Amway has numerous household products. Therefore, if someone likes one of their products then they are likely to buy others.

You should also focus on consumable products. When someone finishes their shampoo they need to buy more. Therefore, you will earn more money by focusing on products with repeat customers.

How do you succeed in direct sales?

Succeeding in direct sales is all about one thing, helping others. People fail in direct sales when they try to be salesy. Instead, focus on helping people over selling products.

Imagine, you are trying to sell weight-loss products.

Too often, distributors try and fire-hose potential customers with information. A lot of people in direct sales might stop people on the street to pitch their product. No one cares and they just want you to leave them alone.

Try to build relationships with people!

Instead, you could offer an exercise class for weight loss. Offer the first class for free with the option to buy additional classes. After class, offer your services as a weight loss coach and accountability partner.

Again, the first consultation is free. Extra meetings could cost money or they could get a discount for buying your weight loss products.

The important thing to remember is to not shove your product in someone’s face. Treat customers like people, give them something of value, and then mention the product.

What Are Direct Selling Techniques?

Since direct selling involves immediate contact between the salesperson and the customer, it requires certain tricks. The trick here is to convince the customer to buy the product. The following are a few tricks to achieve the same:

FAB (Features, Advantages, Benefits) Technique

Most of the website landing pages and marketing and promotional collateral use this technique!

Tell your customers frequently about the key features of the products and services and its advantages and benefits. Tell your customers about the value that the product will add to their lifestyle. In a nutshell, make everything about the product crystal-clear in a way that you boost their interest in the product.

But, You Are Free Technique

Continually pushing your customers to close the deal can be risky. As a result, the customer may feel you are pushing them to make a purchase and may turn negative about the product. To alleviate the pressure, let them know that they are free to make the decision – whether or not to buy the product. This technique works well for info-products and services.

SPIN Selling Technique

For whom does a consumer buy the product? Himself!

Get benefit from this with the help of SPIN selling technique. Allow your customer to talk more. Ask them questions related to their situations or problems (S or P), the impact of the problem in their life (I), and need for a solution for the same (N). Once you and the consumer move from all these stages, you can present your product as a solution to their problem.

Foot-in-the Door Technique

This technique is perfect to increase sales: make small requests initially followed by bigger ones. This technique works like – offer at low prices at first and then start charging an extra amount. For example, you are a tutor and provide tuition to school or college students. You may begin with cheaper tuition fees in the first couple of months and then negotiate with the students to increase the fees.

Favour Upfront Technique

This is a human tendency to give something in return of the favours they receive. You can leverage this trait – give your consumers something in advance, like a discount or a free trial period. This goodwill gesture will influence the customers to come back to you and make a purchase from you.

How do You Start Direct Selling?

The benefits of a direct sales company compared to a retail location is lower overhead. Direct sales companies use the enthusiasm of independent owners to grow sales and revenues. One of the most notable direct sales companies of all time is the Mary Kay cosmetics line, which was one of the first ventures to make it possible for housewives and mothers to build careers on their own terms.

Social media has increased the popularity and success of direct sales companies. Starting your own direct sales company might mean buying into an existing program or starting a whole new entity for others to buy into.

Choose Your Direct Sales Product

Many companies are already well-established as direct sale successes selling cosmetics and skin care products, personal safety items and clothing. You can find a list of most direct sales companies at the Direct Selling Association website. Choosing an established brand means limited financial investment and a proven system for success.

Building a new brand requires product development, manufacturing and distribution investments. Substantially more investment is required, and it usually takes about three years for a new brand to build and start seeing profits. Spend time developing your unique selling proposition, especially if you plan on entering an already saturated market such as skin care or cosmetics.

Establish a Business Entity

Whether you decide to work with an established brand or start your own, you need to establish a business entity with the state. In direct sales, each sales representative is technically an independent business owner.

A mom who works part-time with an established brand might just need to register a “doing business as” or DBA with the county clerk; her liability is limited compared to a new brand with product liability. In that case, a corporation established through the secretary of state’s office is a wiser entity choice.

Speak with a tax adviser to ensure you choose the correct entity for your business needs. Obtain a tax identification number from the IRS website and a seller’s permit from the state tax board.

Write Your Story and Solve a Need

Mary Kay’s story was simple: Give women the opportunity to run successful businesses without leaving their families for a nine to five job. She empowered women to take control of their finances and be proud of their ability to provide for their families. Your product and the reason behind it should have its own story that solves a need.

With the right reasons to join the direct sales model, sales associates become inspired to share the story and build the brand every day.

Create Systems and Advertising

Don’t leave it up to your sales teams to figure out how to sell your products. Create a social media program that is a plug-and-play plan for your representatives. If parties are part of the sales platform, create a system that can easily be replicated like Tupperware did. This could be a “girlfriends wine and trunk party” for a new clothing line.

Provide the scripts for email and social media invitations, confirmation and follow-up. Not only do systems make it easier for people who aren’t traditional sales representatives to be successful, they create continuity in the brand.

If you are investing in an established brand, don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Use the promotional tools the company has already proven to work. Set your social media posts, network with your acquaintances, and offer to help anyone interested in learning the program. Recruiting is as important as selling.

Reward and Enjoy

The most successful direct sales companies make it a culture to be part of the brand. This is accomplished not just through sales excitement. Conferences, reward trips and tiered gifts create a culture of people who want to be on the podium among their peers. Recognition is a huge driving force and for a new national brand, this is an investment in your people.

If you are selling an existing brand, know what the rewards are and what is required to get them. Be realistic about your goals. Part-timers might need to build their business until they can convert to full-time status and focus on the high-level prizes.

How to Promote Direct Sales Business

Having a friendly and professional attitude is a great start to being a direct sales superstar, but savvy business owners also use effective strategies to get their physical goods into the hands of customers.

At the heart of direct sales is the power of storytelling, leading with value and building relationships. If you can demonstrate that you’re passionate about your products or services, then it will resonate, and in turn, have a positive effect on your bottom line.

Here are five direct selling strategies so you can achieve long-term success.

1. Give it away for free

Startups and small businesses rarely have the funds to finance large marketing initiatives. And without brand recognition, convincing customers to pay for products they haven’t even heard of can be tough. Free samples are an effective direct selling strategy because they allow customers to try your product or service before they buy it.

You can use free samples to:

• Introduce your product to new audiences who are unfamiliar with your brand.
• Create loyalty with existing customers, and develop relationships.
• Expand prospective customers’ knowledge about the products you provide.
• Establish repeat customers to generate more sales of new products.

Free samples can have a strong effect on your business and revenue. It develops trust and connection between your business and consumers. Not only do you have the opportunity to turn these shoppers into long-term clients, but you can also benefit from word-of-mouth referrals if the trial period is a success.

Additionally, offering free samples enables you to collect feedback and identify possible issues in product development.

2. Use email marketing

While the days of door-to-door sales aren’t entirely behind us, today’s businesses are increasingly using the internet for their direct-sales needs. Although email marketing offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and affordability, you should be aware of the best practices when employing this marketing method.

If you contact customers and potential customers through email, be sure to avoid automated marketing programs. This can come off as insincere and look like you’re only interested in selling a specific product line, rather than creating a connection or solving a problem for the consumer.

We live in an era of constant emails and direct messages, so it’s important to keep your email pitches short and to the point. Include your offer in the subject line. Limit your first message to a few sentences where you can encourage the recipient to contact you by phone or respond directly to your email.

Your goal is to begin the process of building trust rather than try to sell someone on your first interaction.

3. Get social with social media

Social media initially began as a great way to stay in touch with old friends, but in recent years, social media has become an effective marketing and sales tool for businesses looking to engage in direct sales.

When starting a direct sales business, people usually turn to their close networks, like friends and family, to get off the ground. It can be a great way to begin your business, but it’s not sustainable.

With social media, you can expand to a greater market. Social media can help you create business pages, post high-quality photos and updates, collect feedback from customers, and more importantly, build a community.

Community helps you build trust and authority. Your goal is to have consumers engage with your business because it’s a sign of a credible business operation. It works because we tend to trust businesses who have a strong connection with their customers.

Additionally, social media enables businesses to keep in close contact with members of their sales teams. As a direct selling business, you can use social media to send your employees a quick reminder about an upcoming product promotion, which can help you increase sales. Better yet, social media can be leveraged to communicate directly with consumers about new offers.

If you want to be successful with social media, it’s important to choose the right platform. For example, Pinterest is a great platform for a product-based business to showcase goods in an artistic manner. Instagram, with one billion monthly active users, is also a major platform to showcase your products and build a connection with consumers.

Both service and product-based businesses can use Twitter to post spur-of-the-moment updates and advertisements that are likely to be read — and acted upon — quickly, while Facebook can help you build a central community.

4. Cut costs with cross-promotion

With your own business, marketing costs can feel overwhelming. Rather than spending heavily on advertising, you can create strategic partnerships to help you cut down on your marketing budget. With the right cross-promotional marketing, you can attract more customers with less effort.

Examples of cross-promotional strategies include bundled offerings, joint media appearances, events, podcasts, interviews, blog swaps, and partnerships with influencers in your space.

Cross-promotion can pay off exponentially because with strategic partnerships, you can successfully expand through each other’s customer bases. Traditional methods of marketing such as networking, advertising, and even public relations are automatically taken care of with cross-promotional marketing. It ends up working for you.

Cross-promotion is also a great way to cut marketing costs because you can split the costs between partners. As part of your overall direct sales strategy, don’t just build relationships with customers. Strive to build relationships with other sellers in the community too.

5. Offer extras

To succeed in direct sales, businesses need to find ways to attract and retain customers.

One of the most effective ways of building a loyal customer base is offering extra incentives. Extras can include discounts like buy one get one free or half-off offers, or value-added services like providing free gift wrapping.

Also consider sponsorships like sponsoring a local youth sports team, or charitable contributions like volunteering at events that relate to your business. These activities can raise your business’s profile.

Sales Opportunities Example

“Find your trigger. Find the qualities that make a lead more likely to convert, and focus on those leads.” – Brian Kardon, CMO at Lattice Engines, a B2B cloud applications company.

In time, you will notice similar characteristics that are shared by leads who convert to sales opportunities. Take note of the top three: need, interest and fit. These characteristics help you come up with an accurate profile of your ideal customer. You can then focus your efforts on nurturing leads that more or less fit into this mold.

Need: This pertains to the common pain points shared by your ideal customers. Your qualified sales opportunities experience a similar problem. The primary motivation to buy is to fix this problem and lessen the pain. Your sales rep’s job is to help identify the pain and frame your product as the best-fit salve.

Interest: Having a need for your product – or a pain point that has to be resolved – is just the start. Need does not always translate to interest. For instance, a start-up might need a CRM software. But, if they’re set on using MS Excel for their client management needs, a CRM system is going to be difficult to sell.

Fit: Here, you need to consider your product and how it fits into your lead’s current business and its capacity. Because, as much as you are able to lessen pain points, a SMB is not a good fit if your product is enterprise-scale. A business with a few hundred bucks to spare will not be able to buy your million-dollar solution.

How to Generate Sales Opportunities

Here are some tips for creating a system that will help you identify sales leads in your small business, and — with the right focus and effort — turn them into customers.

1. Identify Your Target Audience

The first step of lead generation is identifying your target audience. You can’t successfully reach and sell to your ideal customer if you don’t know exactly who that is. So it’s important to research your audience and come up with a clear picture of who they are, where they live, what they like to do, how much money they make, what their lifestyle and personality are like, etc.

If you don’t already have one, you should also create a comprehensive marketing plan as part of this step.

2. Pick Your Promotional Methods Wisely

In order to generate leads, you need a promotional plan that will get your products and services in front of members of your target audience. There are a number of ways you can promote your business, and again, you will want to use your marketing plan to identify the most effective methods for your business.

