Direct Selling Channels

Here is the first book to examine direct selling--the distribution of consumer products and services through personal, face-to-face sales away from fixed business locations. Direct selling has long been a major marketing channel for companies around the world. In the U.S. alone, by the start of the present decade, direct selling accounted for $12 billion in sales volume produced by almost five million independent direct salespeople. In this fundamental resource, leading authorities who have spent years studying direct selling channels provide in-depth insights, analyses, and research findings on such key topics as customer response patterns, sales motivation, personal selling methods, minority participation, multinational direct selling, and directions for future research in direct selling.