1. Overview 

You need to know where and how people want to buy your goods or use your services, as well as the best way to let people know about them. 
You can reach more people if you use more ways to sell. But each service costs more. If you add a new channel and then find that it takes sales away from an established channel without adding any new sales, you'll have spent more money on something that didn't help you much. 
This article talks about the main ways you can sell your products. It tells you what their pros and cons are and how to make the most of them. 

2. Sales in person 

There are several benefits to selling your goods directly to a customer in person: 
• you can explain and even show how to use complicated goods 
• you can find out more about what the customer wants; 

• You can get to know them better; and 

• You can use your sales skills to get them to buy. 
There are also some bad things about selling in person: 
• It's the most expensive way to sell because it requires more people and space. 
•It can take a long time and cost a lot to travel. A seller who works on the road might be on the road all day for just one meeting. Plan your trips so that you can meet several people in the same area if you can. 
Going to a store to sell something in person might cost more than it's worth. However, if the customer then buys more than once, the cost will be worth it. 
Face-to-face sales are best for high-value and complicated goods and services; making the first touch with a key target customer; and improving relationships with current customers. 
 

3. Sales through stores, dealers, and wholesalers 

To reach your customers more cheaply, you might want to sell through a middleman instead of directly to them. 
If your buyers are businesses that like to do business with big providers, you might not be able to sell straight to them. Instead, you might want to work with suppliers who already work with those companies. 
If people buy small amounts of your goods on their own, it might be best to go after stores that sell related items. Some people choose to focus on a small group of suppliers since they can then sell your goods to many stores. 
Taking care of your suppliers 
Take a look at how you price your goods. Distributors will be more interested if they can make a lot of money, but if you set the price too low, your profits will go down. 
Advertising and ads that work can be very important. Distributors will want to stock and sell more of the things that customers ask for. 
A signed contract should spell out the most important parts of the supply agreement. Some important things to think about are: how much stock the distributor will keep; what the distributor will do to promote your products; how quickly you can restock what the minimum order size is; whether the distributor has exclusive rights to your product (for example, in a certain territory); and what happens if you or the distributor want to end the relationship. 

4. Selling from afar

If you sell something over the phone, by mail, on the internet, or on digital TV, you are doing distance selling. 
Distance selling can help you reach customers who are hard to reach, get return orders from customers you already have, and reach new markets through the Internet. 
The costs are a lot cheaper than if you went to customers' homes or had a store. But there are some problems, like: 
• you can't show off your goods 
• it can be hard to get someone to trust you without meeting them 
A lot of companies find that offering standard items like books and CDs over the Internet saves them money because the customer already knows what they'll be getting. 
Once you've met the customer and built a bond with them, distance selling can also be a great way to get them to buy from you again. 
When you call a customer, you can not only remind them to reorder or buy new items, but you can also give them a chance to ask questions. 
How to sell things from afar 
If you're selling to people, you have to give them basic information like the name of your business, how to reach you, and information about the product, delivery, and price. In most cases, the customer has the right to return things within a certain amount of time. 
If you have a website for your limited company or limited liability partnership business, it needs to have information like your full name and address. 
There are also limits on how you can hold and use personal information and send emails to specific people. 

5. Doing business abroad

When you sell something abroad, you should think about: 
• Do you have the money and other tools to take advantage of the market? 
• Have you done the study you need to do on the market? 
• Do you know what the rules are in this area? 
• How are you going to handle payment and delivery? 
• What kind of service will you offer after the sale? 
You have to handle all of these problems on your own if you want to sell directly to people overseas, but it can be a pretty easy choice. One way to market your business overseas would be to set up an online store that takes orders from other countries. Another would be to attend trade shows. 
You might also want to work with a dealer or agent who already knows the local market and has the contacts you need. 
Setting up your neighborhood footprint can be the hardest choice, but it could also be the most satisfying. You could, for instance, open a neighborhood office or start a business with someone else. 
When you use a salesperson 
you don't have to hire, train, and pay your workers if you hire an outside sales firm. A good salesperson should already know the right people and have the right skills. 
Use salespeople to: 
• Make sales without spending a lot of money 
• Getting to niche and international markets 
It is important to have a clear, written understanding. If the agent is only responsible for a certain foreign country, you might not be able to sell directly or use any other agents in that country. The contract should also say how the agent will be paid (usually a commission on sales) and whether you will pay for any of their costs. You should also be told how to end the relationship and what compensation you might have to pay if you do. 
Problems with the law 
legally, a person working for you as a Sales Manager in India could be thought of as an employee. You would have to treat the Sales Manager the same as any other employee, which means you would have to do things like pay EPF, ESIC, and Tax Compliance. 
It's not always easy, even if an individual worker is not an employee: 
• Depending on the situation, you could be held responsible for what the person did. 
• If you don't provide enough stock, for example, you could be held responsible for any money the Sales loses. 
• Indian laws can make it hard to end an employee's contract without giving them money. 
A good idea before signing any contract deal is to talk to a lawyer. 

