Page 186 - 597 Business Ideas You can Start from Home - doing what you LOVE! (Beginner Internet Marketing Series)

Step 9. Find and Sell to Buyers 1 79

• Attend industry trade shows. Home shopping channels often
send buyers to scout out new pro ducts.

• Use a sales rep. You can find sales reps who sell to every part
of an industry, including home shopping channels. They often
know the buyers and represent many product lines. Consider
using one of these reps if you're too busy to do it yourself or if you
feel you could use someone with insider knowledge. Interview
a sales rep like you would any other professional-get referrals,
recommendations, and review his or her past successes.

Cat alogs and Online-Only Stores

These two outlets sort of fall into the same category because you're
dealing with selling your product via words and pictures only-the
consumer can't pick it up and touch it. That said, people spend bil­
lions of dollars a year buying products online and in catalogs, so
these are important outlets. Be sure to search out catalogs-you'll
likely find many you have never seen before. Another tip: Some
catalogs that are attached to department stores offer items in the
catalog that are not carried in the stores. So don't rule out the cata­
log buyer if you get rejected by the in-store buyer.

Selling to catalogs is sometimes a bit easier because they are
usually smaller operations, so you have a better chance of locating a
specific buyer. Also, catalogs usually have a specific retail focus and
therefore fewer buyers than at a big chain store .

Of course, not all catalog buyers will be easy to reach. Some will
give you the same runaround as the chain stores, so you may have
to send your press kit to a generic department or buyer. If you have
to go that route, follow-up is pretty impossible; you have to either
wait for the rejection letter or a positive response (usually in the
mail or occasionally e-mailed within four to six weeks).

It's tough to generalize about selling to online-only stores (such

as www.amazon.com and www.zappos.com). They're still a relatively

new industry and differ widely in their operations. If you're inter­
ested in getting your product on an online store, search the site for