Using Sales Reps

[justlikeme]

Has anyone used them? Can it be a beneficial? Any experiences good or bad?

I'm a web designer and I'm having trouble finding work, I was thinking of getting someone or a couple people on board to do it, It would get me work and if it were the case I wouldn't mind expanding and bringing on other designers if I was to get enough work.

As it stands I can barely afford to keep myself never mind hire people but as long as I have the reps bringing in work I could afford the 15-20% commission.

 

[Virtual Coach]

You will need to think about if this is viable for both you and a sales person. The sales person will want to sell a high volume of contracts and so they need to know if the finances stack up for them. You will need to think about your time and if you can deliver a suitable number of contracts.

For example if an average contract for you is say £5000 and you pay 20% then a sales rep will be taking home £1000 of this (before tax) and so to make it an attractive role they will want to be selling at least one contract a week.

Consider:
1. Could you fulfil one contract a week?

2. Is this an average contract for you? bear in mind a lower contract level would mean that you would need to complete a lot of work to keep a sales person employed.

The other difficulty is finding a good sales person who will work on commission only without any budget for lead generation etc.

If you can find the right person and provide them with the ability to make the right money then I would suggest that this is a good way to go.

The other option is to train yourself to improve your sales skills and then you don't have to pay commission on the deals! If your on a limited budget I would suggest free seminars and webinars or online training.

 

[telemax]

Has anyone used them? Can it be a beneficial? Any experiences good or bad?

I'm a web designer and I'm having trouble finding work, I was thinking of getting someone or a couple people on board to do it, It would get me work and if it were the case I wouldn't mind expanding and bringing on other designers if I was to get enough work.

As it stands I can barely afford to keep myself never mind hire people but as long as I have the reps bringing in work I could afford the 15-20% commission.

Yeah, too problematic to get comms only bods in, do it yourself is best!! When things improve then you can pay someone properly.

 

[justlikeme]

Yeah, after looking I don't know if it would support someone full time, perhaps just someone who wants part time work/a bit of extra cash.

Another thing I've been thinking is a referral fee. Advertising that people can get a commission by referring a friend. I'd prefer not to and I am spending all my time trying to get clients but I'm in real need of work so anything I can do that might bring some in I'll consider.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Welcome to UKBF.

Okay, firstly, it's not just a case of getting a sales rep to sell for you, they are going to need to have an in-depth knowledge of website design. Just like you'd expect a car salesman to know how many miles to the gallon a car will do, there are people out there who will ask questions about php, html, Wordpress, etc., and if the rep doesn't understand what the prospective customer is talking about then they're not going to get the sale.

Of course, if they have this sort of specialised knowledge, they're going to expect to be on a high commission rate.

You say you can barely afford to keep yourself, well, that's the next problem, that won't change very quickly. Most sales people prefer to build their own "book" of contacts, so that's going to take time. You are probably looking at it being a month or so (maybe less if again they have the web design knowledge and have contacts already).

Then, when will you pay the rep(s)? If once you've been paid by the client, you're going to need to turn round a lot of work in a very short time, so that you're paid and can pay the rep in a reasonable amount of time (they would probably expect to be paid within a month).

 

[Ashley_Price]

Yeah, after looking I don't know if it would support someone full time, perhaps just someone who wants part time work/a bit of extra cash.

Of course, there's extra things you'll need to think about, if the person is working only for you or it is their main job, you'll need to set up PAYE etc.

 

[businessfunding]

Can I suggest as a first step that you do some selling yourself?

It will probably make you feel physically sick but it will be hugely beneficial in many ways - not least in giving you an idea what potential clients are thinking and what their fears/objections are.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Can I suggest as a first step that you do some selling yourself?

It will probably make you feel physically sick but it will be hugely beneficial in many ways - not least in giving you an idea what potential clients are thinking and what their fears/objections are.

Selling doesn't have to make you sick. If you're going to do selling yourself then find what works for you.

So, yes, I hate cold calling on the phone, so I don't do it. But I get out and meet people.

Do you go to networking events regularly? Do you meet up with your local Chamber of Commerce? Have you got great looking business cards that you hand out to everyone?

There's lots of great ways to sell your service, without doing stuff that makes you feel unwell. There's no point doing it if you hate it, it will affect your whole performance and you won't be effective at selling.

 

[businessfunding]

Selling doesn't have to make you sick. If you're going to do selling yourself then find what works for you.

So, yes, I hate cold calling on the phone, so I don't do it. But I get out and meet people.

Do you go to networking events regularly? Do you meet up with your local Chamber of Commerce? Have you got great looking business cards that you hand out to everyone?

There's lots of great ways to sell your service, without doing stuff that makes you feel unwell. There's no point doing it if you hate it, it will affect your whole performance and you won't be effective at selling.

I get out and meet people and sell on the phone - none of it makes me feel sick because I completely understand my target and my message - it has taken many years to get there.

However I do recall the early days when even receiving a call made me queazy, never mind making a call or chatting to new people at a networking event.

My assumption - perhaps wrong is that the OP will feel this way - and that it is entirely normal to do so.

 

[Ashley_Price]

My assumption - perhaps wrong is that the OP will feel this way - and that it is entirely normal to do so.

Oh no, sorry, you're correct. Cold calling on the phone makes me sick - that's why I don't do it, no matter how many times I've tried.

But if you keep doing the same thing and getting the same result then you need to change. Of course, it's different for everyone.

 

[pjajackson]

The use of sales reps for your business would probably not represent good value for money. As the other guys have pointed out to attract the right calibre of person is probably not sustainable.

Sales professionals can be extremely beneficial when leveraged correctly and there is a requirement to connect a purchasing need with a product or service and have then benefits of a solution properly explained.

There are a couple of sales options you could look at however:

Affiliate marketing

You could utilise affiliates to promote your services for a commission

Crowd sourcing
Look at crowd sourcing opportunities to sell your services

Niche web design
Instead of offering your service to everybody who may need web design, think about targeting specific industries, markets and professions who may have a need. An example would be self employed people.

Whatever you decide try to come up with a proper strategy for your sales activity. Identify your objective, properly measure them, implement them and refine them.