Loading...
Answers
MenuSomeone tried to recruit me for their sales team. What would you have done?
He tried to set up a meeting. I agreed to meet entrepreneur to entrepreneur, but that I had no interest in joining the team. He agreed. I am planning on taking the opportunity to learn more about him and offer him some of my freelance services that I feel could benefit his endeavors.
Would you take advantage of this opportunity to meet another business person or am I wasting his and my own time?
Answers
This is what professional networking is about. Even if neither of your receive instant gratification on the objectives you're trying to push right now, the relationship could end up being profitable to both of you down the road.
https://medium.com/@tipeveryday/the-disconnected-professional-2957568274d8
As the saying goes..."Your network determines your net worth."
Even if there is not a business relationship to be had from this meeting, you both will have a greater awareness of one another's businesses. This provides opportunities for referrals and the possibility of later joint ventures.
Aside from that, you are likely to benefit from the unique insights and experiences that are shared by this individual.
If the purpose of the meeting is clear to both of you, then have the meeting and build the relationship.
If there are false pretenses on either end, it will be a waste of time for both.
If he has the expectation that you are interested in a sales job and you blind side him with a pitch for freelance services, it will be a waste of time for both of you.
I would simply communicate ahead of time and make sure that he is open to learning about your services and knows that you have little or no interest in his sales position.
Hope that helps. Need more coaching on this? Set up a free get-acquainted call. Check my profile for a promo code.
Regards,
Kevin McCarthy
If you go in trying to sell him on your freelance services, and he's trying to sell you on joining his sales team, then it will be a waste of time for each of you.
If you both go into the meeting to learn more about the other person and see how you can help each other (maybe by making introductions to other people you know) then it could be very valuable.
If you haven't done a lot of one-on-ones (i.e. sitting down for coffee with non-prospects) then I highly recommend this quick video that covers who's worth meeting for a one-on-one, where and when to set it up, and exactly what to say and ask while you're there. You can watch the video here: http://improvandy.com/elevator-pitch/effective-1-on-1s/
If you want to discuss further ways to expand your referral network, feel free to set up a call with me.
Recruitment of Sales personnel by any company requires following steps to be taken, even you can do it. Let us have a look:
1. Showcase Your Company as an Employer of Choice--Top performing salespeople are picky when it comes to choosing who they work for.
2. Use Cash to Attract Top Candidates--Salespeople that demonstrate the skills, attitudes, and behaviours that make them a great fit for your company will likely know other people with a similar profile. This is especially true in sales, where networking and relationship building are so critical for success.
3. Build a Strong Employer Brand--In the same way that consumers evaluate a brand before they purchase, potential employees assess the brand of a company before applying for or accepting a job. Ensure they are wowed while they are researching your company online. To attract top performing salespeople, there are several things you can do. When it comes to your online employer brand, be sure to position your company as a market leader. This is important because top salespeople are always interested in working for industry leaders or high-growth companies that are poised to dominate their sector. When you personalize your company values and brand in a way that makes potential candidates feel like they know you, you take a crucial first step to creating a connection with your target candidate pool.
4. Introduce Science--One way to introduce science into your sales hiring process is by using psychometric testing to assess candidates. This testing is a learning tool for you to objectively assess candidates’ communication and behavioural style. Using the data from each candidate’s results, you can identify how someone will fit into your team culture and how they will be received by your customers. It’s an objective tool that can be an invaluable part of hiring the right people for your specific selling environment.
5. Assess for Criteria Other Than Experience--Over 50 percent of sales leaders cite “selling experience within the industry”, while another 33 percent cite “selling experience in other industry” as key criterions when evaluating candidates. A candidate may have selling experience like your product, but your unique selling model, sales environment, and company culture aren’t necessarily transferable from another organization.
6. Start Conducting Exit Interviews--They provide invaluable information about your sales leadership's effectiveness. This helps you lower turnover rates, understand where there are leadership gaps, and reduce the cost of sales turnover. Employees regularly leave company reviews on sites like Glassdoor.com after their tenure at a company. When you have past employees leave positive reviews of your company, you end up with a channel of organic, favourable online content about your company.
7. Get HR the Tools They Need--But for HR to do their job effectively, it’s up to the VP of Sales to communicate what type of seller they need , what selling experience is necessary for the role, and the cultural fit required for success in your selling environment.
8. Make Retention Efforts Proactive--World-class sales organizations don’t think of retention efforts in “one size fits all” terms. Instead, they make retention strategies personal. It’s as simple as asking, “what motivates you?” to your sales reps. While it’s a given that your reps are motivated by money, understanding how to motivate them in ways other than cash can be a huge differentiator in your employee value proposition.
9. Building a Top Performing Sales Team Starts with Your Sales Hiring Strategy--While your sales hiring strategy is the key to building a better sales team, excellent strategy that is met with poor implementation results in failure. The battle for sales talent is not ending anytime soon. With the right sales hiring strategies, you have all the tools you need to build a top performing sales force at your fingertips. Visit the Peak Sales Blog for everything you want to know about building a top performing sales team, from How to Close Your Top Sales Candidate, to conducting Faster, Better, Sales Onboarding.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Related Questions
-
What Wordpress Plugins is the best for creating a Multi-Level Affiliate Marketing program?
