Re Sellers

[Asteeleleith]

Hi Guys

After chatting to matthew Kendall, i realise it is now time for me to see about recruiting some sales ppl to help market my courses.

I am going to do this on a commission basis, where ppl will only make on what they sell.
Does anyone also trade on similar terms. If so what type of comission structure would you suggest?
Obviously the more they sell the higher up the comission goes etc, but i still need to make a profit.

any ideas greatfully recieved

Al
ps, i also have a rough proposal based on the abovei have sketeched out, obv want to make sure it is legal etc. Is there anyone could look i over for me?

Thanks again in advance

 

[clairemackaness]

Looks familiar Alf, just what Matt told me to do.

I've already started recruiting and have an info pack if you want a copy to pinch ideas from PM me your e-mail address.

Claire

 

[IMEX Sourcing Services]

Hey Claire,

I am looking to do something similar, can I please have a copy too?

Ash

 

[Asteeleleith]

i have pm'd you claire

Indeed i will be recuriting as well, soon as i have the propsal in place i then know the terms and conditions

Al

 

I would also be most intrested to see your ideas on how to structure such an idea.

I am looking into something similar for my business.

 

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

Why not e-mail me at [email protected] and tell me what you are trying to do and I will see if I can help you.

Matt

 

[bwglaw]

If anyone wants me to 'audit' (initial advice and make few amends, but not redraft) their contracts in relation to the above posts just email me direct at [email protected] with the copy of your intended contract.

If you choose not to seek professional advice please be very careful in your wording so as not to create a contract of service but a contract for services otherwise the contract will be legally construed as a contract of employment and the 'employee' will have numerous employment rights.

In addition to the above, I should importantly add that it is not the wording or label of the contract that determines whether someone is an employee/worker or not, but the relationship and the intention of the parties. A contract can be worded in a way to make your intentions absolutely clear with a strong emphasise for either employee, or self-employed. Simply stating that the person will be self-employed does not go far enough to avoid being classed as an employee/worker.

 

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

Yes this is important, always have a professional look over everything that needs to be signed.

You can structure it so your sales people invoice you for their money thus making them self employed. You are not then the imployer so their health and safety, tax and national insurance are a concern.

Matt

 

[sreeves]

I am also interesting giving people the chance to resell my services but need more info.

I am freelance designer and I am looking for people to help boost my client list.

If anyone can help give me a PM and we can chat.

Cheers
Stephen Reeves
www.stephenreeves.co.uk

 

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

I have e-mailed you in regards to this. Please contact me and we can get the ball rolling.

Claire/Al, please make sure you keep people here updated with your reselling activities. If you find something that really works or a method of doing something that is successful then please share that with everyone.

I know a lot of people want help but do not want to ask for it. That is cool, if the help is available here then those people can still get the info they need without having to ask.

Sharing is the key to success! If you are doing something that really works, tell people! By using marketing techniques from different industries you get new and exciting ideas.

Marketing is so vital in a business and yet so many people do not understand who it works or how to do it. I am thinking of putting together a monthly news letter or making a monthly post here with information for those who want to learn. My head is full of information and I read and continue to learn every single day.

I am here to help you, do not be afraid to ask anything. Either ask me in the forum or send me a PM and I will get back to you. The more things I teach the more I learn so it is a two way thing.

Right every one here, please describe how you advertise and market, what business you are in and what really works. Also tell us about your mistakes and where you lost money. Just one sentence on here can save someone £1000's and that person may go out of business, on the other hand if you help them they may do very well and become a customer of your own or return the favour by giving you back great advice.

Personally I spend my time helping others as I know my business provides the best quality printing available and our customer service is second to none. I believe in my own company so much that if someone is going to buy from somewhere else I see it as my mission to get them to buy from me because we are a better company. I see as I am doing some injustice if they purchase from another company.

I do not advertise in papers or magazines, I advertise through my existing customers and on Google. I have a dedicated and loyal customer base that is growing every day. The more customers I get the cheap I can make the products and the more I can invest in the website. The more I can do this the more I can study the industry and stay ahead of the game.

I market in many other ways, if interested please contact me. When people do contact me for information, please also have something to share or tell me yourself, even it is something you want to warn me about instead of recommend.

