Internet Sales vs. Direct Sales – BeachBody.com

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Beachbody.com—Internet Sales vs. Direct Sales

If you’ve been around the network-marketing industry for a while, you’ve probably seen the terms “Internet sales” and “direct sales” used pretty interchangeably. If so, and if you’re wondering what the title of this article actually means, let’s take a moment to define the terms the way they’re used on this website:

Internet sales are just that—sales you make over the Internet. When you make Internet sales, the company you’re partnered with takes care of the inventory and the shipping; all you do is make the sales.

With direct sales, you are responsible for taking the order from and delivering the order to the customer. With this method, you are frequently required to purchase inventory or at least demonstration products from the company.

And it is your responsibility to receive a bulk order from the company and then parcel it out and deliver each separate order to each separate customer. If any woman in your family had an Avon business 10 or more years ago, you’re familiar with what that looks like—the bags all over your dining room table or living room floor.

With Beachbody, you can do both. Beachbody encourages Coaches to use personal direct sales, direct sales as part of a retail organization that provides workout services (several conditions apply), and Internet sales to build their businesses.

One interesting restriction on Beachbody Internet sales, however, is that Beachbody only allows its Coaches to sell products to people within their home countries. Given the obesity problems in the U.S., though, that’s hardly a condition that should choke off or inhibit sales!

So let’s take a look at how both approaches could work for you. Either way, you earn a 25% commission on any Beachbody products you sell—there is no penalty for choosing Internet sales over direct sales or vice versa.

There are other commissions for signing people up with Club Beachbody and for recruiting new Coaches, but to keep things simple in this article, we’ll just focus on retail sales.

On one hand, if you go the direct sales route, you’ll have the opportunity to build close relationships with your customers and any Beachbody Coaches you recruit. You may choose to hold small house parties with your existing customers where you all work out together to a Beachbody video that they haven’t tried yet and in other ways create an in-person community with your customers and Coaches you’ve recruited.

Also, if you’re already working at a gym, adding a Beachbody business will let you diversify your income by giving your customers options that they can try out and enjoy at home. However, it’s important to note that Beachbody prohibits the use of their products in professional gym settings.

The direct sales route is a lot of work for smaller returns. Whether you work your Beachbody business from home or as part of your gym business, you’ll still only be able to reach out to a limited number of people each day. And keeping up with your customers’ progress as required by Beachbody (you are a Coach, after all, and the company takes that title seriously) may require in-person visits or phone calls as well as emails.

So while you can probably build a solid Beachbody business this way, it’s going to take more time and effort than doing your business through Internet sales.

With Internet sales, your Beachbody website is up and working for you 24/7. You’re still making your 25% commission, but you’re not spending your time with personal phone calls or visits—you can do everything with email. Perhaps best of all, other than the Beachbody products you use yourself, you won’t have to keep inventory on hand to sell to customers.

So which approach is best? It depends on what you’re looking for. For quicker profits with less time invested, choose Internet sales. Using the Internet is also a good way for natural introverts or people who are shy to break into network marketing.

If you don’t mind waiting to build your profits and you love person-to-person contact, though, nothing beats doing your network marketing the old-school way.

With most network marketing businesses, the Internet sales option is a fairly clear winner. But given the possibilities a Beachbody business offers to get people together to meet their fitness goals, the old-school approach is especially appealing with this opportunity.

Of course, there’s nothing that says you can’t do both. You can build your business through online sales and create a small thriving community of your local customers and the Coaches you recruit, all working separately and together to achieve their fitness goals.

Whichever route you choose, Beachbody seems to be a solid company with a product that truly will help people if they stay with their program. So either way, you’ll be helping people become healthier and more fit—and what could be better than that?