Direct Selling Opportunities
Build Your Career in Direct Selling Industry
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Direct selling means selling a consumer product or service in a face-to-face manner away from a fixed retail location. According to the Direct Selling Association. This kind of business has taken the world by storm. In a recent year, 13 million people sold more than $28 billion worth of products through Direct Selling Opportunities. The kind of products sold included home and family care products, such as cleaning supplies, cookware, and cutlery; personal care products, such as cosmetics, jewelry, and skin care products; wellness products, including weight-loss products and vitamins; and leisure and educational products, such as encyclopedias, toys, and games - Direct Selling Opportunities
13 Million People Sold More Than $28 Billion Worth of Products Through Direct Sales Opportunities. So What is Single-level Marketing?
Direct Selling Opportunities - Single-level marketers make money by buying products from the parent company and selling them directly to their customers.Home-based businesspeople have been pursuing single-level marketing for years, and you'll probably recognize the names of some of the most successful organizations:
- Avon
- Electrolux
- Tupperware
- Kirby
While much of the media spotlight that shines so brightly on the direct-selling industry tends to focus on multi-level marketing organizations, single-level selling produces about 20 percent of direct-selling revenues, or just under $6 billion in a recent year.
What is Multi-level Marketing?
Direct Selling Opportunities - Multi-level marketers make money both by buying products from the parent company and selling them to customers and by sponsoring new direct sellers. Multi-level marketing (MLM) - also known as network marketing or person-to-person marketing - has grown to an incredible $22 billion in sales a year in the United States alone, employing more than 10 million people.
Multi-level marketing gives you two ways to make money - by selling products as a distributor and by signing up new distributors and taking a portion of their product sales. As you sign up new distributors, you create what's known as a downline: all of the people you sponsor into the program, as well as the people they sponsor, and so on. In multi-level marketing, an upline is a distributor's sponsor, as well as the other sponsors above him or her in the organization.
The most highly successful multi-level marketers make far more money through their downlines than they do actually selling product themselves. Because of this, many multi-level marketers focus most of their efforts on recruiting new distributors to join their downline and motivating the individuals in their downline to recruit new distributors.
Warning!!!
| It is against U.S.law for a multi-level marketing organization to only recruit distributors-and collect fees from them-without also selling products. Such an arrangements is called a pyramid scheme, and it is set up specially to make its creators rich while relieving everyone else of their hard-earned money. Be particularly careful about so-called opportunities where you sell something that has little or no intrinsic value, such as a "special" report on how to make money on the Internet. Such thinly veiled pyramid schemes will land you in very hot water if you are caught. |
The Pros and Cons of Direct Selling
Direct Selling Opportunities are geared to the home-based businessperson, and the right opportunity may be just what you're looking for. Here are some of the positive attributes of direct selling:
- Because startup costs are generally low, you have little financial risk if the business fails-certainly lower than most franchises and business opportunities.(Beware of Direct Selling Opportunities with high startup costs-these are often scams!)
- High earning potential is possible(although relatively few people actually make six-figure incomes). Mary Kay,Inc. really does give out pink Cadillacs to its top salespeople. If you're the right person in the right place at right time, the key really is the limit.
- Most direct-selling programs are designed specifically to be home-based businesses and are often geared to women(66 percent of U.S. direct sales distributorships are one-person distributorships, owned by a woman).
- You can work as many or as few hours as you like. Part time, full time-all kinds of work arrangements abound in direct selling. In fact, the clear majority of people who have chosen Direct Selling Opportunities work part time, some while working other, full-time jobs.
Your direct-selling parent company generally provides you with sales and promotional materials, as well as bookkeeping, sales tracking, and commission data.
Because of the need of those in multi-level marketing to continuously recruit a downline of new distributors-to replace those who fall by the wsyside, competition for recruits can be quite lively. This tends to put a lot of pressure on those being recruited. Aside from these kinds of minor indignities, you may experience a number of negatives with direct selling. Here are a few:
- Many direct-selling businesses are here today, gone tomorrow. While a number of companies have been around for years and will likely be around for years to come(including such companies as Amway and Mary Kay), far too many direct-selling firms have lifespans that can be measured in months.
- Direct selling has a poor reputation with many people, often making recruiting new distributors(and selling products)a difficult proposition.
- Motivating your downline to sell more products and sign up new distributors can require more of your time and attention than you may imagine. And the more distributors you sign up, the bigger the job.
- Few people in direct selling make enough money to make it a full-time profession. According to industry figures, about 90 percent of the individuals working in direct sales do so on a part-time basis. Of this number, about half make $500 or less a year; the other half make up to $5,000 per year in direct sales. It is indeed the rare direct salesperson who makes enough money in her own business to support herself and a family.
- Friends, relatives, and coworkers may quickly tire of your constant attempts to sell them products or recruit them into your downline. If they cross the street or duck behind a tree when they see you coming, you're pushing too hard.
Direct Selling Opportunities Resource: Home-Based Business For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)
- Authors:
Paul Edwards and Sarah Edwards
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