subject: Would You Like To Get More Sales? by:Daryl Cowie [print this page] As hard as your sales team may attempt to spread the word and educate people about your business and your products, your sales team can only come in contact with a finite number of people alone. Hiring additional salesmen is one method of increasing your visibility to potential customers, but it's not the only way. Here is a business management tip for you: an effective way to multiply your visibility, and your sales dollars, is to add additional sales channels to help you sell your offering.
When you are growing your business top-line sales growth is inevitably where the management focus is required to be. If you don't have strong sales, nothing else matters. Business managers understand this and yet many good companies are still not taking advantage of the 4 tremendous sales channels available outside of your direct sales force.
Direct Sales
Most companies start with a direct sales team. Many times the owners and entrepreneurs themselves are the sales force when the company is starting out. As the company becomes more successful additional people are hired and the the direct sales force grows. Unfortunately for many companies that is also where it ends.
Affiliates and Distributors
Perhaps the most common sales channel, outside of direct sales, is distributor and representative networks. Distributors and representatives bring your product or service offering to the customers in their networks in exchange for a sales commission. Distributors purchase equipment from you at a reduced price and resell. Representatives generally just do the selling and take a sales commission.
A great thing about using distributors and affiliates is that they only get paid after they make a sale. A downsides of full-time employees is that you have to pay them even when you have a bad month and your sales are down. With distributors and affiliate programs you only pay your sales people when something gets sold. In exchange they get a chance at earning very large commissions if they can land some good repeat accounts.
The key to using distributor and affiliate channels successfully is to make it as easy as possible for your partners to succeed. It's a very simple concept. When you make it easy to work with you then people do. If you are hard to work with then they look for ways to spend less time dealing with you and spend more time dealing with someone else. Take care to set your distributors up in a winning position so they will continue to help you over the long term. Remember that every sale they make is a sale you would not have got without them.
Using distributors and affiliates as sales channels presents an opportunity for every business. The only question is whether there are even better opportunities to pursue.
Value Added Resellers
A value added reseller is a lot like a distributor, but they add something more. Rather than just passing along your product or service to their customers they do something to enhance it before they do that.
Suppose you you sell camping equipment and specialize in tents and backpacks. Let's also say there's an outfitting company in your area that arranges adventure holidays for clients. As part of the deal they offer their clients a complete collection of things they may need for the trip. Given that part of what they need is something you supply there is a great opportunity for a value added reseller partnership.
Whether or not you take action on opportunities like this is entirely up to you. You either let the other company purchase your products when it's convenient and go to your competition when it's not, or you can go to them and propose an arrangement where it is beneficial for them to get everything exclusively from you. They no longer go to your competitor every time they are having a sale. They deal exclusively with you.
Value added resellers are a great way to target niche markets. Very often a subset of people want similar customer features. While you may not be in a position to create all the solutions that every sub-group wants, a network of value added resellers is perfect at each customizing your products and services to the specific needs of their customers.
Joint Ventures
Joint ventures are another great sales channel. A joint venture is when two partners decide to introduce each other to their respective customers. You may have 1500 customers that do regular business with you, and you have built up a certain level of trust with them. Other companies in your neighborhood may also have a list of people that trusts them.
The best joint ventures happen when the two partners have complementary businesses. If you sell nuts and they sell bolts it's a perfect match. All you do is let your customers know that your partner has something you think they might like, and they do the same for you. Often times no money even needs to change hands. The simple act of promoting each other brings value to you both. You both get new customers you would not have been able to reach on your own.
For successful partnerships you must clearly understand that the most important joint venture condition is not a similarity in products or services, but a similarity in customers. As long as the type of customers you have is similar you have a match, even if your products may seem very different.
Joint ventures are very popular among profitable businesses. Successful entrepreneurs are constantly searching for these opportunities.
Summary
Adding sales channels is a tremendous way to add depth and growth to your business. A strong combination of direct sales, distributors, affiliates, value added resellers and joint ventures creates a solid foundation for growth.
A wonderful sales growth management tip is to build long term partnerships that give value to both you and your partners. Always bear in mind that every sale an alternative sales channel makes is a sale you would never have made at all without them. Learning to treat your partners well will help keep your sales growing.
About the author
Daryl Cowie has shared management tips with 1000s of people in over 30 countries around the world. His mission is to help you and your company turn business opportunities into business realities. Sign up for his free business management home study course at http://FreeManagementTips.com
