Starting a Direct Sale Company?

[chelsearenee]

Hi everyone. I am interested in starting a small direct sales company. It would remain small (maybe 10 consultants) for quite some time. However, how would I go about starting it? How much money should I have prepared? How do you find suppliers? Best ways of advertising? Software suggestions?

[billbenson]

I'll respond to the "how do you find suppliers" question. Assuming you are starting out with limited funds, you call up a distributor of that product, say it's for resale, and someone will sell it to you at a discount. As you build up volume, you will get better discounts and can look for other distributors with better pricing or move up the ladder to a master distributor or manufacturer.

Also, know your product inside and out. It really helps.

That certainly isn't the only approach, but it is a common one unless you are starting out with a lot of money.

[David Hunter]

What are you looking to sell?

[etobicoke_woj]

I would say that it depends on what product and what price point you want to be at? What type of product do you want to sell? How will your group of consultants sell the product?
Who will provide you with the marketing material for each item that you want to sell?

There's a whole bunch of answers that are needed before you can proceed fully...

And of course...how will you pay your consultants?

From personal experience: I contacted a motorcycle gear distributor and they told me that I need a minimum $750 order so that I can get access to their distributor inventory. Unfortunately this would all have to be shipped from the US to Canada because they don't cover shipping, and they don't drop ship. I would also not be able to advertise lower than MSPR prices on my site, but could offer cheaper pricing over the phone so long as it's not advertised.
After researching and looking at the numbers it didn't make much sense to me unless I can get product direct from the MFG instead of a distributor (which won't happen due to small volume included in starting up).