Outsourcing Sales?

herthabsc

As a new start-up I considered bringing in a new sales person in. However I have heard a few stories from other people starting up of poor performance, having to pay the person in question, not being able to fire them when things turn out not as expected etc.

Has anybody here outsourced their sales effort to a company on a commission basis? (naturally there is a fee for using the company). What were the results? If anybody had a good experience who would anybody recommend in Dublin? Thanks for all the advise on this and other matter. Appreciate it.

Peterdalkey

Sales is a primary function within most companies and is generally unsuited to outsourcing. There are exceptions if you need say a large number of door to door canvassers for utilities and the like. The other model is to sell throught distributors which is typical in selling to the retail trade. What is the norm for your sector?

The key in hiring sales people is to find a person that knows your target market and the potential customers. If you take on a novice, it will take much longer to get them productive. Any new employee will be on a trial period and in sales will typically have sales targets and goals to be achieved, and timelines. What many people fail to do is manage and monitor the performance of the sales function until it is too late. With salepeople you largely get what you pay for, so only the desparate will consider positions that rely primarily on commisssion for remuneration, if they are good they will be gone as soon as somethiong more suitable comes along.

herthabsc

herthabsc wrote: »

As a new start-up I considered bringing in a new sales person in. However I have heard a few stories from other people starting up of poor performance, having to pay the person in question, not being able to fire them when things turn out not as expected etc.

Has anybody here outsourced their sales effort to a company on a commission basis? (naturally there is a fee for using the company). What were the results? If anybody had a good experience who would anybody recommend in Dublin? Thanks for all the advise on this and other matter. Appreciate it.

If its your business your better off knuckling down and doing the sales yourself at the start. Spend a few days researching a big list of targets and then just hit the phone hard or go see the potential clients face to face. The law of averages in sales is a good rule to live by. If your product is good and you hit enough people, eventually it will sell.

herthabsc

Deleted User wrote: »

If its your business your better off knuckling down and doing the sales yourself at the start. Spend a few days researching a big list of targets and then just hit the phone hard or go see the potential clients face to face. The law of averages in sales is a good rule to live by. If your product is good and you hit enough people, eventually it will sell.

It is easy to say that and I do do my own selling. However I need to a person who is a sales professional whether that is inhouse or outhouse. I have a budget for this so as to ring companies etc. It is of course cheaper to do it yourself but I don't want to make a total balls of it.

Atomico

herthabsc wrote: »

It is easy to say that and I do do my own selling. However I need to a person who is a sales professional whether that is inhouse or outhouse. I have a budget for this so as to ring companies etc. It is of course cheaper to do it yourself but I don't want to make a total balls of it.

Will this sales professional be as passionate or as knowledgeable as your product as you though? If it were me I would just be getting out there and shouting from the rooftops about it, get your approach right and the sky's the limit - providing the product is a fit for the market you are targeting.

herthabsc

You are right. I need to get out and do more of this myself.

yeah and don't worry about making a balls of it at the start. You will learn from your mistakes and improve your pitch gradually.