LifeManagement101, Issue #018 -- Five Things To Outsource in Your Direct Sales Business
March 26, 2008
Dear subscriber,

Five Things To Outsource in Your Direct Sales Business

'Outsourcing' is a hot topic right now, but what is it and can you use it in your direct sales business? Outsourcing is the process by which you pay someone else to do tasks that take you away from making money with your business. Can you use it for direct sales businesses? You sure can! Here are five things you can outsource to make your direct sales business more efficient, and possibly even more profitable.

1. Newsletters

As a direct sales business owner, you have to communicate with your downline. A newsletter is a great way to do this. However, if you're not comfortable writing a newsletter each month, you can outsource this task to someone who is more suited to it.

Find a ghostwriter, someone who will write the content in the newsletter for you. You can still pass it off as your own work. No one on your team needs to be the wiser. You do need to make sure you've read the content, though, just in case someone asks a question about it.

2. New target markets

Hire someone to call your current customer list and ask them some pointed questions. Ask them how old they are, which products they are using, their income bracket, whether they rent or own their home, and how many people are in their family. You may find, after compiling the information, that you have more people in one age and income bracket using your products than any other market. Now you know which new market group to target with your advertising dollar.

3. Autoresponders

Autoresponders, an automatic system of sending pre-written emails to your contact list, are great for saving time and money. You may not understand the concept, but there are people that would be willing to set up your autoresponder system for you. They will be able to create emails for nearly any reason you would send an email, all without having to personally attend to an email system.

4. Drop shipping

If you're in direct sales, you may have one outsourced task already taken care of for you. Many direct sales companies have a process in place where you never have to maintain inventory of the products you sell. This process is called 'drop shipping'. You place the order, tell the system where the order needs to go, and the company sends it to your customer for you. If your sales are brisk and it is keeping you from other work, you may consider outsourcing this task further by hiring someone to input these orders for you.

5. Direct mailing

After you've built up a client list, you'll want to keep in contact with them on a regular basis. You may have created a postcard with coupons and need to mail it out right before a major event or holiday. Paying someone to label and stamp each postcard could be money well spent.

Outsourcing is an excellent way to get more done in your direct sales business. There's no reason that you, as the business owner, must attend to each and every task. Your time and effort would best be spent completing tasks that will help generate a higher income. Even though you may be putting out money by outsourcing these five tasks, it might be some of the best money you've ever spent.