7. Management of sales routes

Your business can do better if you use more than one way to sell things. But it can also lead to several problems. 
Aside from face-to-face sales, most other platforms put you away from the customer. This means that talking to each other is important. You should make sure that: 
• the method gets the message across; whether it's a salesperson or a direct mail letter 
• your buyers trust you to give them good items or services are extra careful if the same customer is reached by multiple routes. Let's say you have a store that sells books and an online store that also sells books. What will people do if they find out that your prices are different? What will your wholesalers or agencies do if you fight with them in other ways? 
You have to take care of each medium you use. You should regularly check how each channel is doing; think about how you can help the channel, such as through advertising, customer service, and so on; and compare the number of sales the channel brings to its running costs. 
• Think about whether the sales that come from that avenue are new or that you would have made anyway. 
Check out our article on how to start selling online.

How to Sell: The Basics 
You should think about what the best ways and methods of sales are for your product or service before you start selling it.

1. Overview 

For an edge in the market, you should know a lot about your own business, your competitors' businesses, and the market as a whole. You also need to make a sales plan and guess how much money you will make. 
This guide will show you the important things a business needs to do before it can sell a product or service. For example, it will show you how to bring a product to market, make a sales plan, and make sales contracts. 
2. Get ready to sell
there are several things you should think about before you sell your service or goods. 
Share of the market 
Market share is the amount of a market's sales that one brand, product, or company controls. It can be found in several ways, such as 
• sales volume 
• sales income 
You can get a bigger part of the market by giving potential customers more value, like by making the quality of your products better; lowering your prices; adding new routes of marketing, or making existing ones work harder; 
• sales pitch — spending more money on ads 
Types of 
A niche is a small part of a market that is good for a certain set of goods or services that fill a certain need. Find customer needs or wants that your rivals aren't meeting and offer goods that meet those needs or wants. This will help you build a niche market. 
Plan for marketing 
a well-thought-out marketing plan is important for your business; it will be a part of your total business plan. Read our guide on how to write a business plan to learn more. 
Message from the brand 
you should think about what your brand stands for before you start selling something. Read our advice on branding: the basics to learn more. 
Ways to sell 
you should think about which ways of selling will work best for your company, such as selling in person, online, through wholesalers, or sales reps. Read our guide on sales channels: your choices to learn more. 

3. Advertising for sales

To get people to buy your goods or services, you will need to advertise them. Incentives like extra points, vouchers, money-off coupons, contests, and prize draws are some examples. So are advertising messages sent through new media like websites and cell phones. 
• gifts or samples 
• lower prices 
• point-of-sale tools and product demos 
• ads that run together 
• fair-trade and cause-related goods, like those that help nonprofits; 
• finance deals, like buy now pay later or no or low-interest loans; 
Social media can also be used to boost sales. For example, you could hold a contest or offer a deal for a short time. It's also a way to talk to people and get their thoughts. Check out our tips on how to use social media. 
Pricing 
There are lots of ways to set a product's price, such as: 
• luxury pricing: charging a lot for special items or services 
• Penetration pricing: a price that is artificially low to get a bigger share of the market before the price goes up; 
• Economy pricing: a low price that doesn't come with any extras, usually found on economy brands; 
• Promotional pricing: a price that is raised to field marketing getting trained people to do study on a product or service is part of field marketing. 
Field marketing has many benefits, such as 
• Meeting possible customers in person; 
• Being able to quickly and effectively reach special markets; 
• Being able to combine field marketing with other marketing methods in-store and online; 
• building a brand—trade shows and events help people remember your brand 
Displaying goods 
Merchandising is the process of showing your goods to people who might buy them. 
You need to know who your customers are and make: 
• products, services, logos, storefronts, and signs that look good 
• nice place to shop or do business—the inside is clean and friendly, and the products are well-displayed 

4. Licensing your product

You might want to think about selling your business idea to a well-known company if you want to get it up and running quickly. 
Before you look for licensing partners, you should make sure that your idea is private, which means that it can only be made, offered, or sold by one person. You should also look into possible partners and the rules of the business. 
To protect your rights, you should talk to a lawyer and use a non-disclosure deal. You should also protect your idea with some kind of intellectual property. 
Showing off your stuff 
you will have to persuade a business to give you a cut of the sales of your product or service. 
You can make a sample or idea picture of your product to do this. You could also write a sales pitch for your idea that describes your new method, strategy, or anything else that makes your product different from others on the market. 
Check out the market 
before a full launch, you should test your product or service to see if you want to keep going with it. 

