About the lose their interest first. Factors want to buy good "paper." If they start with you and the debts they buy become troublesome they will simply stop buying them from you. Most factors have a "no recourse" clause in their agreements, which means once they take the debt you no longer have to worry about it. This is good for you, but bad for them. So, if you go out and start selling to every tom, **** and harry with bad credit, they will simply cut you off.
No need to say any more about the product. Home wares is fine. It's a market I know nothing about, but it does suggest that you will be selling to everyone from Marks & Spencer to the local "mom & pop."
Department stores and chains have buyers whose major job is selecting what to offer for sale. Larger companies will have various buyers for specific departments. Just getting in the door to see a buyer can be a real excercise. For them I would say having a booth at a trade show would be a start. I doubt that anything through the mail would work.
Again, I'll mention sales rep. In the US there are independent folks and rep companies called "manufacturers' representatives". They work on a commission basis and sell a variety of product lines at the same time. Using housewares, they may represent a small appliance company, a dishware company, a window dressing company, a folding door company, etc. Seldom any directly competing lines, but there is some consolidation going one and that may no longer be as definite as it once was.
Again, not being familiar with that whole market, I'm sort of generalizing here. You are going to have several levels of sales efforts. First it the large stores and chains that will buy direct. Then you MAY have distributors, who buy by the case to by the truckload and break them down to single units which they sell to the smaller chains and mom and pops. And then you have the mom and pops and samller chains, which you could also sell directly, either in single units or in case packs.
From your standpoint, you are easier selling just the big guys and distirbutors and let the distributors handle the little guys, The distributors will have their own sales force, calling on the little guys. And if you use reps, the reps will sell the distributors and also do what they call "missionary work" by going out with the distributors salespeople and pushing your product.
The reps will also work with you at trade shows, incoroprating your product into a general display of their lines or by working with you at your booth.
Got all that? Now , you can do it all yourself, or find a rep organization and of course convince them that this item is the greatest thing since sliced bread and that they can actually not only sell it, but make some money on it. Make money on it is a big thing. A sales rep, out in the field has got to have enough commission for himself to make it worth his time to push your product. So, you've got to sell the rep organization they, and their reps, can make some money, not just waste their time.
Or, you can do it all yourself.
Keep in mind you will probably get no response from a mailing alone.
You will not get by the reception desk at Marks & Spencer.
You MAY get some response by placing some well written press releases in the trade press. Using trade mags with "bingo cards" where the buyer/owner can circle or enter a number and drop the card in the mail to the publisher, who will tell you that mom and pop are interested in your catalog will get some results. Not sales, but inquiries. And include a web address in the press release, of course.
You'll need some glossy sales literature. Something you've run off your Epson won't do much for the class you are looking for. Mom and pops might go with plain paper, but M&S won't.
According to what Mike says, there is all kinds of free help from the government. I'd suggest checking there, or if you have to, find an independent "product launch" person. It's going to take more than walking in a door with a business card and a sample to sell from the top down.
Now, if you want to distribute yourself< I'd start with the mom and pops and work up. You can walk into the local shops with your card, some samples and a price sheet and sell. Many take that route. It is the easiest to start with. It will give you a real feel for the market and give you some experience in that market. All markets have their own terms and ways of doing business. It helps to understand them and be able to "walk the walk and talk the talk" of the people you are trying to sell.
I'm out of words right now. I hope this is of some help and I'll go deeper if you'd like. There may be a bit of variation between the US and UK methods, but I think I'm pretty close.
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March 2010
