“There are always opportunities through which businessmen can profit handsomely if they will only recognize them.”
- J. Paul Getty, Business Executive

Who can forget all the hype of how the Internet was going to make all retail businesses obsolete? It was going to be, “Good-bye, shopping malls and sales personnel! Hello Brave New World!”

Thankfully, the Internet has not eliminated the direct sales business, as we know it has made it better! The Internet revolutionized it, building upon the existing so-called bricks-and-mortar foundation of the direct sales industry. I am amazed at how the Internet changed the businesses I managed in Asia from 1991 to 2002. In 1991, I had not even heard of the Internet, and thought “the web” was something to do with Charlotte and spiders. When I left Asia, the Internet was responsible for ten to fifty per cent of sales, depending on the sales organization.

Let us review some of the advantages the Internet, computers, CD’s and DVDs provide sales managers.

Lead generator --- I will always appreciate Michael Collier. Mike was an English teacher in our customer support club for our English home study programs. In 1994, he boldly asked to give our senior management team a presentation on obtaining sales leads on the Internet. Excuse me, what was an English club support staff guy doing meddling in direct sales marketing?

However, we could not deny Mike’s enthusiasm, and, almost as a courtesy, we reluctantly gave him thirty minutes to make his case. By the slimmest of skeptical margins, we approved $10,000 budget for six months to test his theory. That test changed our business forever. Within two years, half our orders in that sales division came from Internet leads. Thanks again, Mike.

Initially, we put our magazine and other print format lead solicitation ads on our Web site. Then we paid, or traded for, advertising on other selected Web sites to have our “ad links” displayed. We assigned the leads as any other lead. We learned as we went along. The Internet ads took on more of an “Internet look.” We found we could give a sample English lesson from our home study product on our web site.

Initially, Internet lead conversion rates were less than half the magazine lead conversion rate. Some sales reps gradually learned how to approach and sell Internet leads. We recorded conversion rates by lead category. We primarily assigned the Internet leads to those sales reps with good conversion records. We discovered that lead generation online is cheaper and the results quicker than almost any other type of lead sourcing. Generating relatively cheap abundant leads was the most dramatic, but not the only positive impact of the Internet and other electronic innovations in our industry.

The Electronic Sales Binder Laptops give direct sales people both a new, powerful sales presentation tool, and they and their company greater credibility in a sales industry where credibility is often an issue. Replicating the sales binder on the laptop screen is easy; more importantly, you can add many wonderful features.

For instance, a computer can hold thousands of pages of need story material catalogued by prospect type. The same is true with endorsements or product information. The hard drive, memory, CD or DVD lets the sales person tailor the presentation to the needs of the prospect.

There is danger here; some sales people fall in love with their computers and try showing the prospect EVERYTHING, causing boredom. The benefits of personalization vastly outweigh this danger. .Furthermore, all pricing and payment terms can be prewritten. If you sell your product on installments, payment plans can be stored, indexed, and downloaded, instantaneously. Laptop presentation provides visual images no printed binder can match.

Electronic Training Manuals The best direct sales companies put their training materials online to ensure standardization, allow for easy updates, and include self-study tests that can be uploaded. You can assure your whole team is thoroughly familiar with all the basic skills necessary to do the job. A good web site won’t make a great closer — but it will certainly promote consistency in training while improving closing and prospecting proficiency. You are effective without these electronic tools; you are more effective with them. They extend and expand your competence.

Sales meetings --- Sales meetings are more dynamic with PowerPoint® presentations. Complicated ideas are more readily reduced to easy-to-understand graphs and pie charts. However, boring is still boring.

Leave behind button-up --- The leave-behind CD at the point of sale is a great new tool to address the ancient problem of “buyer’s remorse.” All direct sales industries have some type of cancellation, “after the order is written”, problem. This rate can approach thirty per cent.

No doubt, you have some type of “button-up” procedure where your sales representative reviews all the benefits and financial terms of the purchase as the last step of the presentation. At the end of the button-up, a “leave-behind” package is normally given to the new customer. The leave-behind package typically includes a copy of the contract and a pamphlet that reviews all those benefits once again. The real message of the leave-behind package is, “PLEASE do not cancel.”

The CD is the perfect leave-behind tool. Many sales presentation portions can be recorded on the CD. These both reminds the buyer why they purchased, and helps convince household members or business associates, not present for the sales presentation, that this purchase was a good decision.

Additionally, parts of some products can be “delivered” on the leave-behind CD/. In my educational products business, we learned to “leave-behind” some immediately useable learning material on the CD. Cookware companies could leave behind recipes; exercise equipment and fitness centers could deliver tips for good health habits; and the cemetery industry could provide information on planning tools for the “final event.”

Sales Bulletins and Pay Statements —— Sales bulletins can now be instant. Each company has a designated day when all sales are final. The accounting department closes the books, updates a database, and configures the results into a sales bulletin. The results appear on the internal company web site within minutes. Everyone can access sales contest results and recognition bulletins instantly. You or your secretary can print a copy off the computer to post in the sales room. It’s the same for pay statements. Everyone can receive their pay statement electronically. Managers can quickly review all their sales group’s pay statements.

The computer and the Internet combination is the most powerful new tool in the direct sales business, just as it is for most businesses. You may well be taking advantage of these new electronic and internet tools. If so, congratulations. You are a leader in your field. If not, you have an opportunity to ratchet up your success quotient.

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