Matt Kendall
www.mkprinting.co.uk

 

[Asteeleleith]

Claire/Al, please make sure you keep people here updated with your reselling activities. If you find something that really works or a method of doing something that is successful then please share that with everyone.

Claire and i exchanged emails last night on this, we are swapping ideas around.
The two biggest hurdles we both have to consider i think are contracts, then the commission structure, knowing exactly what we are going to offer our reps. I am jotting more ideas on this and will prob re write something again. Then perhaps email it to Hanson group for their perusal/professional advise

I will keep all in touch as to how this goes my end

Al

 

[Hayles]

Advertising is just so difficult! I think it depends on what sort of business you're in. We've had 20 replies from placing one full page ad in our local paper for our catering business (the first enquiry paid for the ad). However, we've advertised in local papers for our shop and had zilch response.

Surely the best form of advertising for every business though, is recommendations. Get testimonials from everyone you can and use them whenever you can.

Unlike others on this forum, the Yellow Pages work well for us still (even though we have the most terrible advert in the world in there... :evil: )

Hayles

 

[Asteeleleith]

Advertising is just so difficult! I think it depends on what sort of business you're in. We've had 20 replies from placing one full page ad in our local paper for our catering business (the first enquiry paid for the ad). However, we've advertised in local papers for our shop and had zilch response.

Surely the best form of advertising for every business though, is recommendations. Get testimonials from everyone you can and use them whenever you can.



Hayles

to be honest i think you have it there hayles
and one thing MK has shown is that marketing should be free.

 

[clairemackaness]

Hows the shop going Hayles, sold any of my piccies yet?

 

[Asteeleleith]

while the jazz seems to be playing on the contracts for reselling.
I have been milling over a few ideas.

ranging from 5% of the sale for selling so many up to 15% thati think is more than reasonable.
Also allowing 1% of the sale for a period of 5 years if a Eastasit rep produces a loyal customer.

I was chatting with Steve yeasterday on this and it seems we ar elike minded on one tihng. We do not want to be paying comssions to any one rep forever for placing directng a customer our way.

To this end, though i have NOT decided on commissions as a finaliality yet, i am going to prob do the following.
Anyone interesting in reselling needs to apply for the role. Explaining what they think they can offer and where they are going to market the product.
although they are self employed, it is my product i am trusting them with. So i need to keep control somehow.
Well i can't just say, ok here it is get on with it now can i?

Also i want to be fair, i want to pay the individual the same for all sales they make in a given month right up to the higher tier of commission they reach.
So if they get to 10% then i pay them that for all sales, not just those they made b4 qualifying.

What are the ppls thoughts on this. Matt Kendall, i would especially like to hear your views on this.

Al

 

[quotes4]

Be very careful of taking on sales reps who are commission based.
The main problem is that most small businesses have small profit margins and paying someone 20% on each sale is usually very hard to achieve.
Obviously you want the best sales reps you can get working for you, but they will expect a good return for their time so you have to pay them well. If your own sales are low, there is no guarentee that a sales rep will improve your sales. At most you should only expect them to replicate your own success - so use that as a bench mark and work out how much each sales rep will earn and how much time they'll spend earning it.
You can get re-seller agreements from www.clickdocs.co.uk which is a must if you're not going to salary a sales person.
I've been down this route myself. It seems like the perfect answer to improving your profit as you see it as win, win. You don't pay a sales person unless they sell something. But the reality is that it's only worth a self employed sales rep getting involved if the revenue they'll earn will be very good.
My advice is not to go down this route for small, price keen items. It's better used for larger products where the profit margins can allow for loosing 20%.
It depends on your business but my advice is to look for other similar businesses where you can sell of the back of them.
For example, i now outsource my skills to other web design companies so i don't have to do any sales work.
I also have another client who recommends me to their clients which i pay them a commission if i get the work.
If you want to pm me i may be able to suggest ways to do this that will suit your particular business but i definately wouldn't recommend self employed sales reps as a rule.

 

[bwglaw]

You can get re-seller agreements from www.clickdocs.co.uk which is a must if you're not going to salary a sales person.

