Drop Shipping Beginner Intermediate Advanced
Drop shipping is neither a sport nor a game. It is a business.
And in business, customers neither want to deal with beginners
nor intermediates.
Customers want advanced service, advanced communications and
advanced reliability. Simply stated they want to deal with
someone in the advanced class.
When you start your drop shipping business it is like jumping
into the middle of the ocean. If you are a beginner, you will
simply drown. If you are intermediate enough to stay on the
surface, your competitors will try to put you under. And you
will be torn apart from below by the sharks out there that prey
on the newcomer. It is not the time to start learning how to
survive. You must be advanced before you jump into drop shipping.
More than 95% of the drop shipping businesses fail within the
first year. There are many reasons. But generally it can be said
that they did not have enough experience to understand how tough
business really is.
Business is a constant war. You will be fighting competition for
your market share. You will be fight competition for search
engine position. You will be fighting to survive every day and
it will never stop.
You will have to be set up to survive the fight. You have to
start your drop shipping business in the advanced mode.
How do you jump from business level beginner to business level
advanced? You do a business plan!
A properly written business plan is more than a writing exercise
that you put in a soon forgotten book.
First it is a beginners training manual. In writing your
business plan, you are forced to think through the details of
what you must do to compete in the market.
For example, it will make you think about what is your unique
selling proposition. Remember that tens of thousands of other
drop shippers like you may be advertising the same products as
you. You have to create yourself some unique position in the
market to outsell them..
Second it is a test procedure that takes you from beginner's
status to intermediate status. If you work up a proper financial
analysis, you will actually confirm what your costs will be and
what you will get for the money that you pay.
Also test to see if the drop shipper really delivers. Order
something and check what happens. Just consider the disaster if
set up your entire business around a drop shipper and find that
the supplier is unreliable.
Third it is a procedure manual that you will follow when you run
your business. It should contain your tutorials, source
materials and the miscellany you found important when doing your
research. It is your reference book. It is your planning and
work procedure manual.
As soon as you start to work your plan, you are in the
intermediate mode. That means as soon as you start spending
money. Every spend should be in accordance with your plan.
You have to be planned to keep control of your budget. You will
run into a lot of sharks just looking to separate you from your
money with promises of everything that you really know is not
possible but will likely buy if you are not working your plan.
If you are not careful you will be soon over budget and wasting
money that you could better use on something else.
It is in this mode that you get your web site finished and on
line under your company name. And it is in this mode that you
start testing it on friends.
When you think that it is ready, it is time for the final exam.
Have several friends, family and anyone else that you can find
make test orders from your site. Have them make comments on your
site.
This is a real time test run of your business. You will find
where the holes are. Go back, rework your plan and test it
again. Test until your helpers and you are satisfied. You will
not believe how trying this experience is. Endure it. It can
mean the difference between success and failure.
Once you think that there is nothing more to be gained in
testing, you are advanced enough to go live. You should now be
prepared to make a good first impression on your visitors and
start making sales. Yes, you will make changes, but you will
have a chance to survive.
Think advanced, start advanced and be advanced.
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