The three ways to do Direct Sales

There are three ways in which every sales relationship is initiated.  Either by 1) meeting someone physically, or 2) calling or 3) emailing someone. Each of the ways have advantages or disadvantages that need to be considered.

1. Meeting Physically

In some cases this strategy could work very successfully.  For instance some sales people go to very specific networking events where they can get to meet future clients. 

For instance in a clothing store you might find someone approaching you asking you if you would be interested in their credit card or loyalty card.  Rather than try and contact you over the phone or via email that person sought to contact you by walking up to you physically and starting to talk to you.

A networking event is another example of physically meeting someone.  At a networking event the goal might not be to immediately sell to someone, but rather to introduce yourself and find a time when you might be able to talk more about the services that you offer.

Meeting someone physically can come at a cost and take time, but there is a higher probability that you can immediately show someone the product or services that you are selling and find out if they are interested.

2. Phone Call

Another way of introducing yourself and your business might be through calling your customer on the phone.  The goal with a phone call might be to make the sale, but in most cases the goal is to get an introduction to a physical meeting.

When making a phone call you need some information such as the position or name of the person in the company you are seeking to talk to.  You will also need to know the phone number of the person or the company that you are seeking to sell to.

Using the phone might be intimidating at first, and might also be costly, but once you reach a person on the phone it is much more difficult to ignore the request for a meeting.

3. Written or Electronic Communication

Another way of introducing yourself to the sales relationship is through electronic communication.  In this way, you would send the person that you are introducing yourself to an email or an instant social media message. 

To send someone a connection request on social media might be one form of drawing someone into your network, but it is still quite far away from building and establishing an ongoing relationship with someone.  Think about all the friends you have on Facebook or one of the other social media sites, do you have a relationship with all these people. 

When you connect with someone on a channel like LinkedIn it is important to note that during the time that you connect you have the highest chance of building a relationship.  It might therefore be important to consider how you can write your connection request in such a way that it can lead to higher likelihood of someone responding.

Although electronic communication could be easier to do, more cost effective and less time consuming, it is also easier to ignore. 

Consider for instance all the emails (including junk mail) that you receive daily.  How many of those emails do you ignore?