Direct Sales Vs MLM

By Brian Watkin 

As the economy continues to crumble many people are searching for ways to either augment their income or to replace a job that they've already lost. Even those people who are still working are very concerned about losing their jobs and are seeking opportunities to solve this problem. One place that many people are turning to is the direct sales industry. Due to its association with multilevel marketing (MLM) however, many people are reluctant to get involved with it.

In the age of the Internet, the direct sales industry is nothing at all like MLM. Old school MLM was a painful and tedious process that required participants to call on family and friends while soliciting sales. This "warm list" would be pestered to buy products and-even better-to join the opportunity. These activities resulted in strained friendships and relationships and very rarely yielded sales. For this reason, the failure rate in MLM is extraordinarily high-about 97%.

The new direct sales model is entirely different because it uses sophisticated Internet technologies to make the process of marketing and lead generation highly efficient. In new age direct selling, the prospects come to you instead of you chasing them. The hunter becomes the hunted and instead of spending endless hours pounding the pavement or dialing for dollars, the direct sales entrepreneur can focus on more important tasks. By spending more time closing business and building relationships, an internet-based direct sales business can become extremely profitable very quickly.

Direct selling today combines state-of-the-art Internet tools that weren't even available 10 years ago. Now often referred to as Web 2.0 technology, savvy direct marketers use a combination of websites, blogs, auto responders, articles, press releases, and social networks to promote their message and generate leads. Sometimes called attraction marketing, or magnetic sponsoring, the intent is to have qualified prospects come to you having already done their research and who are ready to buy.

Another aspect of today's direct selling environment is the concept of GPT (get paid today) where prospective customers make a small purchase as they move through the sales pipeline. The money they spend helps to sustain the marketing effort and to keep the new entrepreneur in the game.

For these reasons, anyone considering a move into direct marketing in order to combat the stress of the recession is looking in the right direction. The best approach is to go online and conduct research in order to find an opportunity that will fit your lifestyle and meet your professional goals.

Brian Watkin is a business coach and mentor based out of Ontario, Canada that assists serious entrepreneurs in building a profitable online business with multiple incomes streams. For more information and to contact Brian, visit: [http://www.mlmcoffeeshocked.com]

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