How to Find and Hire Distributors and Dealers to Work for You
Everyone wants to own a business that makes a lot of money, but where other people do all the work and all they have to do is sign sales and bank deposit slips. As a business owner, this is the only way to go.
The problem, though, is that not many people seem to know how to “put together” a business like this. You’re really talking about a business where you make the product and other people sell it. The main source that works with dealers or distributors.
Assuming you have the product, you’ll also need a sales kit and a lot of impressive, eye-catching marketing materials. If you don’t give or offer to give your sales team the materials they need to sell your product, it will be hard to get people to sell for you, and you probably won’t set any sales records for your product, either.
Let’s say you just finished writing a book about “CANDLE MAKING BUSINESS 101”
Okay, so if you want to sell this book, you need to let people know that you have one like it. Advertising on your own will cost you money, and if you don’t know much about advertising, you might not make as much money as you could. Also, the time and effort you’ll spend finding the “right” place to advertise, putting up your ads, tracking your returns, and dealing with people who are just curious will quickly wear you out. This is not what you had in mind for your life when you decided to write a book, get rich, and live a carefree life.
So, as soon as you’ve finished writing your book (which is your product), send out “bids” to local advertising agencies, freelancers, and the advertising departments at local colleges. What you want these people to do is put together a flyer to sell and promote your book. Now, at the bottom of this circular, you put the phrase “Dealer Inquiries Invited” in a different, maybe smaller font. This is almost like an afterthought.
Look at all the circulars that were sent in and pick the one(s) you like best. Then, have a bunch of these printed at your local print shop, get a list of people who are looking for jobs, and send them out.
As soon as you mail these first circulars, start writing your letter to dealers and distributors. This should be a simple explanation of how you’ll drop ship orders for their customers and give them a certain percentage of each sale, as well as how much your book will cost per copy when you sell it to them in bulk. At the same time, this letter should include a copy of your advertising circular and an explanation assuring these dealers that they can reprint this circular with their name and address instead of yours on the order coupon. You could even add a short note saying that you will pre-print these circulars with the dealer’s name and address and ship them to him for a wholesale printing price. All of this comes down to you giving them everything they need to promote your book and sell copies for you. Simply put, you can only reach so many people and sell so many books on your own. With the help of 1,000 people sending out flyers and running small ads in hundreds of opportunity seeker publications, your business costs will be low while your book sales go through the roof.
Remember, though, that your sales force needs to be able to use an impressive, eye-catching advertising circular or mailing package as their own. You also need clear, easy-to-understand books in wholesale quantity lots and advertising materials for your dealers.
The advertising circular should serve two purposes. First, it should try to get people to buy your product. Second, it should try to get dealers who like your advertising materials and think they can make money by selling your product. Again, this doesn’t have to be much more than a simple “throw-away” line at the bottom of the circular: Dealer Inquiries Invited…
Now that you’re organized so far, the next step is to sign a contract to run as many small DEALERS WANTED ads in as many to mail-order publications as possible. Such ads can be either classifieds or small, eye-catching display ads that are only one inch wide:
DEALERS WANTED! Outstanding new book. Sells like wildfire! Everyone wants their own copy! Make $10 on every $15 you sell. Information about SASE to:
Basically, that’s all your “dealers wanted” ad needs to say. If you run it in all the mail-order publications for six or eight months, you should have hundreds of people all over the country selling your book for you. It’s simple, easy, and almost obvious, but it works!