#2: No Middleman

A middleman is someone who steps in between you and the supplier and takes out a bit of your profit. This happens because the “middleman” buys from the supplier and then sells the products to you at a profit. That means you're selling to your end consumer at a higher cost and lower profit for you. You can see why I'm stressing the point of not using a middleman. Drop ship suppliers with your best interest at heart should not be middlemen.

Another problem with middlemen is that you can only sell what they have in stock. If you get a drop ship directory without a middleman, you have a nearly endless selection.

#3: Diversity in Products and Wholesale Suppliers

Make sure that any drop ship directory you sign up with has diversity in the products and suppliers they carry. Signing up with a drop ship directory without diversity will be severely detrimental to your business. Let's say you want to sell i-pods. You sign up with a drop ship directory you believe has i-pods. When it comes down to it, they only had one supplier and that supplier was not accepting any more clients.

You next decide you would like to sell cordless drills. This drop ship directory doesn't sell drills. Now you're in a bit of a bind because the drop ship directory you began to use is useless to you. There is a solution to this problem. Ask the drop ship directory about how many categories of products they have before you sign up to use the directory. Doing this will help you ensure that you can find the products you want to sell.

#4: Your Best Interest In Mind, Customer Service

A good customer service consultant realizes that he/she is there to help the customer, hence, “customer service”. They should have the customer's best interest at heart and want to help them succeed. They should not lose their temper or become overbearing. A customer should be able to express his/her issues with the company and feel that they have received a legitimate explanation.

If your a customer service representative, it's okay to put yourself in the customers shoes in order to help solve their problems, in fact, a great customer service consultant will do this. They will empathize with their customer. Realize, however, that empathizing does not mean giving the customer everything they want. A customer has a few things to remember too like the fact that they're dealing with a business that needs to make money in order to pay employees and make a living for themselves.

Top 5 Must-Haves of a Drop ship Directory

This post and the following four posts will be about the top five necessities that must be found in a drop ship directory before signing up with the directory.

#5: Excellent Customer Service

It's very important to make sure that the drop ship directory you plan to use has excellent customer service. If they don't have excellent customer service, then you may find yourself lost in an abyss of endless questions about how the directory works. Some ways you can make sure that a high quality customer service exists is to put it to the test and to take mental notes.

Put the customer service to the test by asking a few questions that you may have. If the customer service associates are courteous and answer your questions in a timely manor than you know they have good customer service and may very possibly have your best interest at heart.

Brainstorm, Research, Discuss, Then Dropship, In That Order

We get a lot of calls here at GoGo Dropship from people who are really interested in dropshipping, but they don't quite know how to find a product that sells. You see, the problem is that a lot of people get so involved with products they think are the next best thing since sliced bread that they forget to do their research on those products.

Please make sure that you are not choosing a product simply because you like it. Choose a product that is going to be useful and appealing to your customers as a whole. While I was going to college I was working in a fairly large craft store. I remember the day I walked in to see the freight I was to put out on the floor that day. In those boxes were some of the most hideous bags. The bag itself was useful enough but the design on some of the bags was horrific. I remember realizing right then that we were not going to be able to sell those bags very quickly.

What was the problem? Well, I think that the owner who ordered the bags did not look into the market surrounding her. Here she had a university blocks away from her store and a town full of younger generations and she was selling bags designed for older women.

Research had not been done, adding to the disaster. You see, had there been research into the competition it would have revealed that the local university bookstore was selling the exact same style of bags with better designs for a third as much as the craft store was trying to sell them for.

The lesson to be learned here is that research is a necessity to achieve success. Don't just wing it and assume that everyone has the same tastes as you; people need options and you need to give them good ones.

My Dropshipping Thought Process

I went to a 4th of July parade this weekend and heard someone say that the economy must have hit this parade. It made me think about the economy and how it is effecting everyone in some way or another. It also helped me realize just how important every dollar is to some families in America and throughout the world. Which eventually led to my thinking about the people who have made extra spending money by starting an online business even on eBay.

Seriously though, I think just about anyone can make a profit on eBay if they are willing to pay the price. There are those who say that it isn't possible, but I have seen it work for people around me. It is because of the misconception that dropshipping cannot be done on eBay that we created the eBay Weekly Seller Report. There is further information about the eBay Weekly Seller Report in a previous blog post.

Dropshipping With Direction and Focus

Let's assume that you now have a product to sell, and you've had direct contact with the supplier. Now what do you do? You found a product but you're not sure how to design your web site to fit the product and your target consumer. In fact, you're not sure who your target consumer is. This post will briefly cover some questions you need to answer before moving on with your business.

What's My Target Market?

Okay, first determine what demographic your target fits into. Let's say you're selling makeup on your site. I think we can safely assume most of your customers, if not all, are going to be women. Your target could have other demographics such as age.

How Do I Market to My Target?

So, now that we know you're marketing to women, it's very important to show that on your website. Let's take Mary Kay for example. If you go to their website you will find that it features pictures of women in their 20-30's and contains shades of pink. There's one particular picture of a woman with long-stem roses around her. This is advertising the new bridal virtual makeover. You see, if I were in my 20-30's and getting married or knew anyone getting married, I would relate to this image.

This has been a very brief overview of just a couple questions to ask yourself. It's not all-inclusive; it's simply a reminder to look into different aspects of your target market and begin with direction and focus.