“A must read for every aspiring entrepreneur. A clear guide to effective and realistic selling for those with a “big idea” who wish to achieve success for their products and to avoid costly and ineffective pitfalls in their quest. The framework balances entrepreneurs’ creativity with a foundation of solid business principles.” --Jim McCann, Founder, 1-800-FLOWERS

Noted entrepreneur, business executive and entrepreneurship professor Cheryl Mayberry McKissack shares the essential inside information every entrepreneur needs in order to found and grow a new venture, with special emphasis on the most critical skill every entrepreneur must master: selling.

A Research Agenda for Sales presents a roadmap of the future of sales. Eight recognized sales scholars discuss ideas that scholars are exploring and that firms can use for success in hypercompetitive markets with demanding customers. Featuring original research and current developments in the field, the chapters focus on critical topics and provide answers to important questions by company leaders and sales scholars.

How to Start a Business About the Book: Unlock the essential steps to launching and managing a successful business with How to Start a Business books. Part of the acclaimed How to Start a Business series, this volume provides tailored insights and expert advice specific to the industry, helping you navigate the unique challenges and seize the opportunities within this field. What You'll Learn Industry Insights: Understand the market, including key trends, consumer demands, and competitive dynamics. Learn how to conduct market research, analyze data, and identify emerging opportunities for growth that can set your business apart from the competition. Startup Essentials: Develop a comprehensive business plan that outlines your vision, mission, and strategic goals. Learn how to secure the necessary financing through loans, investors, or crowdfunding, and discover best practices for effectively setting up your operation, including choosing the right location, procuring equipment, and hiring a skilled team. Operational Strategies: Master the day-to-day management of your business by implementing efficient processes and systems. Learn techniques for inventory management, staff training, and customer service excellence. Discover effective marketing strategies to attract and retain customers, including digital marketing, social media engagement, and local advertising. Gain insights into financial management, including budgeting, cost control, and pricing strategies to optimize profitability and ensure long-term sustainability. Legal and Compliance: Navigate regulatory requirements and ensure compliance with industry laws through the ideas presented. Why Choose How to Start a Business books? Whether you're wondering how to start a business in the industry or looking to enhance your current operations, How to Start a Business books is your ultimate resource. This book equips you with the knowledge and tools to overcome challenges and achieve long-term success, making it an invaluable part of the How to Start a Business collection. Who Should Read This Book? Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Individuals looking to start their own business. This book offers step-by-step guidance from idea conception to the grand opening, providing the confidence and know-how to get started. Current Business Owners: Entrepreneurs seeking to refine their strategies and expand their presence in the sector. Gain new insights and innovative approaches to enhance your current operations and drive growth. Industry Professionals: Professionals wanting to deepen their understanding of trends and best practices in the business field. Stay ahead in your career by mastering the latest industry developments and operational techniques. Side Income Seekers: Individuals looking for the knowledge to make extra income through a business venture. Learn how to efficiently manage a part-time business that complements your primary source of income and leverages your skills and interests. Start Your Journey Today! Empower yourself with the insights and strategies needed to build and sustain a thriving business. Whether driven by passion or opportunity, How to Start a Business offers the roadmap to turning your entrepreneurial dreams into reality. Download your copy now and take the first step towards becoming a successful entrepreneur! Discover more titles in the How to Start a Business series: Explore our other volumes, each focusing on different fields, to gain comprehensive knowledge and succeed in your chosen industry.

"After I sent my team to the Question Based Selling program, not only was the feedback from the training outstanding, but we experienced an immediate positive impact in results."—Jim Cusick, vice president of sales, SAP America, Inc. "Following the program, even our most experienced salespeople raved, saying QBS was the best sales training they have ever experienced!"—Alan D. Rohrer, director of sales, Hewlett Packard For nearly fifteen years, The Secrets of Question Based Selling has been helping great salespeople live you deliver big results. It's commonsense approach has become a classic, must-have tool that demonstrates how asking the right questions at the right time accurately identifies your customer's needs. But consumer behavior and sales techniques change as rapidly as technology—and there are countless contradictory sales training programs promising results. Knowing where you should turn to for success can be confusing. Now fully revised and updated, The Secrets of Question Based Selling provides a step-by-step, easy-to-follow program that focuses specifically on sales effectiveness—identifying the strategies and techniques that will increase your probability of success. How you sell has become more important than the product. With this hands-on guide, you will learn to: Penetrate more accounts Overcome customer skepticism Establish more credibility sooner Generate more return calls Motivate different types of buyers Develop more internal champions Close more sales...faster And much, much more