There is a lot of points in your question which unless someone has the exact same setup as you - I don't think you will get the answers you are looking for. I believe you should limit it by asking yourself: What is the ONE thing the MLM plugin I am looking for can do so that it achieves the maximum amount of result to my business by using it? IMHO - it would be the ability to set commissions for the products you sell and award commissions to those affiliates that actually earn you sales. All other features, while nice, are ancillary features that from the perspective of the affiliate - don't really need in order to be successful. In that regard - I would suggest https://affiliatewp.com/. When it comes to running affiliate programs on WP sites, it wins out as the best in my experience. Hope this helps! Glad to assist any further if you need help.TB
-
How can I reach out to Twitter users who have an immediate need for my services? I can see local tweets from great prospects but a reply would be SPAM
Twitter is actually a great prospecting tool, and these are people you should absolutely be engaging with as a brand. The key is to engage without coming off as spammy. Instead of "Buy our product now to solve your issue", try something friendly like, "Hey XYZ! We'd love to help you [solve problem]. Let us know how we can help!" or "We'd be happy to put you in touch with one of our experts on this topic. Let us know if you'd be interested in chatting." In other words, as long as you're focused on providing value over pitching your products, your responses won't come off as spammy, and you'll not only be able to get more qualified prospects from Twitter, but you'll also grow a stronger and more lovable brand presence.SB
-
How do I expand my network with people who are MORE influential than I am? I'm looking for tips and tricks to do this online (with LinkedIn, etc)
I've done a lot of work in this space (created the new art of conference network: Hashtags to handshakes). Here are a few thoughts for you: -get clear on you goal(s) and the type of people who can help you. -take inventory of what you have to offer(use this acronym Work history, Hobbies, Education, Network) -once you see the people you want to connect with, do the online research to see if you already have something or someone in common(LinkedIn). -read and comment on their content or something in their profile. -Invite them to 15min virtual coffee as an introduction call. (Be in a "how can I be of assistant mindset) -ask them two question during your virtual coffee (1. What are you working on that you're most passionate about? 2. What the biggest challenge?). Once you know someone's challenge you can find ways to be helpful. -Be patient. -let me know if you need more support ;)MA
-
How do you approach an influencer, a "guru" or a podcaster /blogger in your niche offering a commission without being too direct?
Do the opposite. Think about it from their point of view. They get requests like these all the time and most of the time the request comes from random people they don't know. That would be kind of annoying right? You get an email from someone you don't know but they want you to do something for them? You'd delete that email too. Best way to get their attention...get a referral from someone they know and trust. Get someone else they know and trust to introduce you (this is the whole reason I built my business www.reverralriver.com). Referrals work the best. Second best way...develop a relationship with them before asking for anything. Don't email and ask for something right away. You wouldn't ask someone to marry you on a first date would you? Develop the relationship slowly. Give them value before ever asking for anything in return. Over just a few short weeks you could easily establish a relationship to the point where you could actually mention an "ask" which should be very open-ended and create absolutely zero work/friction for the person you are asking. One of my favorite techniques to warm-up a relationship...just email and tell them you appreciated (insert an article they wrote or service they provide, whatever, just stroke their ego). Tell them you're a fan and often point people their way. Then go way above and beyond and find their physical mailing address (it's not that hard to do) and send them a small gift or hand-written postcard in the mail just to say thanks. Then email them once you know they got it and just say thanks again. Then start emailing them various articles or things they might think are valuable, I'd say no more than once every 4 days. Connect on LinkedIN and message them funny pictures or GIF's. Show them you're human. Make them laugh and smile and just say "Hey I appreciate all you've done so just wanted to return the favor and make you smile (insert funny GIF here)". Then, once they know who you are, don't ask them directly to partner...ask them if they know anyone who would be interested in partnering. Below is a template I've used with great success...and the beauty is that they will often ask for more info and get interested themselves, but usually only if you have offered them some sort of value to stand out amongst the crowd. --- Hey (prospect first name), Hope you laughed at the last GIF I sent. I was just wondering if you knew anyone that would be interested in a partnership/affiliate opportunity… Real quick summary… I’m building a SaaS that automates the process of asking for referrals…it uses artificial intelligence to find potential leads in your existing customers network and makes it super simple for your customers to make the referral (one click of a button). If you know anyone that has an audience of people that would benefit from something like this I'd be grateful for an intro. I won't let you down I promise if you can make an intro. I’ll draft up all the marketing material and do all of the work, so all they would have to do is say “ok”, hit copy, paste, and send and I’d be happy to pay them 25% commission for life (or if there is another payment structure in mind I’m happy to talk about it) So what do you think? Can you help me out? Thanks, Parker ---- If you found this useful please upvote. Book a call with me if you want to know more or if I can help further.PW
-
A StartUp is looking into setting up an affiliate marketing platform, I believe the setup is different to the industry standard. Any insights please?
So this model has been attempted before in various formats. As a direct comparison, 3-4 years back there was a company called WidgetBox. They were a startup. Successful in getting funding. Raised at least $8 million. Their changed up their model a few times but their most successful one was nearly identical to what you described. They went directly to various advertisers on a CPA basis and then guaranteed publishers a set CPM based on the agreed CPA with the merchants. Got as high as doing 500 million impressions a month. But they didn't appropriately account for fraud, had to back out on payouts, ended up nearly folding. They were able to pivot and be absorbed into Flite. A less direct comparison of your scenario is very common. Many affiliates these days operate what is considered a sub-network (against the rules of most larger affiliate networks) or a super-affiliate program. Examples are the dozens of loyalty affiliates out there like Upromise who also have their own affiliates (as well as members tracked on sub-ids) underneath them. Being the advertiser's "sole" affiliate is partially where I don't see the model you describe work. Unless your advertisers are completely unfamiliar with the digital space they are unlikely to only work with one company as their sole affiliates. Advertisers like to scale. It's why they work with networks. What ever you decide, Post Affiliate Pro does not have a robust enough of a platform for you to launch with. Beyond that the software's ability to help detect fraud is suspect. HasOffers (know called Tune) is a way better choice. Also recommend looking at Performance Horizon Group. Either way, highly recommend rethinking the "exclusivity" or "sole" component of your model and asking yourself why an advertiser would just go with you?AD
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.