The main ingredient to success with sales reps is to provide them with materials, which are easy to use, such as catalogs with prices clearly marked. If you have the right marketing materials and the right products, there is no reason you can't create a network of sales reps, which expands throughout the country. 

For those who are more serious about setting up a professional sales network very quickly and who have some money to invest in this, there is a service, which can locate sales reps for you in any part of the country you desire. The company, called Gift Marketing, has a computerized database which includes most of the professional sales reps in the country. It mainly handles gift items, but also includes almost all other categories of consumer products, such as house-wares, office supplies, auto accessories, and electronics. Their service is fairly expensive, but is a great way to set up a sales network quickly. Their address is Gift Marketing, 735 Sunrise Avenue, Suite 215, Roseville CA 95661, telephone 916-784-2300. 

Marketing Through Mail Order 

Another way to increase your sales volume is to use mail order as a marketing technique. It has the obvious advantage that your market can become virtually unlimited, if you sell through the mail. Basically, the whole country becomes your market, instead of just your local area. Mail order also has the advantage that it does not require a large amount of capital. You can test ads for just a few hundred dollars. It also allows you a larger profit margin than selling through sales reps. 

To thoroughly cover this topic is beyond the scope of this book, but we can give a few broad guidelines and can recommend where you can get more information. 

The best way to start is to find a product that you like which is not very easy to find in stores. Then create an enticing offer for this product, which includes some kind of bonus or some kind of special limited discount. With your offer, put together an ad, which emphasizes the value of the product to the buyer, or gives a reason to the buyer why he must have it right now. 

Place your ad in only one magazine as a test. Pick the magazine based on other similar ads being in the magazine. Have a follow up product ready even before you place the ad, or have a catalog ready that you can send to the customer. When you receive orders, be sure to fill them right away, and include with the product an ad or catalog to sell more products to the same customer. If the ad makes a good profit, branch out into other magazines. 

The final topic of this chapter deals with selling to retail stores and businesses. This can be a very large market, but is only possible to take on if you have a certain type of supplier. If you want to sell to a retail store, you must find a supplier who is set up to help you do this. In most cases, the retail store is already buying from the same supplier you are dealing with, and therefore there is no way you can make money by selling to them. 

In this way, the world of wholesaling does open up to you. It can be very profitable, especially if you can find a supplier that is not yet widely known among retail stores (such as National Wholesale Company), and that offers a program for you to be a representative. Because this is such an interesting field, we have set aside the next chapter to discuss some basic features of this market. 

MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT WHOLESALING 

Wholesaling (selling products in volume to retail stores) is a very profitable business, if you have a good product, some patience, and like to deal with people. Let's say you are selling office products and supplies. To get an idea of how large the market is in your area, just take a walk down one of the streets in town and count the number of stores you pass. All of these stores, including gift stores, office supply stores, stationery stores, electronics stores, camera stores, computer stores, convenience stores, luggage stores, novelty stores, and book stores will probably carry some type of office supply. They must buy these products from someone and, most likely, they are buying from someone in their area. In fact, they are probably buying from many different companies.