How to find top sales person in return for sweat equity

I've always thought the same, if a sale person is good and they believe in themselves then they should be confident in taking a comission only role... Any sales people on here have any comments? Dan
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Dan Field
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Why should the salesman take all the risk? There a great many factors that go into a sale and the skill and experience of the salesman is just one. For instance, is the product any good, is there a market for it, is it competitively priced, is the customer service good and so on. I honestly believe that if the salesman is willing to take a chance on the fact you and your product are as good as you say they are, the least you can do is share in this act of good faith by paying them some commission up front in the form of a salary. Think about it.
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AsMustard

If you want salespeople to work on commission only try www.sales-agents.com Not used them musyelf but have received the magazine they send out to their commission only sales people.
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www.makemoneyonline-makemoneyonline.co.uk

Im with John on this one, in my experience people starting on the bottom rung tend to be on commission only Good sales people can demand the salary/car/expenses on top of the commission because they can as they are good. For the start-up that of course doesn’t help very much as you are going to need a commission’s only position as you presumably don’t have the cash to underwrite a salary. One salesperson tip – only pay out commission when you get paid yourself. It will have an amazing effect on your cash flow as the sales team will be interested in what you are – prompt payment by the customer.
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
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01235 536 773

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I used to get the car, laptop, phone and basic etc. A lot of the job is in planning so don't think you will spend 40 hours a week "pitching" to get say 8 deals. You will pitch for maybe 15 hours and get 4 deals and for that I would expect at least £500 so unless I get £125 for each deal I won't do it. Of course many "cold" sales staff will earn £1,000 a week so now you must pay £250 a deal and then there is the problem getting a mortgage with no basic salary and the feeling of not being employed and the security that can bring. Most sales people will accept £10K a year basic which is half what a muppet would earn so it is very low.
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www.youcangetit.co.uk - Business services and community. Do you get it?

Crikey knows where my reply went earlier - are these forums tested, debugged and working ?!?!?! Anyway, John it's all about opinions but I don't remember anyone saying that any salesperson should take any risk, nor would anyone be forced into selling if they don't want to, but..... Where the hell do get this "taking the risk" from?? We are a wholesale/buying Co. and therefore WE take the risk - not the salesperson. WE take the risk on buying the goods, laying out good money up front on a product that WE think will sell. WE take the risk that if we can't sell it we either have to dump it, move it on or take a loss. A saleperson on the other hand takes exaclty what risk? Okay, a few phone calls, a bit of research and some petrol - big risk. Bear in mind that as we currently do not employ any permie sales staff, then we do the vast majority of the selling and we're crap at it! But it does enable me to work out exactly what is required, and trust me (other business may be different granted) WE take far bigger risks than any sales staff we might employ ever would! My point was and is this. In our experience the GOOD sales staff do not want tieing/limiting to a Co./product range - they want freedom, and are confident in their own ability to look at a product, the Co. that is selling it and make an informed decision for themseleves whether C/O is viable. If not they'll look for something else. Those that want a "comfort zone" of a nice salary, car, phone, laptop etc. immidiately arose suspicions imho. However, each industry and company has their own view on this. A GOOD salesman takes into account all that you say and then makes an informed judgement, they DO NOT at anytime take a risk other than with their own confidence/ability. If the product does not sell they can move on to something else. We on the other hand could be stuck with goods that we cannot sell, or have to move to break even! And remember, acts of good faith work both ways! I want someone who's prepared to work their **** off for my Co. and SHARE in the benefits. I do not want some ex-window/DG salesman looking for an easy salaried position. I am in regular contact with a sales agent who has 20-30 offers of new products a month. He wouldn't dream of asking for a salary, but as he is good, he doesn't need to. He knows his market. He knows what products sell. He also knows that he can make far more money by having access to a range of products that working for 1 Co. he wouldn't have. I'd pay him 25% commission tomorrow to work exclusively for me - but will he? Would he heck! I also know a few "sales" agents who move from 1 Co. to another, blaming poor products and Co. support for their low sales - what all the products at all those Co's are crap? I think not.
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Kind Regards,

Martin @ LTA Leisure Ltd

enquiries@lta-leisure.co.uk

LTA The risk is as I said above in NOT getting your £1,000 a week if the product is poor, the pricing high or the backup not up to scratch. I have suggested in the past (and may still do it through YCGI) we put together a kind of "loose leafe catalgoue" where people list what they have on offer and we can all sell it given the change so no-one is at risk. I cannot go out knocking on doors to sell hosting plans but If I have it in my loos leaf catalogue and I happen to speak to someone who says "I need hosting" then I can say "Have you seen *** ?" Adam
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www.youcangetit.co.uk - Business services and community. Do you get it?