Some marketing ideas include an informational website, a blog, social media, speaking engagements, industry events, current customer referrals, pay per click (PPC) advertising, and traditional advertising.

3. Create a Sales Funnel

Once you know who you are targeting and have determined how best to reach them, you need to have a plan for collecting contact information. The first part of the process involves funneling all prospects to a standard form or landing page that encourages them to share their contact information, generally in return for a free gift, a coupon, a sample or some other value-added incentive.

At this point, it is vital to have a customer relationship management (CRM) database that will help you keep track of potential customers through the process.

4. Use an Email Newsletter to Build Relationships

Now that you’re in contact with prospects, it’s time to cultivate those relationships so you can take them from the lead stage through a sale (and eventually a repeat sale!). One of the best ways to create consistent communication with your prospects is through an email newsletter.

While you are planning your email marketing plan, make sure you are aware of and follow regulations that are a part of the CAN-SPAM Act.

5. Leverage Social Media to Connect and Engage

Social media provides a number of opportunities for small businesses to create conversations with prospective customers and generate new leads. You can create a Facebook page, Twitter profile, LinkedIn company page, Pinterest account or a YouTube channel to attract and engage your audience, then funnel them through your process to become leads.

Plus, once you have leads in the system, you can use social media to talk to them and find out more about what they need and want. The more positive touchpoints a customer has with your business over time, the more likely he or she will be to trust your brand and eventually purchase from you.

Lead generation should be thought of as a long-term and continuous process. If you get an efficient system in place using the sales lead tips above, you can streamline the lead generation process and increase your opportunities for business growth.

Types of Sales Opportunities

Many people supplement their incomes working part-time selling goods through home parties or other forms of multi-level (MLM) or network marketing. Insurance is another form of sales that may be very lucrative for the individual willing to work extremely hard to build his or her book of business and to develop client relationships.

People with an interest in retail sales can begin working with little-to-no training and work their way up the corporate ladder. In addition, working as a real estate agent or broker is a way to sell properties to people or companies seeking to buy, and e-commerce has recently begun to be another sales opportunity often allowing people to work from home.

MLM sales opportunities are typically home businesses in which one sells a particular product for a company and earns a commission, or part, of the sales price. Some of the best-known opportunities can be found in companies selling make-up and skincare, home organization, stamping and scrapbooking, and purses.

People can begin a home-based MLM business for much less money than they can start other businesses, and commission may range from 20%-50% of the total retail sales. Multi-level marketing takes hard work and commitment, but no particular education is necessary to be successful.

Insurance agents sell life, property, health, and casualty insurance policies to individuals, families, and businesses. Some insurance agents work strictly on commission, but others earn a base salary plus commission.

To qualify as an insurance salesperson, one must be licensed in the area(s) or region(s) in which he or she plans to sell. The requirements for licensing depend upon local or regional regulations. Some companies hire people with no experience for these sales opportunities, though, generally, at least a high school education is required.

Other sales opportunities may be found in retail shops, such as a market, clothing store, fast food restaurants, or car dealerships. Workers in retail sales may earn very low hourly wages and some are paid commission only.

Teenagers may often work in retail sales as a first job because training is often provided on the job. The hours may be flexible, depending on the company. Retail sales opportunities may be used as an entry-point into the sales field, with many of the positions having excellent advancement opportunities.

Another sales opportunity is as a real estate agent, who sells commercial properties, homes, and land to clients. A real estate license for the state or region in which one sells is necessary to work as a real estate agent.

Agents may make a percentage of the sales price of the property they sell, often around 6%. Real estate agents work flexible hours, including many evenings and weekends. Depending on the economy and/or season, the amount of money earned by a real estate agent may vary widely.

E-commerce is a branch of sales that takes place completely online. One attractive feature of opening an online business is that it may be started for virtually no money.

Free storefronts that take a percentage of the sales price, auctions, and other formats make setting up a store fairly straightforward. Merchandise does not necessarily need to be purchased upfront if one uses a supplier that will dropship, or mail the order directly to the customer.

How to do Direct Selling Business

Direct selling eliminates several intermediaries involved in product distribution, such as the regional distribution center and wholesaler. Instead, products go from the manufacturer to the direct sales company, then to the distributor or rep, and finally to the consumer.

The products sold through direct sales are usually not found in typical retail locations, which means finding a distributor or rep is the only method to buy the products or services.

Direct selling is usually associated with party-plan and network marketing companies. Although these companies use direct sales, they aren’t the only ones; many businesses that sell business-2-business (B2B) use direct selling to target and sell to their end customers. For instance, many companies that sell advertising or office supplies will send their reps directly into the stores that can use their services.

There are a variety of ways business owners can utilize direct selling, including:

• Single-level direct sales
• Host or party-plan sales
• Multi-level marketing

Single-level direct sales are typically performed one-on-one through door-to-door or in-person presentations, online meetings, or catalogs. Generally, income is earned on sales commissions, with possible bonuses for reaching target goals. Host or party-plan sales are made in a group setting, usually involving the distributor or rep doing a presentation in their home or a potential customer’s home.

In some cases, a company might sell to individuals in a business. For example, a real estate software sales rep might do a group sales presentation to a group of Realtors. Income can come from commissions from sales, and sometimes through the recruitment of other reps.

Sales in multi-level marketing (MLM) are made in various ways, including those associated with single-level and party-plan sales. Income earned through MLM is commission on sales, as well as the sales made by other business partners the distributor recruits into the company.

Direct sales may be mistakenly referred to as MLM or network marketing, but these terms are not interchangeable. While MLM and network marketing are a form of direct sales, not all direct sales systems involve MLM.

For instance, in single-level marketing, the sales representative is only paid commission on the sales they personally make; there is no recruitment of other sales team members or commissions earned from their sales.

Direct Selling Skills

Succeeding in direct sales calls for a certain combination of personality traits and skills. Despite their apparent differences, the same personality traits and skills come in handy with all three of the business models:

• Resilience and persistence
• Strong work ethic and discipline
• Ability to accept rejection and work outside your comfort zone
• Enthusiasm

Beyond those generally applicable traits, you’ll find that possessing or cultivating many other skills and talents will be of immense help to you in direct sales.

Belief in the product

It is imperative that you authentically and completely believe in the product you represent. Without that, your skills will fail to convince others, and the experience will be so lacking in satisfaction that it will all feel like hard work.

Vision and goals

You need a clear and specific vision of what you want to achieve with your business. And you need to define, in writing, your income goals, production goals, progress up the company ranks, and what having this business will do for your life and how it will feel. You’ll hear people refer to this as your why. Having this strong why will help you overcome the challenges you will inevitably encounter.

Superior communication skills

If you’re naturally a great communicator, you’re in luck. But even if you’re not, if you’re determined, it is possible to significantly improve your communication skills and reap the benefits in your life and in your business.

This includes becoming a better listener who asks questions to gain clearer understanding; a better connector, because people do business with those they know, like, and trust; and presenter, because being able to demonstrate your products or explain your opportunity with confidence is essential.

Patience

Rome wasn’t built in a day and regardless of the model you choose, gaining mastery and building your business so that it provides a steady, reliable income take time. In Network Marketing, people often give up too soon, because their small initial checks make them feel unsuccessful.

In Party Plan and Hybrid, a lack of patience often leads to frustration because achieving a rhythm of parties booked and getting better at consistently running them will take time, as well. People do get better at the activities of their businesses, but there is no substitute for practice — and practice takes time.

Patience is also helpful in your interactions with customers and prospects. Statistically speaking, it takes seven exposures before someone makes a buying decision. Learning to feel calm during this process can be a great help.

Interpersonal

Direct selling simply will not work if you do not have adequate interpersonal communication skills. Before you can consistently get customers to buy your products, they must trust you and connect with you as a salesperson.

This is especially true if the products you sell through direct selling are higher priced and you must convince the prospect of their value. Direct sellers need to have a friendly demeanor and build trust quickly to get invited into a home or business.

Presentation

Many direct selling jobs involve presentation skills. Sometimes, you have to stand in front of a group of prospects and present the merits of your company and its products or services. Tupperware is commonly sold through in-home parties with presentations of the products made to people invited to the gathering.

Product demonstrations are also common. Door-to-door vacuum sellers often spend a couple hours in a prospect’s home demonstrating the product and explaining its benefits at the same time.

Product Knowledge

Product knowledge is critical in direct selling. Since you often sell one specific product or a line of related products, you need to come across as the expert in your product category. This establishes your credibility as the salesperson and helps maintain the credible reputation of the brand you sell. Top direct sellers spend hours, days or weeks learning their products before making the first call or knocking on the first door.

Closing

Closing a sale is important in any selling format, but it is necessary in direct selling. Some companies heavily emphasize assertive closing techniques. The close is the point at which all key concerns of the prospect are addressed and you need to persuade him to finalize the purchase.

Confidence, persuasiveness and a certain amount of courage are keys to effectively closing deals. Some direct selling companies maintain strict quotas or conversation ratios to hold sellers accountable for closing deals.

How to Find Off-Market Properties

For those new to real estate investing, an off-market deal is simply a property that isn’t listed on the local multiple listing service (MLS).

Many real estate investors like off-market deals for several reasons. 

Firstly, and possibly most obviously, there is often less competition. If a property is listed on the MLS, then sites like Zillow.com and Realtor.com have it listed as well, since they get their info from the MLS. Once it’s on these highly-trafficked sites, it gets a high degree of visibility from agents as well as from potential buyers. 

In no particular order, let’s jump into all the various ways there are to find and source off-market deals. 

1. Real Estate Agents

Realtors often have both buyers and sellers list. Some of these sellers may be prompted into selling if shown that market conditions are favorable. Additionally, hungry agents may actually cold-call owners in the area and turn them into sellers.

Furthermore, many agents have pocket listings. A pocket listing is a listing for which an agent has exclusive rights to sell and which is not listed on the MLS. Many agents may keep the listing in their proverbial “pocket” to keep word from getting out, which can often have a benefit to the seller.

Using an agent to find off-market listings can prove difficult, but usually only at first. This is because as you initially start working with an agent, they likely have a built-out buyers list that they market their off-market deals to. Once you’re able to establish yourself as a serious buyer and investor, agents will take you more seriously and actually want to bring you deals because they know you can close.

2. Roofstock

We’d be remiss to not mention our own marketplace that contains hundreds of exclusive investment property listings at any given time.

Properties with the “Roofstock Exclusive” tag are only available to Roofstock users so anyone combing their local MLS will not find them.

Each property is certified against rigorous criteria, and comes with inspection reports, neighborhood ratings, and financial pro-formas to help you evaluate the property.

The online bidding process allows for a very fast turnaround on offers submitted since you don’t have to submit an offer through middlemen. This speed allows these off-market properties to be put under contract very quickly after hitting the marketplace.

Conversely, when a property is traditionally listed on the MLS, sellers may hold out until a certain date to review all offers, which allows for numerous offers to be received. With numerous offers obviously comes more competition, which can often drive up the purchase price.

3. Direct Mail Marketing

Direct mail marketing, just as the name implies, is sending targeted mail directly to an owner in hopes of being able to purchase their rental property. 

Using direct mail marketing can be a great way to uncover off-market deals. This is because up until the owner received the mail from you, they may have never previously considered selling. That means you may be the only person entertaining the deal. 

4. Contractors

Contractors can be a great way to find off-market deals because they’re usually working with property owners. A great contractor is not only good at the physical building aspect of the role, but also possess some soft skills, such as listening and data gathering.

If an owner is prepping their property to be sold by fixing it up, they may share that with the contractor. If you happen to know the contractor, they may choose to share that piece of information with you, allowing you the opportunity to get in touch with that seller prior to the property being listed.

