How do I find a Sales rep to hire immediately?

Hannibal6.0

Hi,

I am launching a start up in the next few weeks and looking to hire a Sales rep. unfortunately as a start-up we don't have the finances to offer someone a full time position, so initially for the first few months it will be on a commission basis.

Realistically, an experience sales rep working on this full time has the potential to earn 3-4K a month. I placed an ad on a few job sites but every person that has said they are interested have flaked or not returned calls/emails for a follow up. I am confident that the product is not the issue as we have pulled in a number of sales ourselves and all our clients appear to be very happy with the product and its potential.

Any advice on how I can find sales rep for an immediate start. It is for an online service, looking to find some to start immediately.

Peterdalkey

If you are looking for a sales rep, you really only want a good one. Even if you were paying a good salary and commission and expenses, it is very very hard to find a good one. Plainly put, as a start-up, you have no chance of recruiting anyone decent on comm only. You might have some chance, if you had a very well established business with repeat business, but I would doubt you would get a good one even then!! Put yourself in their shoes, would you take all the risk of investing your time and expenses in selling a new venture in the hope of earning commission only? That is why nobody is interested.

If you are so confident in your offering, why not offer a guaranteed income for the initial period. Surely you have factored in the selling costs in your business plan, just find the dough!

RATM

Agree with Peter- you just won't find an experienced sales rep to work commission free- they know they're in demand and worth paying, after all sales is everything.

Hannibal6.0

I do agree and it is the harsh truth that I face, but what I am afraid of from our perspective is hiring a rep on a salary basis and then they don't preform. I am confident in our offering and would be happy to pay a set amount for the initial period if I met a person who would be confident that they could meet the targets but I suppose it comes back to the same point again where I don't want a situation where I pay out nearly 6k to a Sales rep who just cant make the sales and I end up no better that where I started. I appreciate people being direct and honest, I am looking for peoples recommendations on the best way to approach this with minimizing the risk.

Peterdalkey

Hannibal6.0 wrote: »

I do agree and it is the harsh truth that I face, but what I am afraid of from our perspective is hiring a rep on a salary basis and then they don't preform. I am confident in our offering and would be happy to pay a set amount for the initial period if I met a person who would be confident that they could meet the targets but I suppose it comes back to the same point again where I don't want a situation where I pay out nearly 6k to a Sales rep who just cant make the sales and I end up no better that where I started. I appreciate people being direct and honest, I am looking for peoples recommendations on the best way to approach this with minimizing the risk.

Welcome to the risky world of the entrepreneur!! There are no guarantees, you can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs. If you are not prepared to get out and do it yourself, you are going to have to pay decent wage to someone else, the challenge is then to find the right person. Without an attractive package, you have no chance, in my opinion.
Alternatively, you say it is an online service, then sell it online!! Or you could subcontract out the sales to one of the specialist companies as used by Eirtricity and the like.
If it was me, I would get off my ass and do it myself until I could afford top pay someone to do it for me!!


I am sure you love me already!!


Peter

Gurgle

Commission only sales jobs are ten a penny.
Nobody will leave a 3k monthly salary for a 'potential' 4 to 6k. Anyone who would even consider it is an inexperienced amateur and will be no use to you anyway.

You need an experienced professional, there's no way to get one but to pay a salary.
Put them on 6 months probation and let them prove themselves.

Gurgle

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Or you could subcontract out the sales to one of the specialist companies as used by Eirtricity and the like

:eek:
Get somebody else to sub-contract a student or 3 on commission only?

28064212

Cheap
Fast
Good

Pick any two

Hannibal6.0

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Welcome to the risky world of the entrepreneur!! There are no guarantees, you can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs. If you are not prepared to get out and do it yourself, you are going to have to pay decent wage to someone else, the challenge is then to find the right person. Without an attractive package, you have no chance, in my opinion.
Alternatively, you say it is an online service, then sell it online!! Or you could subcontract out the sales to one of the specialist companies as used by Eirtricity and the like.
If it was me, I would get off my ass and do it myself until I could afford top pay someone to do it for me!!