An artist doesn't need to starve for their passion. Outdoor shows, brick and mortar locations, the internet and the availability of more venues has made it easier for creative entrepreneurs to showcase and sell their work. Selling artwork is, however, a competitive endeavor, and that has forced artists to produce beautiful and quality work that is competitively priced. To be successful with your ambition, you need to crunch the numbers, gradually build your business and create sales in low-cost venues before you move on to bigger arenas.Selling artwork or anything for that matter is an important business skill. Not everybody possesses the gift or talent to venture into the life of selling. However with this in mind, we should at least be able to sell one thing: and that's ourselves. For an entrepreneur, your ability to convince potential buyers that you are someone capable of doing business with is vital for success. There's no secret between the connection of art and money. A shocking idea is one that states that no artist is destined for starvation and poverty. If you are a passionate and creative artist, you can make some good money from your work, feel great about it and generate a massive following of supporters for your career. And that's true! You may ask yourself why so many artists falter in the quest to make a living from art? The positive thing however is that many artists fail simply not because they don't have the creativity or talent to produce great work, but rather because they haven't been adequately trained to represent themselves properly to build customer bases and actually sell their amazing work. If you look at it this way, the olden day way of generating fame and fortune as an artist was about receiving favors of gatekeepers. Starting with patronage systems in Europe all the way to museums and galleries of our modern days. The olden way was simply about groveling for endorsements for outsiders, who at the time collected massive percentages of what artists earned in exchange for representation. This was of course very effective for the gatekeepers. Although the olden day method still works for a fewer number of artists, the drawback is its zero-sum game, which makes it hard to break in. The good thing is that there are more clear alternatives.

The Power of Direct Selling. Direct selling is not an industry per se nor is it merely a go-to-market business model and channel to reach consumers. It is bigger than any of this - direct selling is people. The ability for people with entrepreneurial spirit to build a successful business, whether it be from the ground up or by representing a company's product, is at the heart of direct selling and it is people who made (and continue to make) direct selling the successful marketplace that it is today. The direct selling marketplace is comprised of mission-driven and socially responsible companies offering a wide variety of product and services, and the list of direct selling companies is abundant with entrepreneurs who built their businesses by utilizing an independent salesforce channel to market and sell their products or services directly to consumers. Possibly one of the most prominent of these entrepreneurs is Mary Kay Ash, a legend as a glass-ceiling breaker and a woman who built a very successful business with a go-to-market strategy of direct selling. Unlike Mary Kay Ash, however, not all aspiring business owners are willing/able to invest their savings and time on a start-up business. These micro-entrepreneurs desire to have the economic and social benefits of managing their own businesses but do not want the startup costs and demands associated with traditional business planning. As such, becoming a direct selling distributor offers a low-risk, low-cost pathway to micro-entrepreneurship. The traditional barriers to small business ownership are removed when a micro-entrepreneur builds a direct selling business that is backed by established brands. These established brands, several of which are featured in this book, offer the micro-entrepreneurs quality products, business training, and technological resources to achieve a self-determined metric of success. Framed within the context of entrepreneurship and an historical overview of the long-term sustainability of this business model, this book is intended for practitioners who want to read about the breadth and depth of direct selling. Importantly, this book provides considerable depth in terms of three particular issues associated with direct selling: Compensation, Ethics & compliance, and Global reach. For scholars, this book is built on a strong foundation of valid and reliable research endeavors. The authors have published research on direct selling in high quality, reputable and peer-reviewed academic and practitioner journals. Thus, this book can add foundationally to the research efforts of academics who are conducting research in a wide variety of topics (such as sales, women empowerment, business strategy, ethics, distribution models, gig economy, and global entry - to name a few), as well as to members of the press who want reliable and valid content upon which to build their stories. The book's content is also particularly informative for policymakers at the local, state, national, and international levels. For students, reading this book will offer a variety of insights, particularly related to the intricacies of channel selection and design. Direct Selling: A Global and Social Business Model is a collective project from eight academics and practitioners who have dedicated much of their careers to understanding direct selling as both a go-to-market strategy and a channel of distribution and to capturing the people who are the foundation of direct selling. The pages of this book bring together a wealth of research and knowledge that can inform a broad spectrum of constituents about the economic and social benefits of direct selling, while also providing detail and clarity on key issues related to direct selling as a sustainable business model.