Additionally, an owner may volunteer and ask the contractor is they have any other clients they work for who would be interested in buying their property. Having a great working relationship with contractors can often prove to be more beneficial than it may seem on the surface.

5. Networking with Fellow Investors

Knowing other investors immediately gives you access to literally thousands of properties. If you know or meet someone who has a property that you would like to buy, who’s to say you shouldn’t make them an offer right then and there to buy it; it’s real-life Monopoly! 

Of course there is absolutely a time and a place where doing that would be appropriate, but if a deal makes sense, who cares where it comes from? 

Networking with other investors will likely give you insight into a few things:

1. Their inventory
2. Their strategy
3. Whether or not they’re looking to sell

Knowing these can put you in a prime position to pick up off-market listings. 

If someone within my network came to me with an offer to buy one of my properties, I would probably take it in a heartbeat if the price was right. Even if the price was a bit under what I could get on the open market, I may still take the offer for a few reasons:

1. I already know this person is interested
2. I already have a relationship with this person so negotiations may be smoother.
3. I may not have to utilize a real estate agent for the deal so I may be able to save thousands of dollars on commissions.
4. I like helping those around me, so if I can get someone a great deal, it’s a win-win.

6. Driving for Dollars

This is a method in which you literally drive, or have someone else drive, in an area and look for deals. If you come across a property that looks appealing, you get in touch with the owners and make them an offer or at least get the conversation started. 

Something to keep an eye out for is distressed properties which could be a sign of out-of-area owners who are behind on their maintenance. Maybe they can’t afford the upkeep on the property and you reaching out to them is the save they need to offload it easily.

7. Wholesalers

Wholesalers are people who find deals, get them under contract, and then flip the right to purchase the property in contract to another buyer for a  “finder’s fee.” Wholesalers are putting properties under contract all over the place.

If you have a working relationship with a wholesaler, they may be able to put you on the contract for an off-market home. Even if it wasn’t originally off-market, it’s technically off the market now since they have it under contract. 

When buying from a wholesaler, there is often rehab that is needed so just make sure you run your own numbers to verify that the deal still works for you. Some wholesalers will try to underestimate the needed repairs to make the deal look more attractive.   

8. Real Estate Auctions

These can be a great place to pick up off-market deals for pennies on the dollar. Auctions are where properties are sold, usually for back taxes owed. 

Depending on the jurisdiction in which the auction is taking place, you may be able to purchase a property for just the delinquent taxes owed. That’s a topic for another article, but just know that if a property is at the auction, it’s definitely not being listed on the MLS. 

Like deals from wholesalers, these properties will often require a lot of rehab.

9. County/Public Records

It’s typically public record to determine who or what entity owns a piece of property. If there is a piece of property that you’re interested in, check the public record in that county to see if you can determine what their mailing address is or another way to get in contact with them.

Knowing who owns a property is only half the battle. Once that’s accomplished, they may need to be convinced that selling their property to you is a good idea. Again, the details of that strategy are beyond the scope of this article.

10. Online Resources/Sites

There are online sites and resources, like Craiglist, that may have properties not listed on the MLS. 

Additionally, there are other sites like Zillow.com that allow a property to be listed a little prior to being listing on the MLS. If you set up alerts and filters online, you may be able to get notified when a deal that fits your criteria is posted online. 

However, it’s important to note that anyone can list properties for sale in these places, so be sure to do your homework about any listing you consider. 

How do You Find Prospective Clients?

Here are 5 ways to find your potential customers.

1. Use Google Alerts, Mention or Talkwalker Alerts

Are you leveraging the wealth of information available online to gather more information about customers, prospective buyers and purchasing patterns? If not, you should. I used to just say go to www.google.com/alerts to create an alert for each company or behavior and select the frequency for notifications you want to receive, but as Google alerts became unreliable over the past few years,  I now recommend using either Mention and/or Talkwalker Alerts as well. Both of these Google alert alternatives do a much better job of monitoring social media networks and obscure blogs.

Whichever alert service(s) you’re using, preview results to be sure your search parameters are set correctly. If your prospect is a publicly-traded company or a small business active in their local community, you will quickly learn about their new initiatives, interests and activities. If you are trying to monitor the behavior of B2B tech buyers or consumers who are in the sandwich generation, for example, a Google Alert will let you know whenever new research is published.

For the marketer, it’s a perfect opportunity to monitor key trends, customers and specific prospects. (Make sure to send a note of congratulations, if for example, you see an existing customer or prospect wins an award.)

2. Interview current customers

This may seem obvious, but when was the last time you talked to your customers at any length? They are a perfect resource because they’ve purchased your product or service and are relatively accessible to you. Interviewing customers will not only give you insight into their decision-making process, but it will also be a great opportunity to gather content for a case study.

Offering to prepare and promote a joint case study can be a win-win for both you and your customer. In addition to talking to customers one-on-one, you can also consider surveying prospects or conducting focus groups. (The subject of a future blog post for sure.) Your goal is to identify common interests, information sources and challenges.

Be careful though. Remember that especially for professional services firms and nonprofits, each client or customer may be unique. It can be tempting to project the opinions and behaviors of a favorite nonprofit client onto every other nonprofit — and go very astray.

3. Study your web analytics

There’s a ton of data accessible to you through your web analytics, but are you using it to learn more about your buyers and others with shared values and interests? Ask yourself questions such as:

• What are the patterns of visitor behavior?
• Where do they come from?
• What keywords did they use to find you?
• Where do they go while on the site?
• How long do they stay?
• What content formats are most popular?
• Do these patterns tell you anything about where your customers are in their buying process, or what content is most effective at the different stages of their buying process?

Use this information to improve your website and landing pages to attract others interested in the same services, products or change issues.

4. Use your competitors and industry

Not only do your customers have access to more information than ever before, but so do you! One way to get great insights into your buyers is to study the websites and research or case studies that your competitors have published. Remember that ‘your competitors’ are a broad group that includes inaction, DIY software, or other financial professionals.

By definition, your competitors are trying to reach the same audience of prospects. Reviewing their case studies might help you better understand your prospect, as well as why they may have chosen your competitor over you in the past.

 In addition to following the competition, follow industry analyst blogs and reports.

5. Leverage professional social networks

Use the major professional networks (like LinkedIn and Quora), and try to find other, industry-specific networks where your prospects might be.

Offline (or IRL) consider collaborating with other professionals to sponsor a series of local ‘Tuesday Morning Coffee Clubs’ or other informal opportunities to talk with groups of potential clients and referral sources.

Both online and offline networks will help you better understand the daily challenges or successes your prospects have and in many cases, give you the opportunity to ask questions of that community and get real, thoughtful responses.

These networks are also a great way to enhance the data you already have about people, and see how they are connected to other people within their own organizations or whom you know.

How do I Find my Customer?

When a business is small, finding ways to bring in business usually falls on the business owner’s shoulders. But business owners often don’t have much experience in marketing or selling. If you’re a startup or an existing business that’s looking for more ways to grow your customer base, these strategies will help.

1. Develop a plan for customer acquisition 

The secret to creating a successful acquisition plan is to know who would make the ideal customer. If you sell to businesses, consider what department is most likely to buy your products or services, and what individual (what level of responsibility) would be the one to determine the specific purchase requirements. (Make some calls if you don’t know!)

Determine how long the buying cycle is. Is buying your product a decision that can be made quickly by a single person? Or are you selling something that has a long buying cycle, possibly involving multiple individuals?

Next, think about how the typical buyer normally finds products or services like yours. What circles do they travel in? Are they active in social media? Who are they likely to listen to or where do they look when they want to buy your type of product or service.

What could you do to get referrals and recommendations from those sources? Write all this information down and look for patterns. Then, to get more customers, plan ways to put yourself and your information where the people in your target market can find it when they are ready to buy.

2. Look for and follow business prospects on social media.

Don’t try to sell to them on their social media feeds. Instead, try to develop relationships with potential customers. Retweet or comment on their posts. Mention them if appropriate in your own social media posts (ie, “@JoeSmith gave a terrific presentation on retail security at today’s Chamber meeting”) Your goal: to get known and seen as a friend. Selling is a lot easier when you sell to people who feel like they know you.

3. Work your local newspapers.

Even in the digital age,daily and weekly newspapers are still an incredible source of contact information and lead to potential new customers. Watch for names of people who have been promoted, who have won awards, who have opened new businesses, or who in any way may be potential customers.

Send those people personalized mailings congratulating them on their success or telling them how interesting the article about them was. Include your company name and slogan plus any appropriate product information with your signature. (Example: Jane Smith, ABC Associates, Financial and Retirement Planning Help For Business Owners)

4. Be sure your website and social media pages make it easy for visitors to know how to reach you.

Better yet,  give them a reason to give you their contact information.  An offer of a free newsletter, a free guide to something related to your industry, or a coupon can all be good devices to use for lead capture. Then follow up regularly on those leads.

5. Go door-to-door if you sell to homeowners. 

Sure, a lot of people won’t answer their doorbell or will tell you they’re not interested, but especially if you’re already doing work for one or more homeowners in a neighborhood, canvassing the homes nearby may land you some new business without spending another penny on advertising. 

6. Use coupons and special offers to attract customers. 

Everybody loves a bargain. Offer a discount to new customers on their first purchase. If you sell products or services that need to be purchased repeatedly, consider making that first discount contingent on the customer signing a contract for a year of service.

7. Sponsor Events. 

Events that may bring your potential market together. Look for fliers about the event at local networking group meetings. Or, call and ask the organizers if there are sponsorship opportunities available. Local events can be quite inexpensive to sponsor. Or if the sponsorship cost is high, they may have a “Friends” of the event option that will give you the right to have fliers at the event for a very small fee.   

8. Attend meetings and seminars that your prospects might attend. 

If you’ve been doing that and haven’t made contacts that could lead to sales, try new networking groups. Look in the newspapers to see what other organizations hold events that might attract your target market and attend some of those meetings. 

9. Follow up after meetings. 

Contact the people you’ve met to see if they may be prospects. If they say they don’t need your services now, ask when a good time to call them back would be, or if they have business associates who could use what you sell now.

10. Give a little to get a lot. 

To acquire new customers, you need to build trust. And one of the best ways to do that is to give away free samples of your product and ask the recipients to tell their friends if they are pleased. Or, if you are a consultant, give away some free advice.

This could be in the form of a newsletter that contains news or tips and hints, or it could be a free consultation during which you provide just enough information to help the client scope out their project and know that you have the ability to handle it.

What is The No 1 Direct Sales Company?

This list is in $USA and in real-time, meaning if we validate/add/adjust the revenue for a company this list will be updated and the ranking will change instantly.

The below figures are “What we know now”, and based on 2020 revenue, this list will be updated regularly.

We receive these revenue numbers from CEOs and CFO’s or through other reliable sources such as Top Leaders or (former) employees.

For a number of private companies, we have estimated the revenue based on the number of employees (1 employee = approx. $1 million in sales), public information, and we estimate on the low side.

#	Company	Revenue 2020	Revenue 2019	Change	Country
1	Amway	8,500	8,400	1%	US
2	Natura Cosmeticos	7,160	3,660	96%	BR
3	Herbalife	5,540	4,877	14%	US
4	Vorwerk	4,400	4,230	4%	DE
5	Infinitus	3,950	4,000	-1%	CN
6	Avon Products	3,500	4,763	-27%	US
7	Coway	2,800	2,590	8%	KR
8	Melaleuca	2,700	2,500	8%	US
9	Mary Kay	2,700	2,900	-7%	US
10	Nu Skin	2,581	2,420	7%	US

What is The Best Direct Sales Company to Join?

There are numerous opportunities available, as different direct sales companies have their unique products & niche. All you have to do is to sell these products to customers online. It is a cool way to earn while working from home.

