START A ORDER TAKING BUSINESS
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THE TRADESMAN
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Want to Start a Business for under $5000.
By Brian Miner
How about "order taking". $5000 would be a great amount to start advertising. You place ads in newspapers, classifieds
and take phone orders from home at your kitchen table or home office. It would be like an answering service, but you make
a commission for every order you get or appointment you set. A good example would be taking calls for a
contractor or vendor. Lots of business's use order taking companies or private contractors.
You place the ad, take the call and set appointments with a pre-arranged contractor and get a percentage
if they get the job. You may only get a few calls a week so place lots of ads in newspapers, periodicals, phone directories
and maybe hand out fliers. Some newspaper ads are cheap and if you're afraid of losing your $5000, start out small
with a few hundred dollars until your confident that you will get your money back and still make a profit.
Whether you want to take orders for a small business or become a private contractor to a corporate 500,
find the right order management software. They are made for small business, corporate and for individual industries.
Visit other order takers websites and see what they are doing. You can start out modestly
as a semi order taker and answering service with a pencil and pad. A good order taker can make $28,000 a year.
An order taker with professional sales ability can make $55,000 and more. A lot of people
start businesses that they know absolutely nothing about but the idea is if you don't know anything about
the business hire someone that can fill in your weak spots.Not everyone is good at order taking or dealing
directly with the consumer. The industry says a salesperson and order taker are two different trades. It takes
its own talent. The options are to work a live chatbot where basically you text back and forth to take an order.
You can also do e-mail marketing instead. Where you rely on a good sales letter or a website with an online
order form to take orders instead
Good Luck
How To Find a Product or Service to Sell.
First ask yourself what you would really like to do on a daily basis. Do you have a hobby that can be turned
into a business? Buying things low and selling high, not budging on price. Everything is sold but if you asked me to
pick out a needle in a haystack, I would pick out dietary supplements as an example. There are a hundred brands
out there that claim you will lose weight and you have to pick the best one out of 100. One has to be the best,
one that is doctor and trainer recommended. One that actually worked. Do your research online and check
consumer reports to see if they evaluated any weight loss products. If it actually would make you lose weight
it would be priceless. You could get $1000 dollars for a 30-day supply. If you sold a product that you know doesn't work,
you might not feel good at the end of the day. If it actually makes you lose weight you will feel good about
selling your product. A product to believe in. Sell to family, friends, in person sales, ad in a magazine,
online and maybe newspapers. and take the product wherever you go so you don't miss a sale opportunity.
(Example Only) Your One Stop
Shop To Create a Supplement Brand
If you're going to sell on eBay or Amazon pick a product or model that no one else is selling so you don't have to
compete in price with others selling the same model. There would be nothing to compare prices with and you can
set your own comfortable price. You don't have to sell more than one product. to start out. Pick a single product
like a model of an expresso machine or something that sells for over $100 or more. Some manufacturers
and distributers might let you buy as little as ten units.at a time. Most want a 100 or 1000 minimum purchase.
If you joined affiliate programs, try to find a product that pays the highest commission. 15% is usually the
top pay. Most commissions are 3% to 7 %. Dating affiliate programs pay the most with up to 20% to 50% commissions
and if they rejoin monthly, you keep getting credit. You can join affiliate programs (publisher) and sell
a certain item, or you can specialize in sweaters from one or more affiliates. Some affiliates will
let you join with minimum traffic and others aren't so lenient. The Amazon affiliate program lets you join with
minimum traffic. Walmart affiliate program is choosy. You can advertise your affiliate programs on your
social media account, website or sell by email. Don't forget, if you joined affiliate programs there is no
price limit on what to sell. You can pick something that sells for thousands of dollars and get a pretty
good commission. (3% to 15%)
Order Taking
If you work from home and not an office or warehouse you save and can better compete with competitors.
How much money do you have to work with. I picked roofing as an example, here's why. Because it's the only home improvement
that a large amount of money is exchanging hands in one day ($7500 to $12,000) plus your commission.
Real roofers will finish in one day and that's, good because that means they are available again the next day.
If you did decks it would take about a week, kitchens may take weeks and basements take months. so, your contractor
can only do one job a week to months and would be tied up so you can't make any more sales. Remember you just want
to do referrals not start a roofing company. Roofing is dangerous and hard work. The number one lawsuit against
homeowner's is because of asking someone that doesn't belong on a roof.to clean their gutters or check for leaks.
Making one big sale a week is better than making a lot of small sales all day but there's nothing
wrong with work. Small sales add up to big sales. You may just get 4 or 5 calls a week, instead of having to
answer the phone all day long. and that's great if you have kids. Very flexible. Less work. The more you advertise
the more calls you get. You cannot miss a phone call. Respond fast and make appointments before they
call someone else. Where do I advertise? You can start out on craigslist.org for $5 an ad in the skilled trade section.
I happen to know craigslist works good for contractors. Put your ad in every day. Newspapers are okay to
advertise in. Advertisers say they have to see your ad numerous times before they call. Print packs or ads
that are sent in the mail with others business 's are good. Phone directories are good or a must.
They lie around 2 or 3 years, and you still get calls. This would be long term advertising. But expect to pay
thousands for an ad. And if you advertise. by the 1/4 page you might as well include decks, basements,
and kitchen & bath remodeling. You can always turn them down. It wouldn't cost you anymore but stay with roofing.
Find A Product to Sell
thomas directory of american manufacturers - more categories
alibaba global manufacturing trade directory - main category page
global spec - manufacturer & supply directory - must register - free
trade key - manufacturer & suppliers - must register - free
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