I would avoid websites like the above at all costs because there is no guarantee that they are drafted by professionals. The site mentioned is based in Edinburgh and is likely to follow the Scottish law, even though they state they follow the law of England and Wales.

How do you determine whether a contract is good, not the way it is written but it has been tested in the Courts and upheld your rights therein.

I have downloaded some free documents to have a look at to see whether it is good.

If you want to pm me i may be able to suggest ways to do this that will suit your particular business but i definately wouldn't recommend self employed sales reps as a rule.

You obviously know little of the law here and any implications in employment law. Taking on 'Agents' who are self-employed is most likely to be the best route. As they are not going to be making a substantial amount of money to start you won't be able to restrict their hours or trade as you would for an employee.

Using a company is no different, they will still need to be tied to an Agency Agreement. It should be bourne in mind that in this circumstance three areas of law applies, namely; employment, contract and agency.

I will feedback on the FREE document I have downloaded to see it is worth its value.

 

[quotes4]

You obviously know little of the law here and any implications in employment law. Taking on 'Agents' who are self-employed is most likely to be the best route. As they are not going to be making a substantial amount of money to start you won't be able to restrict their hours or trade as you would for an employee.

If agents aren't expecting to make a substantial amount of money then what is their incentive to sell? Surely you have no control over an agent whatsoever in terms of their operating hours so you can only hope that an agent will work hard for you.
I didn't say agents were a bad idea, just that for small items with low profit margins they aren't the best way forward.
For something like jewellery you would be better off using agents to run home parties (something i've seen work well here in south wales). But this would assume that the agent isn't a self employed agent but someone who does it in their evenings as an extra income and therefore doesn't expect to earn a living from it.
My understanding of the law is irrelevant as i was just providing some advice from personal experience. The law surrounding employment and my understanding of it is neither here nor there.

 

[bwglaw]

Quote4

Your posting is perfectly clear where you state "i definately wouldn't recommend self employed sales reps as a rule."

Agents are most likely to be self-employed or as part of a company which I think your comments were contradictory to a point. I did not read your posting as if it was entirely from personal experience since you stated a few times "I advise..." "I recommend.." - I had interpreted this as if you were giving advice.

My postings are purely to clarify your standing and as a loyal member of this forum it is my intention to ensure that the members are exposed to correct advice, not that yours was entirely incorrect.

 

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

Al

With sales people it is has to be researched. My job is give people ideas and explain proven strategies, it is then up to the individual to research and implement it.

I do not want to give advice on the relationship you have with your sales team because I am not in a position to do so. However many companies use sales teams so it is worth speaking to them and see what they do. Ask for a range of people's advice then work out your own system based on the other systems that yield the greatest results. Work out a strategy and system and then implement it.

The more research you do on a subject the easier it is to set up, the faster it will produce results and you are less likely to loose money.

That is really all the advice I can offer on the subject. Research what works and then implement. Do not try to redesign selling methods, just enhance them and make them more efficient.

Matt

 

[Chris Martin]

The important thing is to keep your sales force motivated and your commision structure should reflect that. My old job would see me take a large percentage of profit made from new business in the first 3 months then it would drop at 6 months and so on. after 12 months my accounts were handed out to account managers that dealt with that customer from there on freeing me up to look for nmore new business, so they got something like 3% for looking after them. To me this meant i was always hungry to get customers onboard as i would be earning a fair few bob for at least 3 months.

My new position with my new firm is based on 40% commission on my clients profit. It may seem a lot but i think i'm worth that ) The best thing is that the business we are in boasts large profits and margins so i always remain hungry as 40% means you can turn up to work and earn 3k from 2 or 3 calls.

Without a carrott to dangle, you'll find that your sales team won't be that bothered. Salesmen either work hard when their earning or can't be arsed when they're not its a case of keeping them hungry or they'll just waste your time.

 

[Toon]

I too will set recruiting sales people in this way. I also would like them to be self employed so that I don't have to worry about that! If anyone has any advice then I'd love to hear it. I sell clothes and sunglasses both retail and wholesale. I would want people to sell wholesale branded clothes to shops and online retailers etc.

 

[mattk]

Asteeleleith - how many courses do you sell currently? What's your target for 2006? Would you be interested in some kind of "affiliate" scheme?