- Original Poster
- #1
It is incredibly important that any company looking to expand their business by building a team of self employed sales people, understand the needs of freelancers who are looking for the best self employed sales job opportunities.
What makes an attractive proposition for a freelance sales person to dedicate their time (free of charge) to learning your products and services, building their pipeline and ultimately being motivated to be successful for themselves and your company?
In previous threads I have discussed the ways in which a company can build a successful freelance sales team and why it is so important to understand the needs of a freelance sales person so that both parties work to form a successful partnership.
Here are some of the main criteria I believe to be important from a freelance sales agents point of view, but it would be great to hear the opinions of freelance sales agents that are looking for self employed sales jobs.
Level of Experience
When I started out building my own team of successful freelance sales agents, I found it vital to determine the level of experience that the agent had. Is it their first time working freelance or are they a seasoned pro?
The reason being that someone new to the world of freelance sales may have to very quickly build up a steady income stream in order to survive with your company and not have to return to an employed position elsewhere.
It is therefore going to be a challenge for that person if your company sells high level, low volume products which may offer great levels of commission, but take months to close their first deal.
A highly experienced freelance sales agent may already work with a number of companies and have a steady income stream which makes that person better suited to work on your high level clients without worrying about not being able to pay the mortgage.
We had a mix of products and services and could place less experienced freelancers in a position where they would quickly be able to build a pipeline of smaller deals and slowly drip feed bigger leads to them over time.
Is your offer compelling enough?
Freelance sales agents work for themselves because they have the skills and confidence in their abilities as sales professionals. They do not need to rely on a small regular wage and therefore give the majority of their lives to one company with all the restrictions and lack of freedom that comes with being an employee.
Think about it, every single entrepreneur and business owner in history has technically been self employed and relied on their own ability to become successful. Freelance sales agents are no different from any other business owner and you have to respect this.
In my experience giving the lion's share of the profit to a freelancer shows that you respect their hard work. It's like they say in the 'Dragons Den', what would you prefer, 40% of everything or 100% of nothing?
Do your clients pay a monthly retainer? Why not offer your freelance sales agents a residual income which means that they are paid the same amount of commission on a recurring monthly basis. This not only motivates to push for lots of sales but encourages a freelancer to build great relationships with your clients so as to keep their monthly residual commission coming in.
Do your freelance sales agents believe in your business?
Promises of money and financial freedom are great, but money is only a by-product of being successful in sales and ultimately only passion in your field leads to success. If your sales team do not believe in your company, products and services then why should your customers? What is your vision and mission and make sure you translate this to potential freelancers.
My favourite quote of all time: "People don't buy 'what' you do, they buy 'why' you do it" Simon Sinek
And finally, training…
This can be a huge challenge for both the freelancer as well as the company. It is ok when you are training one or two freelancers, but how are you going to manage when your team grows to ten, even twenty agents which are all at different stages (I learned this the hard way).
A freelance sales agent will unlikely want to work from an office so most, if not all of your training will have to be managed remotely.
I created a training course, including recorded video demo's, scripts, detailed information on our products and services and uploaded them to a third party site like Mindflash. This is a great tool which allows you to add your freelancers, set tests and monitor progress.
I also used 'Dropbox' to upload all of the documentation which our freelancers would need access to (proposal templates, pricing etc).
We held fortnightly meetings using Skype or 'Go to Meeting' where our freelancers could share their successes or ask questions in a sales team style environment. We also encouraged our freelancers to connect on Skype so they could motivate eachother and bounce ideas off of eachother.
Finally I asked all of our freelancers to connect with me on Skype. This way they always knew I was just a message or call away if they needed assistance.
Building the team is the easy part
It can be easy to build a team of freelance sales people, but ensuring both parties are happy and successful is vital and planning is required.
Are there any freelance sales professionals out there looking for self employed sales jobs who would like to share their own experiences with us?
What makes an attractive proposition for a freelance sales person to dedicate their time (free of charge) to learning your products and services, building their pipeline and ultimately being motivated to be successful for themselves and your company?
In previous threads I have discussed the ways in which a company can build a successful freelance sales team and why it is so important to understand the needs of a freelance sales person so that both parties work to form a successful partnership.
Here are some of the main criteria I believe to be important from a freelance sales agents point of view, but it would be great to hear the opinions of freelance sales agents that are looking for self employed sales jobs.
Level of Experience
When I started out building my own team of successful freelance sales agents, I found it vital to determine the level of experience that the agent had. Is it their first time working freelance or are they a seasoned pro?
The reason being that someone new to the world of freelance sales may have to very quickly build up a steady income stream in order to survive with your company and not have to return to an employed position elsewhere.
It is therefore going to be a challenge for that person if your company sells high level, low volume products which may offer great levels of commission, but take months to close their first deal.
A highly experienced freelance sales agent may already work with a number of companies and have a steady income stream which makes that person better suited to work on your high level clients without worrying about not being able to pay the mortgage.
We had a mix of products and services and could place less experienced freelancers in a position where they would quickly be able to build a pipeline of smaller deals and slowly drip feed bigger leads to them over time.
Is your offer compelling enough?
Freelance sales agents work for themselves because they have the skills and confidence in their abilities as sales professionals. They do not need to rely on a small regular wage and therefore give the majority of their lives to one company with all the restrictions and lack of freedom that comes with being an employee.
Think about it, every single entrepreneur and business owner in history has technically been self employed and relied on their own ability to become successful. Freelance sales agents are no different from any other business owner and you have to respect this.
In my experience giving the lion's share of the profit to a freelancer shows that you respect their hard work. It's like they say in the 'Dragons Den', what would you prefer, 40% of everything or 100% of nothing?
Do your clients pay a monthly retainer? Why not offer your freelance sales agents a residual income which means that they are paid the same amount of commission on a recurring monthly basis. This not only motivates to push for lots of sales but encourages a freelancer to build great relationships with your clients so as to keep their monthly residual commission coming in.
Do your freelance sales agents believe in your business?
Promises of money and financial freedom are great, but money is only a by-product of being successful in sales and ultimately only passion in your field leads to success. If your sales team do not believe in your company, products and services then why should your customers? What is your vision and mission and make sure you translate this to potential freelancers.
My favourite quote of all time: "People don't buy 'what' you do, they buy 'why' you do it" Simon Sinek
And finally, training…
This can be a huge challenge for both the freelancer as well as the company. It is ok when you are training one or two freelancers, but how are you going to manage when your team grows to ten, even twenty agents which are all at different stages (I learned this the hard way).
A freelance sales agent will unlikely want to work from an office so most, if not all of your training will have to be managed remotely.
I created a training course, including recorded video demo's, scripts, detailed information on our products and services and uploaded them to a third party site like Mindflash. This is a great tool which allows you to add your freelancers, set tests and monitor progress.
I also used 'Dropbox' to upload all of the documentation which our freelancers would need access to (proposal templates, pricing etc).
We held fortnightly meetings using Skype or 'Go to Meeting' where our freelancers could share their successes or ask questions in a sales team style environment. We also encouraged our freelancers to connect on Skype so they could motivate eachother and bounce ideas off of eachother.
Finally I asked all of our freelancers to connect with me on Skype. This way they always knew I was just a message or call away if they needed assistance.
Building the team is the easy part
It can be easy to build a team of freelance sales people, but ensuring both parties are happy and successful is vital and planning is required.
Are there any freelance sales professionals out there looking for self employed sales jobs who would like to share their own experiences with us?
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