Types of Direct Selling Agents

A direct selling agent (DSA) is an individual who partners with companies and sells their products or services to interested prospects. The products can range from a home loan to a cooking ingredient. DSA agents come in all forms and employ different kinds of innovative marketing strategies to highlight the benefits of their products to the public. Although their primary purpose is to increase sales, they also take on other tasks like monitoring customer queries, handling customer operations, and ensuring a smooth buying experience for them. 

Organizations also reach out to DSA agents to personalize their marketing approach, particularly banks and NBFCs, who do not have the human capital to maintain one-on-one interaction with all their clients. In exchange for their services, DSA agents are paid a small cut of the total profit the company made from selling that product.

Types of direct selling agents

We can categorize DSA agents based on how they reach their products to their target audience or the kind of products they sell. 

Based on how they prefer to market their products

Independent direct-selling agents

Independent sales associates or independent distributors are those individuals, who work on a contractual basis with companies and earn commissions based on the number of products they sell in a month. They may recruit other agents, make cold calls to interested prospects, and do door-to-door presentations to sell their products. 

Network marketers

Network marketers are those kinds of DSA agents, whose focus lies primarily in building a multi-level marketing empire. DSA agents in the higher levels employ a number of direct selling agents, who go on to secure clients from the ground level. They also have tie-ups with companies, from where they get the products. The commissions are distributed based on where they are situated in the multi-level marketing pyramid. 

Telemarketers

Telemarketers are another category of DSA partners, who make cold calls to interested prospects and try to pitch their product’s benefits. There is a common question that arises when discussing this approach whether the phone numbers obtained by telemarketers are ethical or not. Usually, telemarketers obtain phone numbers from third-party data suppliers that do not pose any major threat to your identity or financial information. 

Door-to-door salespersons

These kinds of DSA agents go from house to house promoting their company’s or manufacturer’s products. It is not the most effective approach in today’s time when people have become more cautious about who they let in their homes. However, it is still a viable marketing channel because it is an effective way to cut competition. The prospects are not browsing tens of hundreds of tabs and comparing different products. A salesperson makes their pitch and if interested, the customer picks a product from their available collection. 

Online retailers

Online retailers are a type of DSA agents, who sell products only through a website, be it their own domain or their affiliated company’s website. It is quite an effective direct selling medium, for it is convenient for the user to browse whenever they want to and does not incur much cost as there is no traveling involved for the DSA agent. 

Party planners

Party planners are another kind of DSA agent, who specializes in hosting events and gatherings in a location, where they show presentations and try to highlight the unique selling points of their products. They may work as independent contractors or may also be representatives of a company.

Based on the type of products they sell

Personal loan DSA agents

A personal loan is a type of loan that can be used for any purpose, be it consolidating debt, paying for higher education, buying a dream house, or making investments in a company. Personal loan DSA partners are those agents, who help prospects with their loan application processes and give them advice on how to make the best use of such a large amount of money. 

Home loan DSA agents

Home loan DSA agents, as their name suggests, are solely concerned with securing the best interest rates, repayment tenure, and lending terms for their clients. Since purchasing a house is probably the biggest expenditure in anyone’s life, home loan DSA partners are in huge demand. They analyze their customers’ fixed obligations to income ratio (FOIR) and calculate the amount of monthly EMI that they can afford. 

Business loan DSA agents

Business loan DSA partners evaluate the financial records, net profits, and bank accounts of a business before offering a large sum of money to run their operations. Business loan DSA agents may also communicate with the various stakeholders and investors in their client’s company. They are also responsible for verifying every document and running background checks to ensure that everything is in order. 

DSA agents who sanction loans against property

Loans against property are a type of loan that is offered by lending institutions based on your property’s valuation. DSA partners who offer such loans are also responsible for guiding loan applicants to use that amount properly. They could use it to fund repairs for their mortgaged property or buy another house. Since a property is at stake, these DSA agents must ensure that their clients have adequate income and credit scores to pay it off.

Insurance DSA agents

Insurance DSA agents are another category of direct sales associates who offer policies and insurance products to their customers. Insurance DSA partners can sell a variety of securities like motor insurance, travel insurance, health insurance, and home insurance. 

Credit card DSA agents

As a credit card DSA agent, one’s role is to sell credit cards to their customers. Credit card DSA agents help their prospects secure the lowest interest rate depending on their credit scores. They may also help a client with poor credit scores find alternative ways of obtaining a credit card or suggest money management practices to help increase their credit scores. 

Bank DSA agents

Possibly the most popular type of DSA partner, bank DSA agents handle a wide variety of credit cards, insurance, and loan products. They are responsible for ensuring a hassle-free loan disbursal experience for their clients. They even sell savings accounts. Bank DSA agents look over the entire application process, take care of the necessary paperwork, verify documents, and ensure that the sanction is granted on time, in keeping with the interests of both parties. 

To conclude 

While it may seem that direct selling agents and multi-level marketing schemes operate in the same manner, it couldn’t be further from the truth. The goal of direct selling agents is not to recruit other agents and solely increase sales, but also to improve the buying experience for customers, make sure that their needs are met, and also to act as a mediator between the clients and the company. In other words, DSA agents serve a dual purpose. They are the biggest lead generation tools through which a company can market its products. But, they are also responsible for developing a strong relationship with their audience that helps retain these clients in the long run. Register here to become a DSA agent with Andromeda Loans.