I am sure you love me already!!


Peter

I Understand where you are coming from but as entrepreneurs we should always be exploring all possible solutions to the problems we face. We are out making sales ourselves and we have a number of companies already signed up, we are looking to enter the market on a much larger scale than what we currently have which is why we are looking to hire some resources to help us in achieving our target for our launch.

And I know its only constructive trolling that your offering so you haven't fallen out of our good books yet Peter

Peterdalkey

Hannibal6.0 wrote: »

I Understand where you are coming from but as entrepreneurs we should always be exploring all possible solutions to the problems we face. We are out making sales ourselves and we have a number of companies already signed up, we are looking to enter the market on a much larger scale than what we currently have which is why we are looking to hire some resources to help us in achieving our target for our launch.

And I know its only constructive trolling that your offering so you haven't fallen out of our good books yet Peter

Grand, but as my late brother always said, " don't give me the labour pains, just give me the baby" ! What are you going to do about it?

Pedro

Hannibal6.0

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Grand, but as my late brother always said, " don't give me the labour pains, just give me the baby" ! What are you going to do about it?

Pedro

We actually received a significant amount of interest yesterday after the discussion here so first of all I will be following up with that. I understand that in an ideal world you go out and offer a big wage to the best Sales rep there is. Commission jobs are common and may not be attractive because often the product isn't attractive. We have built a product and a solution that people can believe in, the marketing and support around the product are all solid which makes the sales job a lot easier for anyone in that role.
There are a lot of people out there that might not be willing to work on commission but there are also plenty of eager and highly motivated people that are. I will make sure to keep everyone posted on how we are doing.

Peterdalkey

It is interesting that this thread stimulated interest from potential salespeople, even if only on a commission basis!! That you came accross as a decent honest person probably swung it! I for one am very keen to hear how you get on. I do sincerely wish you every success with the venture.

Cheers

Peter

sandin

You are not looking for a sales rep, but a Sales Agent.

Best port of call is some of your current clients - ask them if they know of any good agents within the same industry. The agent may already carry other brands and want to strengthen their portfolio.

This type of selling is prevalent in the hardware, jewellery, footwear, fashion, gift & greeting card market. Some agents even employ sub agents and merchadising staff.

Peterdalkey

Good point made by sandin. This kind of sales agent/comission only arrangement is covered by quite onerous EU legislation CAR (Commercial Agents' Regulations) which if not properly structured can afford full emoployee rights and more to the sales person!! What is clear is that you must have a proper contract with the person that respects the regulatory framework. You can get a lot of information on the web on the topic by Googling the term. It is not rocket science but you need to be careful and make sure to dot the Is and cross the Ts!!

We have such a situation in our Geman sales operation since 1994 and it works just great. HOWEVER, our agreement is with a company not an individual and is structured by way of a normal commercial written agreement.

Peter

kkelliher

HAnnibal, would you mind outlining the sector your product is in so it might give you some more specific responses

Hannibal6.0

kkelliher wrote: »

HAnnibal, would you mind outlining the sector your product is in so it might give you some more specific responses

At a high level view it can be described as an online advertising service for business' in B2C sectors.

arbitrage

What is a high level view?

These buzzwords go right over my head.

Good luck with the new business.

By any chance would it be competition for Groupon?

Hannibal6.0

arbitrage wrote: »

What is a high level view?

These buzzwords go right over my head.

Good luck with the new business.

By any chance would it be competition for Groupon?

Thanks,

It may be considered to be competition for Groupon, but it works on a completely different model. What gave it away that it fell into that category of business?

arbitrage

There are only so many ways to do something.

Are you planning on having the rep ring people at home or call to their homes evenings & weekends?

Hannibal6.0

arbitrage wrote: »

There are only so many ways to do something.

Are you planning on having the rep ring people at home or call to their homes evenings & weekends?

