Q - Do I have any legal obligations as a franchise owner? What are they?
A - Yes. As a home business owner, you are still required to have a business license in your state and possible even your county, depending on state regulations. As a business owner, you will be required to report all sales tax collected through the duration of your business.
Q - I have never sold anything before, what is the best tip you can give me for beginning in sales?
A - Sales are easily made when you are offering a product that is in high demand. Often times, you will have to find a niche with your products to separate your self and your business from the rest of the pack. Maybe your niche can be a unique product within the industry, or unique services that none of your competitors offer. This will help your business stand out from the rest. And once you find your niche….. Dominate it!
If you provide customers with products their looking for, you will never have to push to make the sale. When your selling a product or service that everyone needs, your not going to have spend too much time convincing the customer to buy your products. By opening a store on the internet, selling has become much easier. People can actually search for your product or service nation wide, so it becomes easier and more cost effective to sell your products and services online if possible.
Drop Shipping is a great way to get started in a home based business. Not only does it allow you to sell without keeping inventory, but since there are drop shippers for just about any product you can think of, building these kind of relationships can allow you to quickly expand your business into new and lucrative markets.
Like any good thing, however, there are a few things you should keep in mind before jumping into a drop shipping relationship. About.com and EZarticles both have great articles on a few of these caveats, here are our five favorite tips:
Find A Drop Shipper With Data Feeds
Save yourself tons of time and frustration….try to go with suppliers that have a data feed so you can easily bulk upload their resources onto your site. This will get your dropshipping business started almost instantly!
Find A “Blind” Dropshipper
A blind dropshipper will ship the products under your companies name, NOT their own. If they do not blind dropship….what is the point?
Pick A Drop Shipper With Brand Name Products
What do the people want? Give the people what they want…and the money will come. If they do not offer name brand products, then how do they compare? Will people on eBay buy your nameless sneakers for the same price as the other guy selling Sketchers? Do your homework….don’t just jump on the first good supplier you come across.
Plan for returns and other issues
Using a drop shipper has many benefits. It may also have some headaches. Backorders, lost shipments and returns are all part of retailing. These are issues retailers can plan for but when using a drop shipper, some of these issues are beyond our control. Be prepared for these instances by discussing policies and expectations with the drop shipper ahead of time.
Carefully choose your product
To be profitable in drop shipping, use the same product selection criteria for a drop shipped product as you would for any other line in your retail store. Select one that will sell in sufficient quantity and at a sufficient mark-up to make money. Margins on these items can be slightly lower as no overhead or shipping is required.