3 Steps To Creating A Successful Online Salesforce

“These people are investing time, money and energy right now into a business that is going to pay them for the rest of their life, and I think that’s the key difference.” Chris Peddycord, Market America | SHOP.COM’s Vice President of Business Integration

In today’s fast-paced world, consumers are frequently turning to online shopping; can we blame them? With current conditions affecting consumers’ ability to safely go to stores in person, more and more people are turning to online retail. Today, almost everything you need is at the click of a button, giving consumers little reason to leave their homes. As such, the surge in online shopping is no surprise to anyone. So, how are online retailers working to keep up with the demand?

With this transition comes the challenge for many companies to create not just any sales force, but a successful online sales force. Market America’s business model has come up with the essential steps in creating a thriving online sales force for its online global eCommerce platform, SHOP.COM. Their unique sales force is made up of independent distributors known as UnFranchise Owners (UFOs). Part of the company for over 13 years, Chris Peddycord, Market America | SHOP.COM’s Vice President of Business Integration, says that there are three steps to guarantee a prosperous online salesforce, or in Market America | SHOP.COM’s case, UFOs. These three steps include making sure the independent distributors understand the value of the products, educating them on how to be successful at distribution, and strengthening their prospecting abilities.

1. Understanding

What better way to understand the value of a product than by experiencing it firsthand? Peddycord discusses how important it is for the UnFranchise Owners to use the products themselves to establish personal value. This way, UFOs will have a connection and appreciation for the value of the product, creating an organic admiration that is an underrated essential in marketing. These testimonials show potential customers, as well as potential UFOs, that they are not advocating for these products solely because it benefits them monetarily, but because they added true personal value to their lives. Peddycord says this can be best described as “becoming a product of a product,” as Founder, Chairman & CEO of Market America | SHOP.COM Worldwide JR Ridinger told him.

2. Educating

Next comes education. An uninformed salesforce leads to an uninformed customer, leaving room for all sorts of trouble. The best way to ensure that no one is left in the dark is by educating the online sales force on the “hows” and “whys” of success. Peddycord discusses that Market America | SHOP.COM created a new online learning center that plays a large role in ensuring that all UFOs are fully informed on everything and anything they could need to know. This learning center tool is accessible to only UFOs and the UnFranchise Business marketing team. It creates vital assets such as quarterly and monthly reports that follow product trends, a list of prospects for UFO outreach, and keeps them informed on up and coming Market America | SHOP.COM products.

3. Prospecting

Last, but most definitely not least, is prospecting. With finding new potential customers, a sales force team will often run into objection. Peddycord says that teaching their UFOs how to overcome this objection is one of many key factors in successful prospecting at Market America | SHOP.COM. One way Market America goes about this is by assigning a senior partner to assist new UFOs in calls. This way, the senior partner can demonstrate to the new UFO how to overcome an objection.

Throughout the years, Market America | SHOP.COM, a global product brokerage and internet marketing company that specializes in One-to-One Marketing, has built an incredibly strong online presence, getting their products in front of customers, while watching stores come and go. Online shopping is undeniably the direction consumers are headed toward in the future. Peddycord put it perfectly when he said, “These people are investing time, money and energy right now into a business that is going to pay them for the rest of their life, and I think that’s the key difference. When people go sell a car, it’s great, and they put money in their pocket for that car that they sold but it’s not paying for the rest of their life.” The incredible heart and effort put into a sales force like Market America | SHOP.COM’s will undoubtedly pay off in the future.

About The Author

Hayden McConnell is the Public Relations Assistant at Market America | SHOP.COM. She is a senior at Elon University with a major in Professional Writing and Rhetoric. Her passions include writing, digital art, and creating.

About Market America

Market America is a global product brokerage and internet marketing company that specializes in one-to-one marketing and is the creator of The Shopping Annuity.