Exposed, the Watkins Lady’s secret life!

Welcome! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Are you tired of stepping over boxes or searching through box after box to find your products? It’s a common problem many direct sellers face when they need to stock products for public events, party plan or as a convenience for their customers. Where to put all your inventory and keep track of it? Here is a simple, inventory management system for direct sellers to save you space and retain your sanity.

First of all, designate one specific room or area of your home for your inventory. Many home based store owners or direct sales representatives store their inventory in their garage or basement. Closets and home offices are also another good place to keep your stock. Make sure that your products are kept in a safe place, protected from moisture, excessive temperatures and pests too.

Once you have your location set, you’ll probably need some sort of shelves, cupboards or storage units. You can keep your inventory in boxes, however a good inventory management system with shelves, or drawers means you can keep your products, displayed in an organized, easy to see and locate fashion. Having units with doors that close will prevent your products from getting dusty or dirty while in storage.

When storing inventory in your home, make it as easy on yourself as possible by labeling everything! If masking tape and a sharpie marker works for you, that’s great. Others may prefer a label maker. Whatever your method of identification, place your inventory so the label is easy to read. This will prevent you from having to lift and sort through all the boxes to find a product when you need it.

Order seasonal inventory a few weeks or months before you need it. This will save space in your home. When seasons are winding down, your inventory dwindles. Once the season is over, move the extra stock to the bottom or back of the pile and keep the most used items right up front where they’re easily accessible.

Another important part of your inventory management system is to use a spreadsheet to track your inventory, your company’s master order form might work well for this if they have one. This will make ordering MUCH easier. Instead of having to dig through boxes and count what is in stock, all you have to do is look at your spreadsheet. Each time you sell something, make a notation and update your spreadsheet on a weekly or monthly basis depending on the size of your business.

Tracking inventory closely will help you as a direct sales representatives stay on top of your inventory, thus reducing the amount of inventory that needs to be kept on hand, saving you space and the inevitable stumble over all those boxes in the way. I think you’ll find this inventory management system gives you some easy ways to keep up with your inventory but with out it taking over your entire home!