Companies like Avon, Mary Kay, and The Pampered Chef regularly recruit aged workers and retirees who want to make extra cash selling their products. However, legitimate companies give room for you to return products that you are unable to sell provided they are still in good condition.

1. Avon

Avon was founded in 1886. It began as a door-to-door sales company that was known only for makeup services. It has however grown ever since and stretched its tentacles into several other skin care products, jewelry, and much more.

With Avon, there’s always something to offer your customers as they produce new catalogs regularly. This direct sales company is one of the most affordable to begin. It is a person-to-person plan with a startup cost of $10. They focus more on women. 

2. Mary Kay

Mary Kay has been around for quite a long time. They began in 1963, and have been one of the most regarded names in direct sales. The company kicked off with a focus on empowering stay-at-home women who would like to make extra cash from home. They manufacture products to care for the skin and improve beauty. Their products have withstood the test of time. 

Mary Kay provides consultants with mobile business tools and a store website as a person-to-person and party plan. Their 50% commission rate is one of the best. Their products range from women’s skincare to men’s skincare, makeup and shaving products. The starter kit is $100. And you do not have to keep an inventory. 

3. BeneYou

BeneYou initially started with selling nail products like Jamberry nail wraps and others, but it soon expanded to add beauty products into its line of products. This move was to appeal to more customers and consultants. The company which was founded in 2010 pays up to 40% in commission. BeneYou has two start-up offers which are $99 and $200. 

4. Acti-labs 

Acti-labs is one of the newer direct sales companies. It was founded in 2011, in France. And was moved to the United States in 2016. They focus on skincare and beauty products for women in their 20s and 40s. Their line of products also include weight loss products and supplements. Starter kit is $27.

5. Maskcara 

Maskcara was founded in 2017. They keep a philosophy that shouldn’t be used to cover up a woman’s physical beauty, but to enhance it. Their products hence have the design of simplifying beauty routines. And they are targeted at women who desire to just simplify their beauty so that they’ll spend more time living life to its fullest rather than put in so much time doing makeup.

Starter kit begins with $199. And their pro kit goes for $399. They also have a monthly fee of $9.95 per month to sustain back office and replicate site fees. As a distributor, you’ll be able to make between 20% and 40% on commissions for products you sell.

6. Saponify Naturals 

Saponify Naturals offers their unique products to get users started on organic regimen and healthier life, unlike most products around that are chemical-based. Their products are also very much affordable compared to others. Products range from sugar scrubs to soaps, moisturizers, lotions, lip balms, salves, and several more. Starter kit costs $99 or $150. Products are available in Canada and the United States. 

7. WineShop

Wine lovers would love the WineShop products. They offer gourmet foods items and wine. You can start a business with the WineShop using their person-to-person and party model plan. Age requirement to start a business with them begins at 21.

8. The Cocoa Exchange

The Cocoa Exchange offers different brands of chocolate. They offer Pure Dark, Dove, and Pod & Bean. Also, they sell sauces, teas, rubs, mixes (martini, brownie), and much more. They use party plans. 

9. Clever Container

Clever Container is one of the newer direct sales companies around, founded in 2007. It is for people who love organizing, and they currently boast of over 200 products and startup options which range from  $49 to $99. They employ the party plan model.

10. Scentsy

Scentsy sells warmers, wax tarts, and today has expanded into candles with different scented products. These scented products are such as household cleaners, body, and bath. And they use party plan.

11. The Pampered Chef 

The Pampered Chef offers a line of food products, kitchen items, and cookbooks that are targeted at making food preparation at homes every in the world. They are a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway with over 60,000 in their direct sales force globally.

12. Shaklee

Shaklee provides products that meet health needs. They offer supplements, protein powders and other health products. Shaklee uses a person-to-person model plan. 

13. BeachBody

People who know Shaun T and P90X most likely know about BeachBody products. Whether you are considering exercises, nutritional supplements, weight loss, or muscle building, BeachBody has satisfactory contents, programs, and products to help you. Its model plan is person-to-person.

14. Paparazzi 

Paparazzi trades jewelry. They are however distinct in that their products are $5 each, and are regularly changing. They have a line for kids at $1 each. The company focuses on women who are fashion-conscious and are in their 20s and 40s. Paparazzi’s starter kits range from $99 to $499. And they offer up to 45% commission in sales.

15. Stella & Dot 

Stella & Dot focuses more on jewelry. They are popular for their high-quality products and hig commission rates on sales. You can become a Stella & Dot stylist and trade and quality products. You’ll have the privilege to earn up to 40% from selling their products. The Starting kit is $99.

You’ll receive annual access to online and community learning, 20-40% of their commissions, 50% discounts on their products within the first 30 days, and 25% discounts annually. You’ll also enjoy a free.

How do You Attract Customers?

Here are 5 tried-and-true tips to help you attract more customers.

1. Offer new customers discounts and promotions

Consumers today are still looking for value and deals. Lure them into your business by offering introductory discounts, or have specials such as buy 2-get-1-for half-price or free gift wrapping for the first three purchases.

Bargains like these can attract new customers who have been considering doing business with you but needed an incentive to actually change their shopping habits. Then track what they buy and which offers they redeemed so you can better target them with future marketing messages that will cement their loyalty.

2. Ask for referrals

Once you gain a customer’s loyalty, put that to work for you by asking them for referrals. Current customers are one of the best sources of new customers. But you can’t be passive and wait for your them to bring colleagues, friends, and family to your business. Instead, take control and create a systemized approach to actively solicit referrals from your satisfied customers.

Build referral-generating activities into the sales process. Send follow-up emails to make sure customers are happy with their purchases, and then follow that up with another email asking for referrals. Consider offering incentives if the sale price warrants it.

3. Recontact old customers

Go back to your lapsed customers contact list and market to former customers who haven’t done business with you for a while. Create a regular schedule to do this (say quarterly) and select customers you haven’t seen in six months. Reach out to them via email, direct mail, text, or phone with a “We miss you” message, offering some type of deal or promotion if they’ll come back.

4. Network

There’s no better way to raise brand awareness than meeting new people, telling them who you are and what you do. Join your trade association, your local chamber of commerce, and networking organizations. Attend Meetup events. If you own a local business, even going to PTA meetings can be a good networking opportunity. Approach networking with a “How can I help you?” attitude, rather than thinking, “What’s in it for me?”

5. Update your website

Online search is the primary way both consumers and B2B buyers find new businesses. That means your website has to do the heavy lifting so customers can find you. Review your search engine marketing and search engine optimization tactics and techniques, including making sure your site is mobile-friendly.

Even your site design makes a difference. Too many graphics can slow your site’s load speed, which is a customer turnoff. If you don’t have the in-house expertise, hire a website design company and/or SEO expert to help.

How do You Target New Customers?

As a business owner, you’re no doubt keenly aware that your client base is the lifeblood of your company. A steady stream of new customers allows you to grow your business and fulfill your company vision.

It turns out that a seven-step approach works best for attracting new clients.

1. Identify Your Ideal Client

It’s easier to look for customers if you know the type of consumers you seek. Without a composite of your ideal customer, you probably wouldn’t know where to start looking.

“Have a crystal clear picture in your head of exactly who you’re targeting,” says former OPEN Forum community member Nicole Beckett, president of Premier Content Source. “Think about what makes those types of people happy, sad, scared, relieved, and then think about how you can make their lives a little easier.”

Narrow down the focus of your ideal client and avoid making broad target market statements, such as every woman, every man or all baby boomers. Few products appeal to that vast of a group of people, and overstating your market will prevent you from developing viable targeted strategies for attracting clients.

2. Discover Where Your Customer Lives

With your targeted customers in mind, “identify those places where they are likely to be found (media, online, offline, mail, etc.), and then create messages for them,” says Jeff Motter, CEO and chief marketing officer of East Bay Marketing Group.

Where you look for customers will depend on the nature of your business. Some good online locations include forums and social media pages, including your own and those of similar or complementary businesses. Offline, you can meet plenty of potential customers at conferences and conventions in your industry.

3. Know Your Business Inside and Out

Thoroughly understanding your industry and having a firm knowledge of your product or service is critical to being able to attract interested clients. When you know your product backward and forward, that fact comes through. The people who would be interested in your offerings can see how knowledgeable you are and will seek your assistance.

4. Position Yourself as the Answer

Give potential clients you come into contact with a good reason to try your services, which is your first step to making them loyal customers, suggests Jason Reis owner and lead programmer for Flehx Corp.

“Provide value and establish yourself as having an in-depth understanding of the problems they are looking to solve,” he says. “This takes the form of creating content via webinars, blog posts, guest blogging, and getting out there and physically networking with people. From all this you will start to attract a following, and as long as you have a structured sales funnel setup, you will be able to convert the followers/fans into paying customers.”

5. Try Direct Response Marketing

Your best bet for reaching out and touching customers is to use tactics to encourage them to complete a specific action, such as opt into your email list or request more information.

Create messages directed at your target market, suggests Motter. “Learn to create ads that attract your ideal clients by giving them something of value for free to get them started in your funnel. Learn all you can about direct response marketing practices, because they will teach you to focus on results that matter.

Create compelling messages that tell your ideal audience why they’d have to be a fool not to work with you. Show them you understand their pain, and can make it go away faster and cheaper than they could without you.”

6. Build Partnerships

Teaming up with businesses that offer complementary services offers you the opportunity to take advantage of synergy, which can be very effective in building a business. For instance, if you have a company that specializes in SEO, consider teaming up with a business that builds websites.

When all is said and done, nurturing relationships, either with other business owners or customers, helps you create a client base, Beckett suggests. “Focus on building human relationships. The stronger your relationships are, the more likely your customers will be to tell their friends about you. And, the more likely they’ll be to come back.”

7. Follow Up

After your efforts to bring in business, always remember to close the loop, suggests Josh Sprague, CEO of Orange Mud. “Remember to set follow up tasks (follow up to sample sent, etc.), and execute your plan. So many leads and great conversations are wasted because you forget to follow up.” Doing this simple step is sure to get your client base to grow.

How do I Find High Paying Clients?

The key is to know what you have to offer in terms of solutions, articulate that clearly to the right prospect. and bingo- – you’re on your way to up-leveling your client base. Ask for referrals, testimonials and endorsements from already super satisfied clientele and your job of landing the big guns gets easier and easier.

Here are additional ways to fine tune the fine art of attracting and retaining high paying clients.

1. Understand who your ideal client is.

Like in love — we all have our preferred “types.” The key is to be sure you are clear on the kind of companies you like working with and what their pain points are that you (or your company) offer solutions for…before you “pitch” to them.

2. Know whom you are dealing with.

CEOs have a vested and concerned interest in the bottom-line, their shareholders and consumer satisfaction. Be clear on how you can help them and start out at the top. This is an often overlooked and critical step. If you are not at the same executive level, is it likely the CEO of a large corporation will answer you directly? Maybe not, but that would be missing the point.

The CEO will certainly have an assistant, and odds are good they will delegate your inquiry to the correct department and contact person within the organization. When assigned a project or lead from the CEO’s office, a key level person is much more likely to follow up promptly and respond to you.

This has resulted in many new deals for my coaching clients, which may never have taken place without the original direction from the CEO.

3. Ask for endorsements from other same-level clients.

We all like to do business with people we know, like and trust. So do high-level (C-level) executives. Write a letter on behalf of an existing client who can vouch for you, ask their permission to sign off on it and use it as a recommendation or endorsement of your work.

4. Do your homework.

You can’t afford to be sloppy when it comes to knowing about the CEO and the company you are wanting to attract as a client. Set up Google Alerts to receive information on both in real time. Reference what they’re already doing and how it might be expanded on to reach their objectives

5. Write a letter campaign.

Write a series of three letters that are sent out a couple of weeks apart so you can be in the groove and not let being unprepared slow down the process. If they respond to your first attempt – lucky you. If not, send the second letter.

