What’s the difference between Direct Selling and Field Sales?

I spent a year in field sales, so have a real understanding of how to succeed, or at least make money through field sales.

I have also spent many years in direct selling so also understand and appreciate how to make money through direct selling.

There are a lot of overlaps but the biggest difference I found was that in field sales you had to actually be good at proper sales, you had to find your prospects through canvassing, you had to follow up your leads to arrange appointments. Then you had to attend the appointment and crunch through the numbers to come up with a sales pitch that both made sense to the business owner whilst still providing sufficient profit for your company and adequate Commision for yourself.

With direct selling you still have to find your customers through canvassing, but there is no actual selling involved as the customer simply selects their own products through either browsing a catalogue or online posts. There is no need to crunch selling price as the selling price and retail profit are all predetermined in advance for you.

I guess the closest to field sales for direct selling maybe in the canvassing for team members in the recruiting side of the opportunity. There are also appointments to arrange albeit mostly can be via phone interview or these days maybe even zoom calls etc.  The recruitment interview turns more into a friendly chat to find out if there is a sufficient fit for the opportunity with the candidate. It’s more like a sharing of what’s working for you with the candidate and it’s almost down to them to sell themselves to you.

Since you will be investing your time in introducing, inducting , coaching supporting and mentoring, you need to be sure that they are likely to be someone that deserves and qualifies for your time.

You on the other hand have a vested interest in their success, as only when they are making money will what they do contribute to what you do.

They have exactly the same opportunity as you and they can earn more than you if what they do generates a deeper and broader network than yours.



Comments

Popular Posts