Where to find sales reps?

goz83

More specifically, I am looking for reliable sales reps who are willing to work on commission with ongoing residual payments. I have a service that sells and commission is good. I would sell it myself but I am recovering from a back injury and surgery, so I run everything else. I don't like the idea of poaching reps either. I don't know how to approach getting reliable reps to call on business clients and sell a service that offers great commission and monthly residual payments. I spent years selling on commission only and I know it can be daunting, but I am not in a position to offer a basic salary and I also know that many people take advantage of this. Any words of wisdom?

For the record, the business is up and running and already has a number of clients. Its a website building company...i suppose theres no need to keep that a secret. We are now launching something to save fast food takeaways a fortune on what they spend with the likes of Just-Eat.

pedronomix

It is extremely difficult to recruit decent B2B sales reps even when offering attractive salary/bonus/car/phone/laptop packages, commission only will only appeal to the most desparate. You have an even greater challenge as a small impecunious start-up. If you do manage to recruit any, be aware that they have the same employment rights as normal employees for paid holidays, notice etc etc under EU employment legislation.
Look to your own circle of family, friends and contacts where your personal reputation may give some credibility.

pedroeibar1

⌂ +1
Add to the difficulties facing you the fact that the unit price of your product would be quite low. 20% of €1500 is a lot worse than 10% of €5,000. or 5% of 10k.
In a former life I had a direct salesforce and new recruits (they were agents, not employees) were given an advance of commission amounting to the minimum wage until they had built up a book of business. I also had different levels of commission for different products.

goz83

I actually pay 50%, but the average sale would be circa 700. I had my BIL (who had zero sales experience) out selling a couple of days per week over the last few months and he even managed to bring in about 20 sales. But the sales end is not his strong point and I need to find reliable people. It kills me that I can't go out and do it myself, because it's actually a very easy sell IMO. Plus, I will be offering residual monthly payments per sale to sweeten the deal for anyone in it for the long haul.

BreadnBuddha

If you want someone who will really commit to this, take someone in as a partner/director, with a shareholding. If all you have to offer is commision, you'll never have a 'long haul' employee or agent. As soon as something more permanent/secure/financially rewarding comes up, they'll be gone.

goz83

Thanks...and this is a route I am actually considering too. Would require some serious thought though. I wouldn't want to risk handing over a portion of the company to someone who won't be pulling their weight, or who would cut and run.

I suppose I could get a contract drawn up that once X amount of new clients are taken on board, then the rep becomes an active partner in the company, with contracted responsibilities of course.

thecommander

goz83 wrote: »

I suppose I could get a contract drawn up that once X amount of new clients are taken on board, then the rep becomes an active partner in the company, with contracted responsibilities of course.

Or you could hire someone good and pay them a wage + commission. if it's a service that sells then you'll have no problem.

capefear

Have you spoken to salesense.ie they might be able to help you.

goz83

thecommander wrote: »

Or you could hire someone good and pay them a wage + commission. if it's a service that sells then you'll have no problem.

Except i'm not willing to risk paying someone a basic and risk killing the business, which is quite young at this stage. I have been burnt before, TWICE with paying basic + commission in another business. I don't have the time to keep an eye on and manage reps, which is part of the problem.

capefear wrote: »

Have you spoken to salesense.ie they might be able to help you.

No, I haven't, but I will look into that. Thanks.

pedroeibar1

goz83 wrote: »

I have been burnt before, TWICE with paying basic + commission in another business. I don't have the time to keep an eye on and manage reps, which is part of the problem.

Hi Goz,
You don’t say if you’re selling a product or a service, or if the repeat sale has the same value or requires the same level of intervention by the salesperson. Your unit sale at 700 is too low to be economically effective with human intervention. How automated can the sale process become? How many leads are prequalified? To get a sale a salesperson has to go through the same process whether the outcome is 700 or 7000 or 17000, so for e.g. a person capable of selling a double-glazing job at 10k will not be interested in selling a garage door at 1k. As the other Pedro said above, you will not be able to attract/keep a good salesperson. You need to add more products or find a partner with a non-competing product selling to the same type of customer and pool resources to exploit synergies. Or sell out to someone like that and move on. I’m not convinced you like sales so any investment in a salesperson is an investment in your business so YOU have to manage it, like it or not…………..
Good luck with it.

goz83

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Hi Goz,
You don’t say if you’re selling a product or a service, or if the repeat sale has the same value or requires the same level of intervention by the salesperson. Your unit sale at 700 is too low to be economically effective with human intervention. How automated can the sale process become? How many leads are prequalified? To get a sale a salesperson has to go through the same process whether the outcome is 700 or 7000 or 17000, so for e.g. a person capable of selling a double-glazing job at 10k will not be interested in selling a garage door at 1k. As the other Pedro said above, you will not be able to attract/keep a good salesperson. You need to add more products or find a partner with a non-competing product selling to the same type of customer and pool resources to exploit synergies. Or sell out to someone like that and move on. I’m not convinced you like sales so any investment in a salesperson is an investment in your business so YOU have to manage it, like it or not…………..
Good luck with it.

It's both a product and a service, being a website build and management. I wouldn't agree that the unit of sale is too low and the process of selling becomes a bit more complex for larger sales/sites. More products are being added to the offering and I do believe that the earning potential is high. For any rep with even a year or two of experience, I would expect to see an absolute minimum of 2 sales per week and would not see 4-5 as unrealistic at all. Assuming an average of 700 per unit (350 to the rep), thats anywhere between 700 and 1750 per week. I've sold a couple myself over the phone when people rang about another business I run, but tbh, i'm not a fan of telesales, so that's a route I would avoid. And i do enjoy the sales process. For me, it's making money talking. I mentioned in the op that I have a back injury. It means i can't be on the field selling, because i'm toast after a few minutes of walking, so it would be pointless at this time. If you don't believe that, take a look back through my threads. I had surgery in November.

You mentioned repeat sales. Well, yes, the rep still gets half the fee and no, there isn't the same level of intervention, because the rep is contacted by the client and there is no hard sell involved at that stage, because the client would be the one asking for more. Im very aware that I have to manage my business, but that doesn't mean I can micro manage everything, which is especially why a rep on what I see as very good commission on a relatively easy to sell product/service is better to me than one on a salary who could be scratching their arse and getting paid for nothing.

Things are working out, not as quickly as I would like, but they are coming together. I certainly wouldn't be interested in selling out. I like working on this business and watching it slowly grow. But thanks for your input.

pedroeibar1

Goz thanks for the detailed reply. Not much point in continuing as we disagree - and as it is your baby, not much point in me going further down the road. Last comment from me - concentrate on identifying "bulk" deals, e.g. do a deal with a trade association/retail group/industry bidy at HO level, saying that you will do a deal for their members for site-building for €X cost. Cuts out sales rep commission, gets you the business with one call, gets them a great deal for members (they love being able to offer a deal to members/proves merit of membership) and you will be kept busy.