Adam, Surely we all agree that ALL business is a RISK?? However, if we see product A, and THINK it will sell, we have to then put our money where our mouth is and BUY that product [in volume] If I then asked YOU to sell it - you would have the OPTION of taking a look at it, working out whether it would sell [in your opinion], whether you wanted to sell it, and what our commission rate is. Assuming you, with your experience in that field, think it will sell, then it is in your interest to sell it. If it does not sell, YOU can go and look at the many other options/products available and try to sell those (again using your experience to work out whether it is any good) We on the other hand have shelled out maybe £30-50k on stock that we HAVE to sell otherwise WE lose money. The ONLY thing you stand to lose is possible earnings - you are NOT losing ANY cash whatsoever. This is why I say that GOOD salespeople know their stuff, work on the fact that you'll win some/lose some, and LIKE the freedom to move multiple product lines (to manage THEIR limited risk). POOR sales people (again, only in our experience) want a safety net WHATEVER- and that is not what most small/startup businesses can afford to take the RISK on. The risk associated with buying vs selling is about 90%-10% and therefore as far as I am concerned is a totally acceptable risk for an SA, such that the worse that can happen for you is that you fail to sell any goods. Also bear in mind that we have to feed, cloth, etc ourseleves just like a sales agent has to, BUT we also have to lay out money for stock, warehousing, business rates, courier the goods etc. The 2 things are about as far apart where risk is concerned as you can possible ever get IMHO! Anyway, it's only opinions at the end of the day, but we will not employ sales agents on anything other than C/O (unless we know them personally / or have a recommendation )
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Kind Regards,

Martin @ LTA Leisure Ltd

enquiries@lta-leisure.co.uk

Ok Interesting thread and as sales development company would like to answer a few of the points raised. 1: Commission only sales people. These fall into 3 types of people a: Directors i.e. its your business and hence you believe the risk is worth taking because you know what you are selling better than anyone and probably found the gap in the market in the first place. As directors we ALL sell, its just some sell better than others!!! b: Dabblers: These are people who do not need the money and like to play with new ventures and no salary is not a problem. Most have enough money that it will not affect credit ratings and can survive for years rather than months with no income. c: Burger flippers (sorry if anyone actually does this) These are people who fancy trying sales, have never really sold before, but have the attitude of why not waste a few months time to see if I have a future in sales. Who cares if I waste the peoples time running the company, make lots of false promises, which they rely on etc. 2: The people you need!! These are proven tried and tested salespeople. 80% of sales are made by less than 20% of salespeople. So at best even if you are very good at sales and have been a sales manager etc you have at best a 1: 5 of getting the right person. 3: Why they will not join Scenario a: Working commission only In this vary rare case where someone has actually made it as a commission only sales person, is it likely that they will move to another company? Tried and tested with a good understand of the sales cycle versus unknown company, unknown sales cycle, and will they be around in 6 months etc etc. Sorry but no, and before you give your reasons why and tell me how much risk you are taking, sales people do not care, sorry if this is hard but it is the truth. They run a business within a business and hence if they are doing well will never leave for the unknown unless you put a big basic in front of them. The successful salesperson Why go from salary to no basic/ car/ phone etc? Can you imagine telling your partner that hey though you are earning 60k+ that another company is offering you 80-100 K but no basic, no car etc. The grief would be amazing, what happens if they change the commission plan, or 9/11, or they get ill etc, why risk so much when you are on good money, know how the sales process works, probably get training etc. We have found 1 of the above!! Ok lets just imagine you have one of the above regardless of how rare it is. This person is then a very valuble asset to your company and yet he can leave at any time. Lets face it anyone who offers them a car, basic, phone etc is putting a very tempting offer thier way. If they need finance, it is very hard to get commsion only so getting a morgage , car loan etc beomes a lot more expensive. Then consider again thier family, becuase some guarnetee is better than none, expecially if you have a partner and kids. Solution BIZAL works with many comapnies to resolve these issues so option 1 is call 0141 776 2144 but before you do that have you established? 1: Target market user profile 2: Cost per lead 3: Cost per deal 4: average gross margin 5: USP's 6: Comfort factor statements (one of the biggest reasons deals do not get closed) 7: TAS based forecast ( not just to show how much renenue should be generated but also show issues in the sales cycle) 8: Length of sales cycle 9: Value added services/ products If not we can still help but before we engage we will ask you to do some homework first. Hope this is of some help David Ashton BIZAL www.bizal.com
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