With virtually everyone using or having access to a computer in today's world, the way of selling is changing. It's actually becoming more of a "please fulfill my order" society.
We want something, we open our Internet service and search for it.

Recently I discussed this issue with an industry veteran who prints what I sell. He and I both agreed that people
who want to find an item(s), or information on items, or topics or what have you are turning to the Internet almost exclusively.

Obviously that's not earth-shattering news. I heard you say, "welllllllllllllllll duh!." I gotcha.

If you're in sales, knowing that, the question I have is; why don't more and more people capitalize on being there when the prospect searches for them,
instead of cold-calling, cold-visiting and direct mailing techniques?

Maybe you have no clue on how to build a website. I didn't either. I still don't. I talk with the people at GoDaddy.com. I do. You can too.
The reason I use them is because their customer service is exactly that. You call, ask questions, they answer......LIVE! I could easily turn this into
a shameless plug for GoDaddy.com, and pretty much am, knowing well in advance that I get NOTHING for doing so. NahDah!

Now, whether or not you use GoDaddy.com is not a concern of mine, the main thing you need to grasp is niche.
People search with words they know to find what they want.
If a brand name is unknown to them how can they search for it?

The simplicity is creating a domain name and website built around the throngs of searched for words. For example, if a customer needs a roofing
company to repair a leak or install a new roof, will they search for brand name roofer? Only if they can recall it. If they can't, and I suspect most of us can't
recall roofing company's names because of short attention to detail memories, they'll log on to a search engine eg: Yahoo, Bing or Google and type in
words like: roofing company _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (insert your town's name in the spaces). Or they'll search for roofer _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ (again insert town name).
Or they may search for: how to repair roof leak.

The magic is if your domain name and website match the searched for words you stand a much greater chance of being in one of the top positions as a natural result for the search.
No it's not building a brand, rather it's building a niche website that matches a focused, narrow search.

When you can build a website like that you'll generate leads and sales from how people search for what THEY WANT!! You'll then capitalize on the "please fulfill my order" request!