What will I be doing?

Route sales is a home-based business that requires lots of travel. The typical route salesperson may spend 30 or more hours a week on the road traveling from customer to customer.

So what does a route sales business do? It sells products to retailers in a specific territory. An example is a person who sells and delivers candy to convenience stores or laundry to motels along a specific route.

What will I need to start?

To sell a product you must know about it and about competitive products. If you have a candy route you must know varieties, wholesale and retail pricing, packaging, displays and how to best promote your product. You will also need to know who your competitors are and how your product compares in many areas.

You must also know how to be courteous and helpful. In many cases, products are sold by relationships as well as value. Give good, honest service and your products will sell better and you will profit more. You will probably need a delivery vehicle or at least a car in which you travel your route and take orders for later delivery.

Who will my customers be?

Customers for your route sales business include retailers or service businesses. You will be selling on behalf of wholesalers or manufacturers. You are not an employee but an independent contractor. In most cases you will buy the merchandise and wholesale it to the retailers.

How much should I charge?

Route salespeople are paid by commission on sales and sometimes reimbursed for sales expenses (truck, warehouse, etc.). A candy route salesperson will buy candy from a wholesaler or manufacturer and resell it to retail stores. Your prices will be dictated by the wholesaler or manufacturer and market conditions.

How much will I make?

A route salesperson will spend about 25 percent of gross income on overhead expenses, about 50 percent on the product, and keep the other 25 percent as net income (before taxes). Using this ratio, selling $3,000 in merchandise each week will net you about $750 a week or $39,000 a year. Again, much depends on what you sell, how you sell, to whom you sell, how competitive the market is and other factors. Your profits will grow with the experience you gain.

How can I get started?

First, you must be a salesperson. A good salesperson can sell nearly any product. So learn the basics of selling and get some experience in the field to increase your chances of success.

Second, you need a product line. Interview potential customers to find products that offer an opportunity for you. Stay away from selling elephants and bridges as they are too difficult to deliver. Select products that you can deliver as you sell them, reducing transportation costs. Check area telephone books for wholesalers of your product line.

Third, make friends. In an age when retailers order from catalogs and by telephone, a friendly face can get an order—as long as the salesperson is help-
ful and patient.

How can I use computers to increase profits?

Route sales means recordkeeping. Who ordered what? When do they need it? How much did they pay? Will I make any money on the sale? Did I forget to include some expense and cut into my profit? Portable computers, called “notebooks” become the route salesperson’s order book, order tracker, and recordkeeper. You can make your own order book using a standard database program or you can find one tailored to route sales. Talk with other route sales people about the software tools that work for them.