5. Sales contracts 

A sales contract is a deal between a buyer and a seller that spells out their rights and duties. 
Customers agree to the rules of the sale when they pay for a thing. These are the rules, terms, and guarantees that you can put on bills, receipts, your website, or in your shop. 
As soon as an offer is made and accepted, there is a sales contract. You don't have to follow these terms of trade unless you agree to them first. Customers who depend on what salespeople say are likely to be legally bound by what they say, even if it's not in writing. 
Laws against unfair trade and protecting consumers 
one easy thing you can do to follow most sales rules is to stay away from unfair dealing and false marketing. 
The Sale of Goods Act says that any goods you sell must at least: 
• Match what they say they are; 
• be of good enough quality and fit their purpose; 
When you sell services, you have to follow the same rules. 
Other important sales laws 
the rules for distance selling will apply if you sell on the Internet, by mail order, or over the phone. These rules give people some right to cancel orders. Check out our guide on how to sell things online: the basics for more information. 
You should talk to a lawyer to find out about any other rules that might apply to your goods or services, like those that deal with customer credit and data security. 
You will also need to know about any sales contracts you have to sign with wholesalers or sellers. 
Making a deal to sell something
It's important that your sales contract clearly states who the contract is between and what is being bought and sold, as well as the price and terms of payment. It should also include information about any guarantees and the buyer's or seller's responsibilities. 

6. Sales forecasts 

A sales estimate is a list of the number of sales you think you will make each month. Every business makes a sales plan once a year. 
To help you guess how many sales you'll get, you can ask yourself the following: 
• How many new clients do you get every year? 
• How many clients do you lose every year? 
• How many items do you usually sell to each customer? 
• Do you get or lose more people than usual at certain times of the year? 
Since every year is different, you should think about any changes that might have a big effect on your sales. 
Your forecast is based on these things, which are called the sales prediction assumptions. 
Some common beliefs are: 
• Will your market or part of the market grow or shrink? 
• your resources—for example, will you change how many employees you have or how much you spend on ads? 
• Getting past sales barriers—for example, could moving your business or lowering your prices help you make more sales? 
• your goods—do you have any new items coming out? 
Assumptions about new businesses should be built on study into the market and good sense. 
There are many ways to guess what sales will be. Based on past data, this program makes predictions. If you want to buy software, talk to an IT expert, your trade group, your business advisors, or companies that are the same size and in the same market. 
Prediction mistakes that happen a lot include: 
• being too optimistic—new businesses shouldn't figure out how many sales they need to make the business work and then use that number as their prediction—not making your estimate realistic—not taking into account your own sales assumptions 
• changing the goalposts: make sure your prediction is set in stone and agreed upon by a certain date. 
• You're not getting feedback—have an accountant or seller look over the sheet. 

7. Plans for sales 

after you're sure of your sales forecast; you can make a sales plan. This is what your sales plan should answer: 
• what are you going to focus on? 
• What are you going to alter? 
• How many steps are there? 
• How big of an area and how many sales goals are you going to give each seller or team? 
The sales plan will begin with some long-term goals. To give you some examples: 
• get into the local government market by making changes to your product; 
• open a store in a place you think will bring in a lot of customers; 
• raise the average sale per customer 
after that, you can talk about the steps that will help you reach your goals. Set SMART goals, which stand for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. 
Let's say you want to break into the local authority market. Your first steps might be to: hire a salesperson with experience in that market by the beginning of February and pay them a base annual salary of Rs. 360000; train the salesperson completely by the middle of April; and make sure that any changes agreed upon by the product development team are ready to be tested by the start of April. 
In addition to planning for new goods and markets, you should also talk about how you plan to boost sales and profits for the ones you already have. 
Figure out how you could get rid of sales barriers by: 
• Making the sales team more active - by making more calls every day or by visiting customers more often each week. 
• Getting more calls to turn into sales, either by giving salespeople better training, making sales support tools better, or offering better benefits to make sales. 
Check out our help. Sales channels: what you can do.