Would agree that not everything requires you to reinvent the wheel, but I would certainly be of the belief that there are endless opportunities when you approach problems from different angles.

Our basic needs may always stay the same but as a society we are in a constant state of flux which is what opens the door to these opportunities. I may have read too much into your first line perhaps.

In relation to the sales role, the arrangement of the position would be agreed between ourselves and the candidate as we understand that circumstances can vary from person to person.

arbitrage

.True, would it be a case of you hoping for the purchase to be made on the doorstep (more likely due to the commission only factor) or would it be more of an introduction to the product and they can then purchase from your website at a later date?

I have a bit of experience with this approach both with a less than reputable B2C company and also with a reputable insurance company and the one common factor was that people resent you for invading their personal time at home and for forcing them to have the door open and the heat leaving the house.

You will never get a decent sales rep to do this. The only approach is a numbers game where you employ students on an independent contractor basis (cash in hand), 90% of who will quit in under a week with commission only and most of your time will be spent interviewing next weeks ex employees.

Hannibal6.0

arbitrage wrote: »

.True, would it be a case of you hoping for the purchase to be made on the doorstep (more likely due to the commission only factor) or would it be more of an introduction to the product and they can then purchase from your website at a later date?

I have a bit of experience with this approach both with a less than reputable B2C company and also with a reputable insurance company and the one common factor was that people resent you for invading their personal time at home and for forcing them to have the door open and the heat leaving the house.

You will never get a decent sales rep to do this. The only approach is a numbers game where you employ students on an independent contractor basis (cash in hand), 90% of who will quit in under a week with commission only and most of your time will be spent interviewing next weeks ex employees.

Think you misinterpreted what I meant in my post, I was saying that we are targeting businesses that operate in the B2C environment. The sales would be made directly to the business. As an introductory offer we are giving all of our first clients the service for free with no obligation to commit to an ongoing.

I can honestly say now that I have to disagree with peoples comments that you wont be able to find people willing to work on these conditions unless they are a student. We have taken on an experienced sales agent who is already producing results for us since when I first posted this. Admittedly it wasn't as easy to find the right person compared to if there was fixed salary contract available, but there are some very talented people out there that are to be found.

We were never planning on limiting ourselves to just one sales person so if other people have recommendations or interest they are still more than welcome to contact me.

arbitrage

Hannibal6.0 wrote: »

Think you misinterpreted what I meant in my post, I was saying that we are targeting businesses that operate in the B2C environment. The sales would be made directly to the business. As an introductory offer we are giving all of our first clients the service for free with no obligation to commit to an ongoing.

I can honestly say now that I have to disagree with peoples comments that you wont be able to find people willing to work on these conditions unless they are a student. We have taken on an experienced sales agent who is already producing results for us since when I first posted this. Admittedly it wasn't as easy to find the right person compared to if there was fixed salary contract available, but there are some very talented people out there that are to be found.

We were never planning on limiting ourselves to just one sales person so if other people have recommendations or interest they are still more than welcome to contact me.

Ah I did misinterpret it. I was assuming that you were offering to be a sales outlet for a number of companies by going door to door in residential estates with their products in hand and taking a cut of the selling price.

Best of luck, always inspirational to hear of a new business being successful.

toshsat

Hannibal6.0 wrote: »

Think you misinterpreted what I meant in my post, I was saying that we are targeting businesses that operate in the B2C environment. The sales would be made directly to the business. As an introductory offer we are giving all of our first clients the service for free with no obligation to commit to an ongoing.

I can honestly say now that I have to disagree with peoples comments that you wont be able to find people willing to work on these conditions unless they are a student. We have taken on an experienced sales agent who is already producing results for us since when I first posted this. Admittedly it wasn't as easy to find the right person compared to if there was fixed salary contract available, but there are some very talented people out there that are to be found.

We were never planning on limiting ourselves to just one sales person so if other people have recommendations or interest they are still more than welcome to contact me.

I have a hugh amount of knowledge in the sales industry and i may be able to help you or vice versa,
Please contact me through Boards.ie