Working for Myself as a Self Employed Salesperson.

[Swadlincote man]

Hi,

Thinking of going it alone and offering my Sales / Business Development skills to a number of companies who have shown interest in either employing me Part Time or in Commission only Roles.

I am currently employed as a SalesPerson for a small refurbishment company in the Construction Industry. The job pays a set salary of £30K ( no bonuses or commission ) and i have only been with this company for 3 months. I am 38 and have a wealth of experience operating in the Construction / Civil Engineering markets in Business Development / Sales Roles.

Has anyone out there any experience of " working for yourself ", what i need to do and how i go about setting this up.

Havnt got a clue as to how much i should be charging, whether it should be on an hourly rate, daily rate, commission only and whether i should be asking for a retainer fee so i then offer exclusivety to that particular customer.

I need advice quickly to help me along with this........

Regards

Paul.

 

[paulears]

The self-employed status is tricky if you carry out the majority of work for one client, especially with a retainer. I'd expect HMRC to consider you as an employee, status wise. If you work as you like when you like and for whom you like then that seems genuine self-employment. If they set the hours and other rules, then you may have a problem - status wise.

 

[Swadlincote man]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply i hadnt even thought about that.....

The scenario that i am considering is that i am going to work for only two maybe three companies.

All pay me a small retainer with the rest made up based on the no of enquiries or new customers i bring to them. The more i bring to them the more commision i get.

I will dictate what hours i work and judging on what success i bring in to each company will problably point me towards where my time is going to be spent.

Havnt got a clue about how much i should be charging though ???

Regards
Paul

 

[paulears]

Basic checks to help you decide

You can usually work out your employment status by asking a few straightforward questions.
You are probably self-employed if you:

• run your own business and take responsibility for its success or failure
• have several customers at the same time
• can decide how, when and where you do your work
• are free to hire other people to do the work for you or help you at your own expense
• provide the main items of equipment to do your work

You are probably employed if you:

• have to do the work yourself
• work for one person at a time, who is in charge of what you do and takes on the risks of the business
• can be told how, when and where you do your work
• have to work a set amount of hours
• are paid a regular amount according to the hours you work, and get paid for working overtime - even if you do casual or part-time work, you can still be employed

This is the basic HMRC statement - there's a more complex one on their website.

As for how much to charge - sorry, don't know enough about your industry to advise.

 

[Businesswise Solutions]

Where are you based Paul?

My background is construction sales. I had over 500 customers that I looked after and I set up my business on the back of this client base and haven't looked back!

Good luck in what ever you choose to do.

Dean

 

[Swadlincote man]

Hi,

Im in the East Midlands however moving back to the West Midlands shortly.

Would appreciate any advice you can give me about what i should be charging my customers etc etc.

Regards
Simon

 

[Businesswise Solutions]

haha are you Simon or Paul??!!

You need to decide what market you want to be involved in. Are you sticking with construction and utilising your client base, or going into another sector with the possibility of selling into your client base?

What sort of a client base do you currently have?

 

[Swadlincote man]

Hi,

Ha Ha, I am Simon.... i have been outed...

My client base isnt brilliant, have one companies database of all of their customers, and enq records for a couple of years..lol.

Also got a lot of experience etc of working with a wide range of customers so i reckon i know the route to market fairly well.

Companies who i have talked to want someone to go out there and raise their enq levels and find new customers.. not necessarily close a sale as although i am a trained estimator i am not going to down the route of pricing jobs.

Regards
Simon..aka Paul

 

[Swadlincote man]

Hi,

Forgot to say the two companies who i know will employ me, the first one i am going to use their existing customer base and expand and find them new customers.

Second company i am going to use my database of contacts etc.

Regards
Simon

 

[Businesswise Solutions]

PM me your email. I may have something that may interest you.....

 

[Swadlincote man]

Dean,

Like your business..... but just not for me.

I am looking at a more traditional enquiry chasing role. Telecoms has never been for me.

Regards
Simon

 

[Kernowman]

The usual fee for freelance sales people on commission is a percentage of the sale, somewhere between 10% - 20% of the invoiced order value

 

[Businesswise Solutions]

Dean,

Like your business..... but just not for me.

I am looking at a more traditional enquiry chasing role. Telecoms has never been for me.

Regards
Simon

Hi Simon

It doesn't have to be! Just a simple introduction to your client and we do the rest!

Its not for everybody though. Good luck

 

[Businesswise Solutions]

The usual fee for freelance sales people on commission is a percentage of the sale, somewhere between 10% - 20% of the invoiced order value

we pay 33% signed sealed delivered within 3-4 weeks

 

[Kernowman]

we pay 33% signed sealed delivered within 3-4 weeks

Quick, someone snatch this man's hand off before the pills wear off!

 

[Swadlincote man]

I was thinking about a set fee for each enquiry i bought into a company.

In addition if it then turns into an order a percentage of the order value.

Telecoms still not for me !

Simon

 

[David White]

One thing to remember is that your contracts will be short on most ocassions if charging by the hour so you have 2 sales jobs to do as you will also need to sell yourself to a new job everytime one ends. Try looking on Agentbase.co.uk for some commission only roles.

 

[Swadlincote man]

Yes,

I am aiming on working for three companies, so if one job dosent work out i still have a fall back.

Will look at agentbase now... thanks
Simon

 

[Mike W]

Hi Paul/Simon

Just PM'd you.

Regards

Mike

PS. Just bought the Graceland album for my mother. Another few pennies for the pot!