6. Demonstrate results.

Nothing speaks like bottom-line results to these folks. Find out what matters most to them (i.e. client retention, attracting new markets, increasing the buy per customer, etc.) and detail what your company has done for others with the same objectives. Results talk.

7. Hang where they hang.

Where do your ideal customers like to be (i.e. trade shows, conferences, speaking events), what do they like to read (i.e. trade journals, national business newspapers or magazines, etc.) and see and be seen where they are.

8. Display your expertise.

People will pay more for an expert or specialist. If you have a brain tumor, you want to see the best neurosurgeon around and would be willing to pay for it — or encourage your medical insurance company to do so. Write for industry (your prospects and clients) trade journals, speak at conferences they attend, and leverage publicity you receive by sending it to your target client list.

Furthermore, when you reference existing clients or their events, they may be more inclined to share your piece with their own customer base as well, doubling your publicity reach and maximizing your clout as an expert in the industry.

9. Present yourself professionally in-person and online.

You never have a second chance to make a first impression. Ever. A mentor of mine once told me my printed materials (I know, I’m dating myself here), needed to exceed whomever I was attempting to attract as a client. Priceless. The same is true for your web and social media posts.

10. Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.

Woody Allen said the key to success is in showing up, however, I beg to differ. The key to success is to persevere and in doing so – lots of follow-up steps need to be taken before you win the prize. Then more follow-up (i.e. attention) is needed to retain the client. That’s much easier than trying to start from ground zero to get a new one. Don’t ignore what you’ve already attained – schedule in time to focus on maintaining your existing clientele.

How do I Get a List of Potential Customers?

For many small businesses, the most difficult thing about starting and growing a business is finding clients or getting customers. Customer acquisition is particularly challenging if your marketing budget is limited.

Your time is precious. You should be running your own business instead of confusing and navigating the online marketing world. That’s why we put together these simple ways to show you how to find and get potential customers online, without paying for ads.

1. Create a Buyer Persona to Help You Get to Know Your Audience

A more efficient method of marketing is to first define the most likely buyer of your product or service. Ask yourself, how old are they? What is their gender? What is their socio-economic background? What is their lifestyle? Are they active in social media? Who are they likely to consult to or where do they look when they want to buy the type of product or service you sell?

Furthermore, you need to identify if you sell to businesses or individuals. If you target businesses, consider what department or person is most likely to check out your products or services, what the level of its responsibility and if he/she would be the one to decide the specific purchase requirements.

Also, determine how long the buying cycle would take. Is the purchasing decision can be made quickly by a single person? Or are you selling something that has a long buying cycle, and involving multiple individuals?

Identifying who your market is and who your targeted customers are, makes it easier to find them and deliver messages that entice them to check out your product or service. Not to rush, take your time to understand your target market so you don’t waste your time finding and selling to the wrong customers.

2. Build a Killer Potential Customer or Client List

You can’t plan your wedding or birthday party without a guest list and, likewise, you can’t run a business or start any marketing effort without making a list of your potential customers or clients.

Building your potential customer and client list is critical when first starting your practice. It’s an investment in the viability of your business, and it’s usually worth every single minute of effort that’s required.

There are two important types of lists you can use to build your customers list:

1. An in-house list consists of people who have purchased from you in case you’ve already made a few sales and are likely to do so in the future.
2. A compiled list can be bought or rented from any of the hundreds of professional mailing list companies or brokers or from publications to which consumers and business people subscribe to.

There are many sources from which you can start building your potential customer list. Some of them are personal contacts, existing customers, asking referrals from friends or family members, internet research, social media, trades shows or craft fairs, and joining community networking events.

3. Start Making Contact

Once you have a list of potential customers, it’s time to reach them out. Today, there are numerous ways than ever to connect with customers. There’s email, social media, phone calls, in-person meetings, trade shows, focus groups, seminars, and conferences. The list goes on. But which ways are the most effective? That’s what you need to determine based on your consumers’ persona and your budget.

4. Make It Easy for Your Customers to Know How to Reach You

Making it easy for customers to contact your business is essential when it comes to acquiring new leads. Be sure your website and social media visitors can navigate it easily and know how to reach you. Display contact info prominently. For example, display your contact number on every page of your site in a prominent position such as the header area.

Better yet, give them a reason to give you their contact information. An offer of a free guide to something related to your industry, a free newsletter, or a coupon can all be good methods to use for lead capture. Then follow up regularly on those leads.

5. No Retreat, No Surrender: Follow-Up, Follow-Up and then Follow-Up Again

Finding and acquiring customers require a thick skin and a solid belief in what you’re selling. For many people, that “no” is firm. But for others, the “no” is only “no” for now. So many business owners hear “no” and give up. But the vast majority of sales are not made on the first, second, or even a third contact! Maybe it can take five or more contacts to accomplish a sale.

The trick, in this case, is to have a non-annoying system of follow-ups such as an email list, or agreement to call again in six months. You can also use some sort of free CRM database to create calendar reminders to follow-up again with those who said no in the future.

6. Analyze Your Successful Competitors

You need to learn more about what your competition is doing and try to apply it to your own business. The first step is to make a list of all your competitors and try to learn more about them by speaking with their former employees. But before that, write out a list of questions you’d like to ask them (e.g. “What marketing channel are the most effective in acquiring most of your customers ?” and “What tactics do they use most?”.

If you didn’t manage to do this don’t be panic. Use tools such as WhatRunsWhere, SEMrush, SimilarWeb, and Google Analytics to analyze your competitors. WhatRunsWhere will help you find out which of your competitor’s display ads are performing the best, SEMrush Software will show you which keywords your competitors are ranking for, what kinds of ads are working for them, what their landing pages look like and where their backlinks are coming from, and SimilarWeb analysis tool will show you where your competitor’s traffic is coming from.

Once you get insights, you can follow in the footsteps of competitors because what works for them may work just as well for you.

7. Create Magnets Made up With Your Name and Contacts Info

In this phase, you need to put your business name, phone number and website address on anything that you can. You should make customers find you when they are looking for what your business sells. Be active on social media, join communities provides the same product or service of you, post your own content on blogs related to your industry, etc. Remember, the more people who have your name and contact, the more customers you can acquire.

It worth to be mentioned that, Google My Business is key. While you’re at it, be sure to list yourself in any directories you qualify for so you can list contact information and website URL.

8. Give a Little to Get a Lot & Exploits the Magic of Free

No one hates bargains. One of the best ways to acquire new customers is to offer free. Let’s say you’re promoting online courses. Start to offer some free sessions for a period. This could result in a ton of subscribers. You can also offer a discount to new customers on their first purchase. Provide free samples of your product and ask the recipients to recommend it to their friends if they are pleased.

In case you are a consultant, give away some free advice. It could be a free consultation during which you provide just enough information to assist the client scope out their project and know that you have the ability to handle it.

How do You Find Market Opportunities?

Unlocking new opportunities and evolving your offering plays an unarguable and fundamental role in keeping competitive, but, there are only so many openings you can explore and not all of them will be worth pursuing.

So, to help you get under the skin of what does and doesn’t warrant your time we’ve come up with eight strategies to uncover opportunities – that have legs.

1. Speak to prospects you’ve lost

…or potential prospects full stop. Ask what deterred them from taking out your product or service and if a trend emerges see if it’s a gap worth exploring.

But, and this is a big but, remember to do your research first. Just because you know there’s demand for something (whether it’s a little or a lot) it doesn’t mean it’s feasible or profitable in the long-run.

2. Talk to current customers

There’s no such thing as perfect and just because current customers chose you once before it doesn’t mean you can’t be better. So, send out some surveys, grab the phone or arrange a few focus groups to pick their brains.

Think about asking questions like:

• Is there anything you think our product or service is missing?
• Could any of our current features be enhanced?
• Are there any complementary services you’d like to see from us?
• What do you think our competitors do better than us?
• What caused you to buy our product or service?
• Where did you hear about us?

The latter two questions in particular can help effectively steer how you market and position yourself.

3. Competitor analysis

It’s good practice to regularly keep abreast of your competitors so hopefully you’ve already got a list ready and rearing to go – if you don’t, know’s the time to make one.

When you’re looking through their websites and collateral keep the following questions in mind:

• Which competitors are noticeably growing? And why might this be?
• What do they offer that you don’t?
• What’s their value proposition?
• Who are they targeting? And how?
• Which suppliers and partners are they working with?

While you’re at it, list their strengths and weaknesses to see if any differentiation opportunities arise.

And remember, this shouldn’t be a one-off exercise. You might check-in to competitor X’s site today and see nothing, but they could make a significant change tomorrow. Make a point of auditing your direct competitors around once a month – at least.

4. Understand the market

Getting under the skin of your customers, prospects and competitors is great, but the insights they derive are only a snapshot of the whole market and you need to get a sense of the bigger picture… so do just that.

Commission some market research to learn things like:

• How big the market actually is,
• Whether it’s growing or shrinking,
• How many people in the market buy,
• What’s stopping people from buying,
• How tight the competition is,
• If new competitors are around the corner, and
• Whether alternative solutions are likely to enter the market.

5. Explore indirect opportunities

Sometimes, there’s only so much you can grow within your current model so consider casting your net a little wider by expanding your offering; while remaining relevant, of course.

For example, if you’re an online photo printing service you could also sell picture frames, canvases, keyrings and cushions. Or, if you’re a chiropractor clinic you could add physio, massage and personal training services to your repertoire.  

All the options are still relevant to your core product or service but they open the door to a whole load more customers and occasions too.

Before you add an adjacent product or service suite just remember to:

• Measure the demand,
• Calculate the profitability, and
• Understand the framework.

6. Look at environmental factors

By this, we mean business environment factors and, generally speaking, they can be split into six categories:

1. Technological developments
2. Scientific advancements
3. Government regulations
4. Trade policies
5. Social and cultural norms
6. Economic shifts

So, how do these unlock opportunities? Using technological developments as an example, the rise of smartphones in recent years gave way to companies like Airbnb and Uber taking their markets by storm. Had they not proactively identified and filled that gap they wouldn’t be where they are today; someone else would’ve beaten them to it.

The moral? Look often and seize early.

7. Analyse foreign markets

This one can go one of two ways (or both):

1. If you’re currently domestic-only it might open up overseas opportunities.

Suffice to say, there are lots of considerations to mull over before taking the plunge, like:

• What’s the size of the market in said country(s)?
• How mature is their market?
• How much competition is there?
• How will it work logistically?
• Will there be any additional costs?

2. Businesses operating in the same industry but a different country might have strategies and ideas you didn’t consider but could employ.

Remember though, different cultures have different tastes, habits and norms, so just because something works in, say, France, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will for you.

8. Investigate other industries

If you want to pioneer the way things work in your industry you need to do something no-one else is doing, and to do that you need inspiration from outside your industry’s box.

So, see how other companies are leading the way in their sector and decide what, if anything, you can replicate within your own to create something new or better.

For example, let’s say you’re a personal trainer and everyone else in your field takes bookings by texting their client or scribbling something down in their diary at the gym.

You see how easy your dentist makes it to book appointments online so you add an online booking system to your site.

Then, to take it one step further, you take a leaf out of Easy Group’s rate management model and start selling last-minute sessions at 30% off the usual price because you realise a discounted session is better than no session (unless you were planning on using that time wisely by marketing yourself, maybe).

How do You Identify Growth Opportunities?

To stand out from the competition, your company needs to develop skills to identify market opportunities that will help your business to grow. While there are numerous opportunities out there, not all are worth investing in. To avoid overwhelming your team with the wrong type of marketing venture, it’s essential to take some time to assess your strategy and establish a framework for evaluating marketing opportunities.

