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wecandobiz
- Original Poster
- #2
I have looke dinto them in the past. I have concerns about the sales agents market in the UK. Although this is a popular and reputable way of working in the US, I think our different culture and economy don't make it so relevant here.
I know someone who has dipped into sales agents before and he said of the 3 - 5,000 agents that AgentBase and the British Agents Register list, probably only 100 are very active and very good. Agency sales is an easy thing to dip into for out of work sales people -- and the problem is, out of work sales people are often not very good, hence their predicameny. A good sales person will rarely have any problem finding a company willing to pay them substantial sums to work full-time.
I would personally advise you pay someone to do the job and take a look an outsourced sales organisations whose reputation you can easily check out first.
IH
I know someone who has dipped into sales agents before and he said of the 3 - 5,000 agents that AgentBase and the British Agents Register list, probably only 100 are very active and very good. Agency sales is an easy thing to dip into for out of work sales people -- and the problem is, out of work sales people are often not very good, hence their predicameny. A good sales person will rarely have any problem finding a company willing to pay them substantial sums to work full-time.
I would personally advise you pay someone to do the job and take a look an outsourced sales organisations whose reputation you can easily check out first.
IH
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Barge pole and ten foot come to mind.
Tried them twice and wasted a lot of time and money. The agents are the bottom of the barrel, want something for nothing and too stupid and lazy to do any work
That's why they are self employed- no-one will employ them
Tried them twice and wasted a lot of time and money. The agents are the bottom of the barrel, want something for nothing and too stupid and lazy to do any work
That's why they are self employed- no-one will employ them
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MH1
- Original Poster
- #5
Can't argue on behalf of the Agentbase guys, but the deal cuts both ways, companies who offer poor support, slow or even non payment, renaging on deals whenever they wish too etc.
I used to run just under 400 agents at the beginning of Gas and Electric deregulisation in the UK, and sold Cable TV, Phone, Broadband and Sky etc through direct self employed sales.
Most agents are simply not that good, my hardcore workforce of 20 odd agents would be in the top 20 salespeople every week.
My top agent was top salesman for the whole of the UK even when he was abroad on holiday, after holding deals back for a week or two before going away, and he was still top salesman in the preceeding weeks.
Self employed agents have a huge drop out rate, the average guy last just under two months, top guys can last a lifetime and never be out of work.
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wecandobiz
- Original Poster
- #7
I can believe that. But the OP would have problems finding the Top 20 from the 380 no so good ones. And then a challenge getting them to drop things they do well and earn a fortune from to pick up a new product with no history in this area.
I just can't see it working it you're starting from scratch unless you have deep pockets and no urgency around earning money. If youhave these luxuries, agents might be worth a punt with the assumption that you'll get it wrong more than you get it right.
OP: what is it you are selling?
IH
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MH1
- Original Poster
- #8
As wecandobiz correctly surmised, it takes a long time, a lot of training and recruitment, over three years in my case, recruiting 20-40 every week over a long period, with a very large drop out rate.
In my case I found my core group easily, the rest were simply cannon fodder, the whole industry tends to run along the lines of throw enough against a wall and some of it will eventually stick.
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I think so. If you can offer them a job where they sit on their ar*e all day long and people ring them up and order, I think they will do just fine
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MH1
- Original Poster
- #12
I used to upset new guys a lot when taking them out for an afternoon's training, I used to inherit a lot of guys who required motivating just before they were due to quit, on the basis if they stayed they would join my team.
I used to show them ho to make a sale and close the deal in 5-15mins, end of the day everyone asked if the deals were their's? I would laugh and tell them if they wanted some money to go and sign up their own clients, and never expect to be given anything for free ever again.
I also used to run training courses for 20-40 new recruits each week for the whole of the UK, and part of the course was to fill in the contracts correctly, so I used to get them to sign themselves up, and insert my sales number on the contract. In two years only one guy ever asked could he put his own number in, to which I replied it was a conflict of interest so the agency never allowed it, it never hurt my sales figures either
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wecandobiz
- Original Poster
- #13
I believe Agentbase to be the best. The problem is, the concept doesn't work unless you have something that the 100 best agents can easily add to their portfolio without interrupting their existing revenue streams. And you'll have to find those 100 amongst the 5,000 agents that they have.
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I used to upset new guys a lot when taking them out for an afternoon's training, I used to inherit a lot of guys who required motivating just before they were due to quit, on the basis if they stayed they would join my team.
I used to show them ho to make a sale and close the deal in 5-15mins, end of the day everyone asked if the deals were their's? I would laugh and tell them if they wanted some money to go and sign up their own clients, and never expect to be given anything for free ever again.
I also used to run training courses for 20-40 new recruits each week for the whole of the UK, and part of the course was to fill in the contracts correctly, so I used to get them to sign themselves up, and insert my sales number on the contract. In two years only one guy ever asked could he put his own number in, to which I replied it was a conflict of interest so the agency never allowed it, it never hurt my sales figures either
Do you still sell the utilities MH1?
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