Seven Ways to Drive Sales

6. Profit margins. If the profit margin is less than 10%, then paying a commission to outsiders maybe cost-prohibitive.

7. Local or regional reach of product/service. Companies that only focus their efforts locally might use one full- or part-time person. One sales person can visit three people a day and attend regional networking events, which would allow for significant geographic coverage.

8. National reach of product/service. If the company wants to go national then it has to think about having people in different geographic locations, especially if the sale process requires meeting people face-to-face. If you are selling products over the Internet that may not be necessary.

9. International reach of product/service. Companies that want to sell internationally need to think about properly communicating their product and/or value proposition in a way that is viewed positively by the culture in the market they are entering.

10. Type of product/service. The type of product/service will help drive what the best ways to sell are. My wife and I had an online business -- ExpertSpeakers.org -- that marketed business experts as speakers to trade associations and corporations. We were national, but never left our home to sell the product to either the speakers, who paid to be members of ExpertSpeakers.org, or the organizations that requested the speakers.

Once you have reviewed the 10 criteria for making your decision, you have to look at the strengths and weaknesses of each sales initiative and see which one meets your needs -- both short- and long-term.