Before developing this framework, you must first understand your company’s vision and determine your team’s capability to take on new ventures and expand its operations. Once you’re aware of your organization’s strengths and limitations, you’re ready to search for the best marketing opportunities for you.

The aim is to identify those opportunities that show promise and will positively impact your business’s growth, but how do you go about this? Let’s break it down into six simple steps.

1. Conduct thorough market research

While not a groundbreaking idea, conducting market research is the simplest and most effective way to learn about your market and give direction to your advertising strategy. The process of market research is similar to that of any research project and involves five principal steps:

• Defining the opportunity(s)
• Developing a possible marketing research plan
• Data collection (qualitative and quantitative data)
• Analysis of accrued data and reporting
• Piloting the opportunity with the intent to scaling up

2. Check out international markets

Business growth may also mean that you explore international markets. From business maturity to home-market saturation, there are a myriad of reasons why your company may be considering expanding into foreign markets. The advantages of going global include:

• New investment opportunities
• More revenue
• New talent acquisition
• Product diversification

Before deciding which countries you’d like to branch out into, you need to research their economy and your legal responsibilities.

When you take your business overseas, you may need to hire more staff. Getting the right kind of talent is a concern for any entrepreneur, but there are resources out there that can help. The countries you expand to, such as Singapore, will most likely have an employer of record, such as NH Global Partners, to assist you in managing your liabilities and other employment duties.

You may also need to contract a professional translation service provider to ensure smooth communications between your new business partners and customer base.

3. Study your consumers

You should study your current customers to find out what other services or products they may benefit from. This knowledge may inform which products or services you offer in the future. You may wish to expand to other services that your customers currently need or those that they will need in the future so that you can keep your customers, even as their lives change.

For instance, if your company manufactures and distributes baby food, you ought to find out what other products you can introduce that parents and carers of these infants will be interested in as their kids get older, such as snacks for children’s lunchboxes.

You should strive to collect information such as client characteristics ranging from age, education status, and income to attitude and lifestyle. These variables influence customers’ purchasing decisions, preferences, and power.

4. Check out your competitors

Being up to speed on what your competitors are doing is just as essential as understanding your customers. You can learn a great deal from evaluating the successes and failures of other businesses on the market.

This is particularly useful if your company plans to diversity or launch a new product or service. Are there other company’s out there offering a similar service? What is successful about it, and what could be improved? Take this knowledge and use it to ensure your business has a leg up.

5. Leverage social evolutions

Although your customers may be very loyal to your brand, they won’t think twice about moving to one of your competitors as their needs change. It’s vital, therefore, to stay on top of how the consumers shift their purchasing patterns. This information will provide you with the strategies to evolve to meet your customer’s needs.

You should be informed about general changes in society, new trends, and how they could impact your customers’ needs. A great example of this is our new awareness of and concern about the environment. These days consumers want to know what businesses are doing to reduce their carbon footprint and are more likely to give their money to companies that take measures such as using recycled packaging. Keep up with these changes, and your business will grow.

6. Use social media

We cannot overstate the value of social media for business marketing. Not only should you be using various social media platforms to advertise your products and services and target your ideal customer, but you can also mine it for invaluable information about said customer.

By following social media trends and discussions, you can see what the public really thinks about your services, as well as those of your competitors. You can also engage directly with your customers by running fun surveys and polls about new or existing products and get unedited opinions straight from the horse’s mouth.

This kind of input can help you refine your ideas. In a nutshell, this strategy is one of the best ways to identify market opportunities for your business growth.

5 Ways to Identify Sales Opportunities And Close The Deal

Here are five ways to uncover opportunities within your network to help you consistently grow and increase sales.

1. Inquire often, actively listen

Rather than discuss business, your connections may feel more inclined to talk about common interests, the weather, sports, or family.

As the conversation ebbs and flows, you can casually initiate shoptalk. With the right prompt, you may spark a lively dialogue about opportunities and obstacles at work—and that’s when things can get interesting.

Practice active listening and identify recurring themes, topics that agitate or excite, and pain points. In no time, you will discover areas where you can contribute, allowing you to seamlessly segue into a sales pitch. By using a structured framework to access information, you will quickly figure out if you can turn friendly conversations into win-win sales proposals.

2. Monitor shifts in human resources or roles

Intelligent professionals regularly make vertical and lateral career movements. The people within your network are certainly doing the same. Each career shift your friends make opens up amazing new sales opportunities for your firm.

For example, imagine a grade-school classmate was promoted to vice president within his firm last week. Yesterday, a former colleague left her job to join a competitor’s company. Today, a family member’s business will announce plans to hire 120 additional employees.

When an old acquaintance takes on a new job or is promoted, set aside some time to learn about his latest responsibilities. This may be the perfect time to discuss how your products or services may help him meet or exceed his goals.

Keep an eye out for:

• Job title changes
• Promotions
• New job openings
• Company expansions
• Overarching changes in the field

Keep an ear to the ground: Monitor job boards, scan social media, and subscribe to industry-specific publications to spot role shifts, open positions, and company leaps. These are your windows of opportunity. In some cases, the timing could not be better. New hires or newly promoted employees could use your help to accelerate growth.

On Facebook and Twitter, look out for friends’ announcements of their most recent career moves. On LinkedIn, enable daily or weekly emails for network updates. A new job posting, status update, or email newsletter may disclose just enough information about business needs or career changes within your network to initiate a qualified sales conversation.

3. Pay for marketing

Targeted ads can help keep prospects warm and stay top-of-mind. Advertising adds a degree of separation between you and your prospects, allowing you to introduce your products and services without personally pestering them.

This is especially easy on social media where you can use remarketing to direct ads toward the connections, followers, and friends who are already familiar with your business. Doing so is a low-pressure way to guide prospects through the sales funnel too.

Within your network, allocate advertising dollars toward:

• Employees at companies using competing products or services.
• Individuals who have expressed interest in your offerings, but need buy-in from their supervisor or a promotion in order to recruit your services.
• Acquaintances who could desperately use your tools, but require further rapport to close the sale.

When you spend money on marketing to assist and amplify sales, your investment will pay dividends long-term. That is because you will be able to convert leads into sales whenever it finally makes sense for their businesses.

4. Broadcast professional updates

Each time you share a personal status update or tweet, a handful—or even hundreds—of people you know comment on, like, share, or retweet it. If you email personal news to your contact list, you will likely receive a number of heartfelt responses.

In the digital age, we can keep all of our connections informed with everything going on in our personal and professional lives. Social media offers valuable, unprecedented ways to promote your products and services to friends and family. At the same time, contacts see what’s new with you and evaluate if the news may have any material impact on how they do business.

By simply updating your network on new clients, products, skills, successes, and technology, you remind old connections about your latest offerings and keep newer contacts in the loop.

Most of the time, you will receive congratulatory responses. In some instances, you may receive dead silence. But if you are lucky, people who are genuinely interested in hearing more on how their companies or projects can benefit will send you a message.

5. Volunteer your expertise and skills

Even your closest friends may be hesitant to work with you if you share no professional history together. But when you spend time volunteering your expertise and skills to a cause, you quickly earn the type of trust that is developed among colleagues who have worked together for years.

Support people you know at companies that can utilize your guidance and implementation to boost profitability, productivity, and sales. After you demonstrate your value, you become the first person the firm turns to when budget frees up.

Among companies you are already connected with, here are five things to remember to position yourself as a preferred vendor:

1. Develop authority and thought leadership.
   Regularly share interesting advice, content, and news through email, instant messaging, and social media. Potential clients will soon think of you as the best resource for information within your niche.
2. Invest in the outcome, no matter the cost.
   Spare no expense to ensure your acquaintances and friends get the service and support they need to succeed, even if it means having to carve out a few hours over the weekend to accommodate their needs.
3. Consider pro-bono work.

Think of it as a low-risk way to qualify a sales prospect and generate loyalty. Set a fixed timeline for each engagement and treat it like any other project with firm deliverables, accountability from all parties, and a detailed summary of work done and results achieved.

1. Get clients invested in the work you do.
   Often, companies take free products and services for granted, squandering the opportunities you generously provide. With their direct involvement, you are guaranteed to produce a better outcome.

Remember you are friends first, business associates second.
When in doubt, make small sacrifices to preserve your relationship. You can secure new sales commitments faster than you can mend a broken friendship.  

How to Assess a Direct Selling Opportunity

Since Spencer Reese is responsible for making sure direct-selling companies stay above the board, he knows all the tricks the dirty ones pull on their sellers. Reese is an attorney at Grimes & Reese, an Idaho Falls, Idaho-based firm specializing in multilevel marketing law. He outlined what he calls the four P’s of direct selling ethics:

Products: You don’t want to sign on with a company only to discover that it is misleading its sellers and customers about the function or value of its products.

Practices: Not only should the product be legitimate but the company shouldn’t use any underhanded tactics or deceptive marketing to attract people’s attention.

Plan: Before becoming a direct seller, examine the company’s compensation plan. There are dozens of ways it can dupe you or put you in a financial bind, which we’ll discuss in more detail in a moment.

Policing: It might seem nice to find a company that has a more laissez-faire attitude towards its sellers once they’ve come on board, but it’s really in your best interest for the company to scrutinize its sales force. Shenenigans by some salespeople reflects badly on the larger brand.

Ask the Right Questions

As Grace Keohohou describes it, she’s been around direct selling since she was in diapers. Keohohou co-founded the Direct Selling Women’s Alliance in Kailua, Hawaii, with her mother Nicki to teach other direct sellers and network marketers the tricks of the trade. Here are some questions she advises you ask before taking advantage of a direct-selling opportunity:

Is there any leadership or sales training? – You don’t want a company that will rope you in and then leave you on your own without any support. Though a training program doesn’t guarantee a company is legitimate, it does show at least the pretense of concern for the success of its sellers.

Are there any start-up costs? – While Man Cave doesn’t have any start-up costs for its sellers, the company is the exception rather than the rule in the direct sales field.

While Beste is down on start-up fees of any kind, Keohohou rationalizes them as compensation for the costs the company incurs to provide its sellers with infrastructure, such as a website, marketing materials, and even manufacturing costs. But even she cautions against excessive fees. Also, make sure there are no renewal fees.

Are the sales quotas reasonable? – Man Cave has a sales quota of $99 per month, which seems pretty achievable with any sort of commitment of time on the part of the salesperson. Even if someone fails to meet that quota they get a grace period and of course they can include any purchases they make themselves in that quota.

The worst-case scenario for quota situations is when a company makes recruiting new sellers the major incentive but doesn’t relax their minimums to account for the amount of time and effort that takes. You could bring on dozens of new people and get booted out for not selling enough yourself.

What are other sellers’ impressions? – Often when you’re introduced to a direct-selling company you’ll be invited to a seminar or another type of event. Get as many different perspectives as you can about how the company treats its sellers.

In addition to these questions, Keohohou advises prospective sellers to research the company online to see whether it has a positive track record. Also, if you discover that there is no real product or service being sold, but merely, “the opportunity to sell the opportunity, you should contact the attorney general’s office cause that is a pyramid scheme.”

All the experts stress that a passion for the product you’re selling will be crucial to your success in direct sales. Fortunately for Man Cave, they specifically chose products that their target demographic is passionate about. “For us it’s a lot of fun,” Beste says. “[The sellers] grill meat and drink beer. You can’t do that in most jobs.”

Other characteristics of products that sell well are things that have a demonstrable element. If a product is too straightforward or dull to merit much of a demo, direct sales might not be the right venue for it.

Another key factor is size. Initially Man Cave tried to sell barbecues but they found that the inventory was too bulky for sellers to cart around from house to house. This size restriction dovetails nicely with the company’s cap on their price points at $59. After all, if you’re selling to friends, you don’t want to send anyone into debt.

