Direct Sales Definition of

Direct-Selling Opportunities

The direct sales definition of direct selling is selling a consumer product or service in a face-to-face manner away from a fixed location. According to the Direct Selling Association, this kind of business has taken the world by storm. In 2008, $29.6 billion worth of products were sold in the U.S., through direct selling opportunities. The kind of product sold included home and family-care products, such as cleaning supplies, cookware, and cutlery; personal care products, such as cosmetics, jewelry, and skincare products, wellness products, including weight-loss products and vitamins, and leisure and educational products, such as encyclopedias, toys and games.

In addition, the products that offer direct selling opportunities are household names: Avon, Discovery Toys, Amway, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Tupperware, Nikken and many others.

The direct sales definition includes two types of direct selling opportunities:

Single-level marketing: Single level marketers make money by buying products from the parent company and selling them directly to their consumers.

Multi-level marketing: multi-level marketers make money both by buying product from the parent company and selling them to customers and by sponsoring new direct sellers.

What is single-level marketing?

Avon

Tupperware

Kirby

Electrolux (now Aerus LLC)

While most of the media focuses on multi-level marketing organizations, single-level marketing organizations represent 25 percent of direct selling revenue or $7.4billion.

TheDirect Sales Definition of Multi-level Marketing

Multi-level marketing, also known as Network marketing, is not an industry, as many people believe. The direct sales definition of mutlti-level is a method of distribution that is used by many industries, whose products and services include communications, health and fitness, vitamins and minerals, toys, business training, giftware, cookware, books and videos, skincare, jewelry, insurance, household goods office supplies, dental supplies, and many more.

What makes the direct sales definition of multi-level Marketing special is its unique system of selling in which salespeople take on two key roles:

Distributor: As a distributor of a product, your job is to buy product from the parent company and sell it directly to the public, usually to friends, relatives, and work associates. Every time you sell an item, you make profits.

Recruiter: As a recruiter, you sign up other distributors to join your organization. Every time the distributors in your organization buy product from the parent company, you receive a percentage of the profits.

Multi-level marketing gives you two ways to make money, by selling products as a distributor and by signing up new distributor and receiving a commission on their product sales. As you sign up distributors, you create what is known as a downline: all the people you sponsor into the program, as well as the people they sponsor, and so on.

The most highly successful multi-level marketers make far more money through their downline than they do actually selling product themselves. Because of this many multi-level marketer focus most of their efforts on recruiting new distributors to join their downline, motivating the individuals in their downline to recruit new distributors.

Warning!It is against the law in the U.S. for a multi-level organization to only recruit distributors, and collect fees from them, without also selling products. The direct sales definition of this arrangement is called a pyramid scheme, specifically to make its creator rich, while relieving everyone else of his or her hard earn money.

The Pros and the Cons of Direct Selling Opportunities

• Because the startup cost a low, you have little financial risk if the business fails, certainly low than most franchises and business opportunities. Beware of direct selling opportunities with high startup costs, these are usually scams.

• High earning potential is possible.

• Most direct selling opportunities are designed to be home based business.

• Your direct selling company generally provides you with sales and promotional material, as well as booking, sales tracking, and commission data.

• You can work as many or as few hours as you like. Part-time, full-time, all kind of work arrangements abound in direct selling. In fact, the majority of the people who work in direct sales choose to work part-time, while working other full-time jobs.

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 wayside as well as to grow their own down line organizations, 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 and gone tomorrow. While many companies have been around for many year and will likely be around for many year to come (including Mary Kay, Avon, and Amway), far too many direct selling firms have life spans 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 recruit more distributors can require a lot of time and attention than you may imagine. The more distributors you recruit the bigger the job.

• Few people in direct selling make enough money to make it a full-time profession. According to industry figures, 90 percent of individuals working in direct sales do so on a part-time basis. Of this number, half make about $800.00 a year and the other half make about $6500.00 in direct sales.

• Friends, relatives, and co-workers may quickly tire of your constant attempts to sell them product or recruit them into your downline. If they cross the street or duck behind a tree when they see you coming, you are pushing too hard.

References:

Edwards, Paul, Edwards, Sarah. (2000). Home-based-business for dummies. New York, NY: IDG Books Worldwide.

Nichols, R. (1995). Successful network marketing for the 21st century. Grants Pass, Or: The Oasis Press.

Ziglar, Zig, Hayes, Ph.D., John. (2001). Network marketing for dummies. New York, NY: IDG Books Worldwide.