10 Most Profitable Business Opportunities

With the rise of technology, many of these most profitable businesses fall under the realm of online business ideas—but not all of them. You’ll also find ideas that fall within the realm of childcare, others that correspond more to B2B services, and some that suit entrepreneurs who are looking to be on the move with their businesses.

1. Auto repair

Taking a car to the shop for even simple repairs can be a challenge. After all, most of us use our cars to get from place to place— that means taking a car in for repairs often either involves a long wait at the repair shop, renting a vehicle for the day, or coordinating a ride with a friend or spouse. These options are both expensive and inconvenient.

The good news is that while some repair jobs do require the equipment of an auto shop to complete, there are plenty of maintenance and repair services that need just a few simple tools to complete.

If you’re skilled as a mechanic, you might consider a mobile auto repair service as one of the most profitable business ideas. You can offer oil changes, fluid refills, battery swaps, headlight repair, and more right in your customer’s driveway or office parking lot.

2. Food trucks

The food truck movement is slated to keep growing and growing. As rent in major cities across the country increases, it’s becoming more difficult for up-and-coming specialty food artisans to finance a brick-and-mortar location in the bustling centers of town—where their customers are most likely to be.

Food trucks provide a great solution. You can start a food truck by hitting the road and parking yourself at local events, farmers markets, the local town square—wherever you’re likely to draw a crowd. The lower overhead and increased geographic versatility of a food truck mean you can turn your grandma’s famous dumpling recipe or that off-the-wall dessert idea into its own thriving business.

Keep in mind that bigger, trendier cities like San Francisco, Portland, and Boston already have a pretty saturated food truck market—so this might be a more successful business in a smaller heartland metropolis.

Food trucks also tend to have their own special set of ordinances, business licenses, and safety compliance standards, plus, require food business insurance, so contact your local health department to find out what will be required.

3. Car wash services

Next on our list of the most profitable businesses: mobile car wash services. It seems safe to say that many people would pay a premium for a mobile car wash that came to them, instead of having to drive across town to access a car wash.

This is especially true for people with upscale cars who prefer more personalized service. As a mobile car wash and auto detailing service, you wouldn’t only benefit from the unique value proposition of being mobile, but you’d also avoid the significant overhead and startup cost of having a physical location.

Not sure how to start your own mobile car wash service? There are a variety of online wholesalers that offer auto detailing startup kits, as well as training for those interested in starting their own business in this niche industry. You can also read more about starting a car wash business.

4. Electronics repair

To say that Americans these days are obsessed with electronics would be a bit of an understatement. People spend most of their waking hours staring at a screen of some sort. This widespread tech addiction means that when something goes wrong, people want help as soon as possible.

Therefore, there’s no doubt that mobile electronic repair services are popular and could easily be one of the most profitable small businesses. With this service, you could be the solution for every broken iPhone screen, WiFi card, and laptop battery.

Plus, you’ll be even more successful if you’re willing to travel to your customer. Apple stores and other electronics retailers have come under fire recently for long customer wait times, which could work in favor of mobile providers.

This being said, although a mobile electronics repair business involves some overhead in the form of purchasing supplies, keeping your business mobile saves you from the high overhead cost of a physical location—making it an even more profitable service business idea.

5. IT support

Although two-thirds of Americans think they are tech-savvy, the truth is that they often need to rely on tech support. Some even make their computers or other devices vulnerable to hackers and identity theft. Unfortunately, when things go wrong, often the free customer phone support provided by manufacturers doesn’t feel supportive or fails to solve the problem.

If technology comes easily to you—and you’re a relatively patient person—then the most profitable business for you might be hitting the road, at least in your neighborhood, with mobile IT support. All you need is time, transportation, and your own know-how—so this low-overhead business model is almost pure profit.

6. Personal trainers

Turning your love of fitness into a career doesn’t have to mean working for a big corporate gym—nor do you need the overhead of having your own location to train clients. Throw a few weights, bands, and yoga mats into the trunk of your car, and take your fitness show on the road.

You can become a personal trainer by offering one-on-one sessions in your clients’ homes or advertising group classes at a local park or community center. Making fitness more available to your clients might just be the ticket to helping both of you achieve your goals.

As Americans start to eat healthier and exercise more, fitness and wellness businesses are increasing in popularity and becoming some of the most profitable businesses as well.

7. Newborn and post-pregnancy services

Although millennials are deferring parenthood for longer than previous generations, they eventually want to have kids—in fact, in 2016, 1.2 million millennials became first-time mothers. Therefore, the need for child-oriented businesses is growing, starting with post-pregnancy and newborn-related services.

Demand for doulas and lactation consultants, in particular, has risen among new mothers, and both business options have relatively low overhead requirements beyond education and certification—meaning these professions could easily become one of the most profitable businesses for you to start.

8. Enrichment activities for children

While the number of children in the United States grows, shrinking budgets for education mean that both traditional academics and enrichment subjects like music, art, and athletics have taken a significant hit.

As a result, more parents are turning to private businesses for enrichment activities outside of school. This being said then, one of the most successful businesses for you might be a gymnastics center, music school, swimming instructor, kids’ yoga teacher, or other child-centered activity.

If you have a skill that could be easily taught to young students, you might already have a profitable business in the making.

9. Mobile apps and entertainment for children

On the other hand, if your interests lie closer to tech or entertainment, consider gearing your technology toward the youngest of consumers. Research shows that regardless of expert recommendations, demand for tablets, apps, and mobile entertainment for children is on the rise.

Do you have an idea for an educational app for children or parents? If so, now’s the time to move forward on your bright idea for the next generation and make this potentially profitable business a reality.

10. Shared accessories and attire

Sites like Rent the Runway and Gwynnie Bee have banked on the idea of the sharing economy—where we want and need to own less stuff, so instead, we share resources.

This trend has led to small business opportunities for these companies, which offer borrowed or rented clothing and accessories at a fraction of their purchase prices. And because the same piece of inventory can generate revenue multiple times, the profitability of these ventures is pretty significant.

Do you have an eye for fashion and a sense of style not currently offered by other rental services? Maybe you’re ready to be the next big thing.

But even if you’re not prepared to launch a multi-million dollar fashion startup, you can just as easily profit from shared fashion at the local level. Gather some favorite accessories or clothing picks and host a borrowing party for high school students before the next formal dance.

If you’re in a college town, Greek life formals are another great opportunity to profit from shared economy fashion. And because you’re taking shipping costs out of the equation, you have the potential to be even more profitable than the larger startups.

Direct Deals And Cross Promotions For Mobile Apps And Games

A direct deal is a deal with another mobile app, ad network, brand, or company that you’ve made directly with them. Since it is a deal without all intermediaries, the eCPM you receive is usually higher.

Direct Deals are divided into two types:

1. Ad Network Direct Deals: ad impressions are pre-arranged and there’s a fixed fee with CPM (cost per mille) or CPI (cost per install) models.
2. Advertiser Direct Deals: those campaigns are negotiated directly with another app, brand, company, etc.

Once you have shaken hands with your new partner, you can create and launch your “Direct Deal ad campaigns” through the Appodeal Ad Server.

Advantages of Direct Deals

The main advantage of setting campaigns that way is that there’s a real chance to get the maximum price per impression (in the case of type B — a deal with the advertiser) and a guaranteed eCPM of this ad campaign (both types). 

Cutting the Middle Man

Ad networks & ad agencies charge a certain percent for their services.

By establishing a direct deal with the advertiser, you get the maximum profit while Appodeal provides free of charge mechanisms for obtaining this profit through Ad Server Campaigns.

Max Transparency

Also, when ad networks & ad agencies have their own development teams, there is a chance that they may be prioritizing their own apps and games.

Maybe there are companies willing to pay you higher eCPM to promote their brand in your mobile game. However, they may not reach you because the Ad Demand Source you’re using is pushing ads of their own products to your app, with lower eCPM.

Top 5 Best Practices on Direct Deal Campaigns

1. Checking your ads before launch on a specific device

It is better to check the campaign and creative rendering before launching it to a whole audience. 

The Appodeal Ad Server tool allows you to do it by campaign targeting to your own device in “Test mode”. 

2. Using HTML or JS tag as a creative for your campaign

If you want to use HTML code or a “JS Tag” in your campaign, you should check its rendering before launching the campaign. 

It should be possible to render your HTML code in a browser on your computer. In general, it is just a simple webpage. 

In most cases, it loads the javascript file which then loads your ads through some callbacks.

3. Upload several Ad Formats into your ad set

To be sure that your app will show the cross-promo campaign on all devices, you have to upload at least one creative for portrait and one more for landscape orientation. 

Our algorithm chooses, for each device, the closest creative by its dimension and ratio. This helps you increase the eCPM and enhances the user experience.

Also, the SDK will fit each creative to the device’s screen without any problems on iOS and Android.

4. Launching several campaigns with one Ad Type

We recommend these steps to launch several campaigns simultaneously:

1. Use the frequency capping option to show each campaign on each unique device.
2. Set “Limit impressions amount for this campaign. That will help you move the traffic to your campaigns one by one.
3. Set a different time to show each campaign

5. Use Vast Tags for your Video Ads

VAST stands for Video Ad Serving Template, and it is essentially a third-party ad tag generated by an ad server.

It enables video players to sync with ad servers and helps your video ads to appear correctly on video players, across different publishers and ad networks.

How do You Generate, Develop And Close Sales Opportunities?

Companies expend a huge amount of money and effort to identify and qualify sales leads and nurture them to the point where they’re ready to have conversations with a real, live salesperson.

Salespeople similarly expend a huge amount of thought and energy on closing deals that turn those sales leads into real, live paying customers. Ironically, the beginning and end of a sales process aren’t as important as what happens in the middle.

The middle part is developing the sales lead to the point where it’s possible to close the sale. This typically entails having several conversations to understand the customer’s needs and determine how you might help.

1. Have a goal in mind.

If you don’t know why you’re talking with a customer, the conversation will probably be a waste of time: yours and the customer’s. Even if you’re only calling to do some relationship building, have a reason for calling.

2. Do some quick research.

Before contacting the customer, find out if there are any recent changes in the customer’s business or industry. Check three places: the business news, the customer’s website, and (if it’s already a paying customer) inside your own company.

For example, suppose you’re calling on the VP of manufacturing for XYZ Inc. Here’s what you do:

1. Google “XYZ Inc.” news and read the top stories. Pay particular attention to any announcement of financial results or organizational changes.
2. Click to “XYZInc.com” for new press releases, new products, and (especially) new job openings, which signal where a company is expanding or needs help.
3. Check your customer support. Has anyone called with a problem? If so, how was it resolved? Have there been late orders? If so, what’s their current status?

3. Plan the conversation.

Depending on your goal (step 1) and what you’ve learned from your research (step 2), list the questions you’ll ask during the conversation. For example, if your goal is to better understand your customer’s purchase, your questions might include:

• How have you purchased this sort of product in the past?
• Who are the stakeholders who might object to the purchase?
• What criteria is your boss using to evaluate alternatives?

Three important planning tips:

1. Keep your list short. While each conversation is an opportunity to learn, if you pepper the customer with a series of questions, you’ll seem pushy or, worse, desperate.
2. Don’t rehearse. Reading questions from a list or repeating them from memory makes you sound like a sales trainee. Instead, prior to the meeting, write down keywords to remind you of the general lines of inquiry you’d like to pursue.
3. Too vague is better than too specific. Don’t worry about asking a question that’s “too open-ended.” If your question isn’t specific enough, the customer will ask you to clarify. And then you’re already in a conversation, which is half the battle.

4. Take good notes.

Your record of the conversation is as important as the conversation itself. If you don’t take notes, you probably won’t remember what was said or what commitments you or the customer made to each other.

5. Close on next steps.

At the end of the conversation, obtain a commitment from the customer to move to the next step. For example, if your goal is to understand the customer’s buying process, the next step might be to set up a meeting with a stakeholder.

6. Document the conversation.

At the end of the conversation, use your notes to compose an email to the customer summarizing what you learned (to confirm you’ve got it right) and repeating any commitments that were made.

How to Identify Sales Opportunities

Here are five key steps to identify selling opportunities, so you can start to create a method for sourcing more qualified and sales-ready leads.

1. Locate or Create Multiple Sources of Customer Activity Data and Start Monitoring Trends

Your customer behavior data is your best tool for finding sales opportunities, so start by establishing quality data sources and monitoring them routinely. These sources of data help you build an accurate picture of your customer’s digital footprint.

Look for the most common data sources on your customers, like:

• Email: Opens, clicks and conversion rates in your marketing team’s automated email campaigns convey intention or interest.
• Web tracking: Web tracking and transaction history will tell you where your customer prioritizes their time.
• Website: Landing page submissions, preference management (opt in/opt out) show you where your customer is interested enough to share their information.
• Social media: Brand mentions on social media help you understand customer sentiment.
• Online community: Customer conversations or resource uploads/downloads in your online community or support portal are a big sign of customer interest in a certain area and can indicate customer sentiment.
• Product: Customer product suggestions or feedback in your community or to your product team indicate involvement or interest.
• Success and Support: Your customer success and support teams have access to health scores, NPS surveys, and CSAT data that can indicate customer happiness.
• CRM: Your account management record shows previous sales opportunities, in case the account had a previous internal owner and prior upsell attempts.
• Learning Management System (LMS): Self-education is a big sign your customer is ready for a call – willingness to learn about your products is a great indicator of whether your customer is happy with their product experience and want to invest further.

Determine which sources your company has, or might need to develop, and use the information to build customized profiles for each of your customers.

2. Analyze Your Customer Behavior and Build a Persona

It takes time to collect information about your customers and allow for patterns to develop, but eventually you will be able to use that data to create a persona(s) for your ideal sales-ready customer. When you’re just starting the process, use assumptions or benchmarks to create your profile, and build on that framework over time.

For example, you could start with the assumption that customers who have had recent negative experiences with your product, customer support and/or have many open support tickets, should be excluded from your upsell outreach until these issues have been resolved. Continuing your pursuit could jeopardize future opportunities to grow that customer’s product portfolio.

On the other hand, customers using your online community or support portal to discuss a specific issue may present an opportunity to align a product add-on, upgrade, or service. You can assume they would likely consider purchasing additional products or services that provide a solution to this stated challenge, and consider them current or future sales opportunities worth targeting.

As you gather more information from customer interactions, expand your sales-ready criteria and profile. Test the profile by contacting your sales-ready customers and recording who makes a purchase or who does not. Eventually, you’ll develop key buying signals within your customer activity data that lead to more qualified upsell opportunities and greater sales success.

3. Review Purchase History and Budget

When working with your “sales-ready persona,” you should consider the individual purchases and budget of your customers. This will give you specific information on each customer’s existing solution set and capacity to make a purchase.

Review the products your customers have purchased historically, how frequently they make purchases, and how long it has been since their last purchase. If there’s a purchase pattern, follow that pattern and contact your customer when their history indicates they’re ready to buy.

Tip: Budget range is another key point here. You don’t want to offer a low-budget customer a very expensive solution.

If your customer stays in a single price point, you should too. If customer purchases start small and then increase in value, then they’re likely a candidate for an upsell or an upgrade sales opportunity. When evaluating your sales opportunities, factor these and more overt budgetary signals in, such as comments your online community about saving money for future purchases.

4. Review Current Events

While less explicit than budget and past purchases, current events in your customers’ personal life, work, or industry could help you determine the quality of the sales opportunity.

Look for indicators like these:

• Have there been any major shifts in communication or technology in your customer’s field?
• Has their company been acquired or obtained investment capital?
• Have there been any changes to their stock, if the company is publicly held?
• Has your point of contact changed positions within the organization?
• Has a new problem arisen from a recent event?

And finally, the most important question…Do you have a product that could make things easier or help them bridge a gap?

This type of opening is particularly easy to spot if your customers are discussing current events or recent changes in your online community’s discussion forum. Take notice of what issues affect your customers and find ways to help. The more likely your product is to solve their new problem or make the transition easier, the more likely it is you’ve found a new sales opportunity.

5. Score Your Customer Interactions

If you still have doubts about your sales opportunities, or you’re overwhelmed by the number of customers you need to analyze, develop a lead scoring system. The premise is the same as lead generation for prospects: Use the scoring system to gauge how interested they are in your product, service, or solution.

Here’s a method to help you score leads in your customer base:

1. Identify your active customers and the types of interactions they’re having with your company.

2. Use those interactions to assign point values to their unique customer profiles.

• Go back to your data sources and assign a quantifiable score.
  • For example, leads might get one point for opening an email, two points for clicking on a link, five points for visiting your website, and ten for posting or replying to an online community discussion about your products. If they ask when a new product will be available and what the price is, that action could be worth 25 points.

3. Make sure to include engagement points from customers across all your communication channels (see the list in step one).

Gathering data points from external sources can help create a more complete profile with many behavior indicators. The more engagement points your customer compiles, the more interested they are in your product, and the higher you should rank them when prioritizing your accounts or opportunities.

3 Ways to Consistently Source Deal Flow

Here are 3 proven ways to ensure more people know you in order to gain consistent, high quality deal flow:

COMMUNICATE WITH BROKERS / SALES PROFESSIONALS

Establishing relationships with local brokers and investment sales professionals is crucial. Whether it’s over the phone, through email or meeting in-person, having brokers know you’re a legitimate, active investor can be the difference between being one of the first people to see a deal or one of the last (or maybe not at all). 

A good way to maintain communication is to ask questions on deals they’ve previously closed and follow-up on the status of deals they’re currently working on. 

ATTEND NETWORKING EVENTS 

Attending networking events is a great way to grow the number of people that have you in their rolodex.  Emails and calls are effective, but having face-to-face interactions with other real estate minded people is the best way to stand out from the crowd. 

Plus, with networking events you have the opportunity to meet a lot of people in a short period of time, increasing your chances of rubbing elbows with someone who might bring you your next deal.

BE ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Real estate investing is not thought of as a get-rich-quick investment. It often takes years of appreciation and accumulation before someone can live off their investments.  Because of this, real estate is commonly thought of us an old man’s game. That doesn’t mean you should continue to use old tactics, though.  Social media is a prime example of this. 

Thanks to platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, our ability to reach other people has completely evolved.  A real estate investor from California can be known by hundreds, if not thousands, of investment sales professionals and owners from New York, thanks to social media’s organic reach. 

Being active on these platforms by connecting with new people and posting about what you’re looking to invest in is a simple, yet very effective way to increase the amount of deals you see.

In the commercial real estate world, you never know where your next deal will come from.  Don’t underestimate the edge that comes with developing the right relationships by growing the number of people who know you.

The deals are out there, you just need to know where to look and how to find them.

Sales Opportunity Management

Sales opportunity management is the process of tracking all opportunities for potential sales across the pipeline and convert them into recurring revenue. The right opportunity management tool can help you effectively win opportunities by helping you connect with the right people, and by bringing all the necessary information together in a single place.

Opportunities are precious to your business, and they can boost your bottom line easily if handled the right way. You need to ensure you are managing your opportunities effectively, and that your teams are equipped with the right set of tools to get the most out of every single one of them.

Key features of an opportunity management software

A holistic view of all your deals

Your deals in CRM are the sales opportunities you’ve opened up by qualifying your prospects. It becomes easier for you to track key deals when you can see all your important information at a glance.

Track how much of your expected revenue is near closure and which deals require your immediate attention. Use advanced filters to find opportunities with specific criteria, and take the necessary actions to push them further along in the pipeline.

AI suggestions help you prioritize your deals

There are usually many opportunities in your pipeline at any given time, making it hard to focus on the right ones. Zia, Zoho CRM’s AI sales assistant, makes it easier to choose the right ones to follow up with.

Zia can also provide you with crucial information associated with a deal using simple voice commands. Even when you’re on the move, you can talk to Zia to get contextual information that could make or break a deal.

Centralized documents to maintain important sales collateral

Zoho CRM offers a centralized storage for all your sales collateral. Your sales team can contribute and maintain these documents, allowing anyone easy access as and when they need it.

Keep tabs on your competition

When you start pitching your solutions to a prospect, you are usually competing against other businesses. So, when your prospects mention a competitor during your conversations, make a note, and research their strengths and weaknesses to refine your pitch.

Send quotes from within Zoho CRM

Sending quotes to your customers is an important step towards closing a deal. Streamline your process by sending quotes to your customers directly inside Zoho CRM. Personalize your quotes and include the most relevant product information, such as price and quantity, as well as customer data for easy record-keeping and organization.

Collaborate effectively and sell better

Modern sales is a complex process that involves different teams and stakeholders. You need to collaborate effectively with your peers and different teams to refine your pitches and close deals effectively. Use built-in feeds and integrations with different live chat systems to coordinate your sales activities, share progress, and celebrate your wins.

Reporting and analytics

An analytics-driven business culture can go a long way toward transforming your organization’s decision-making style from “gut feeling” to “data-driven.” CRM software offers businesses the necessary intelligence to process data from different sources and churn out valuable insights to guide them with data.

From basic charts to advanced analytics insights, such as spotting anomalies in your business, a built-in analytics engine in your CRM can help enterprises gain a crucial competitive advantage.

Mobile CRM

At a time when global mobile usage has overtaken desktops, it is vital that your CRM system allows your workforce to go completely mobile. A mobile CRM can help sales reps close more deals on the go.

Read Also: How To Earn Money Online With Email List Marketing

It allows managers to add and update data when they shuttle between business appointments, even when they are offline. At trade shows, business meetings, and networking events, mobile CRM apps help you be business-ready no matter where your business takes you.

Small Business Opportunities From Home

A home-based business is a venture—whether full time or run as a side hustle—that you can start and operate using your own home as your base of operations. A few home-based businesses, especially those that sell online and don’t buy and hold lots of inventory, can even be run on the go, without the need to be bound to your home.

While there are plenty of ways to go about starting a home-based business, the following are some of the most approachable paths to creating a profitable business for yourself:

1. Buy products in bulk and sell them online
2. Sell homemade products
3. Start a dropshipping store
4. Start a print-on-demand business
5. Offer online services
6. Teach online classes
7. Productize your service or expertise
8. Grow an audience you can monetize
9. Buy an existing ecommerce business
10. Start a subscription-box business

Sales Opportunity Quotes

There are many things you can do to help your team improve sales performance and reach their sales goals, and here’s something that can help boost morale, inspire, and increase productivity: motivation. 

So, the next time you feel your obstacles are overwhelming, read through this list of inspirational sales quotes.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time -Thomas Edison

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them yourself. -Eleanor Roosevelt

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later. -Og Mandino

You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day. –Marian Wright Edelman

Become the person who would attract the results you seek. -Jim Cathcart

Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. -Sam Levenson

Growth and comfort do not coexist. -Ginni Rometty

What differentiates sellers today is their ability to bring fresh ideas. –Jill Konrath

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. –Walt Disney

Either run the day or the day runs you. -Jim Rohn

“The most unprofitable item ever manufactured is an excuse.” – John Mason

“All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.” – Michael John Bobak

“What we dwell on is who we become.” – Oprah Winfrey

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” – Vince Lombardi

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser

“It is not your customer’s job to remember you. It is your obligation and responsibility to make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you.” – Patricia Fripp

“Quality performance starts with a positive attitude.” – Jeffrey Gitomer

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins

“Most people think ‘selling’ is the same as ‘talking’. But the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job.” – Roy Bartell

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine