Loading...
Answers
MenuWhere can I find commission based sales reps?
I'm the founder of an oversees design agency and want to attract projects & clients from the US. Due to the current exchange rate we can offer great rates plus the quality of our work is, honestly, very good.
We've decided to find someone that can find prospects for our agency. Could you recommend how can we get someone on board for this?
Answers
Tough question. Prior to 2008 it wasn't too bad but since 2012 especially finding commission-based reps has been difficult.
In 2011 I created an agency for a management consulting firm. At that time I could still count on responses to ads.
But in 2012 response was non-existent. I also hired companies whose specific USP was finding commission-based salespeople...and not one was able to send me serious candidates.
Ads posted have been responded to with hate: "Why can't you afford to pay a wage" and much worse.
Frankly, sales skills are valuable and anyone competent in selling is in demand. Most people do not believe in themselves or realize they are responsible for and create their own income. So people who can sell are going to go where they're immediately rewarded.
Sure, you can try the "churn and burn" approach--one I do not advocate at all--but I guarantee you'll get stuck in a quicksand of finding, training, losing and replacing reps.
I dislike being negative and not having a solution, but when the companies that say they specialize in this area can't deliver, what's left but to move on to another arrangement?
Fully commission based or are you doing salary plus commission? Would also be curious about the product you are selling, how long the sales cycle is, how complicated the sales process is and what skills are necessary to sell your product. If the answers are are quick, easy and few, then maybe college campuses are a good place to start but if it's more complicated then you will need to post jobs on indeed or craigslist. Let's connect as I have hired a lot of sales people and chat through your business model and the reliance on your sales team.
This doesn't quite answer your question. However, I find that I may be in the market to collaborate with design agencies, since some of my clients will require services in that area that I don't offer. You're welcome to say hello.
It might be difficult if you are talking about 100% commission. If you can offer a small base salary it will be easier.
Your main strength should be your leadership skills and the vision of your company. There are many salespeople who are willing to work for less at first if they see the potential to make a lot more down the road.
I would advertise on job sites and even craigslist.
Like many things in life, you get what you pay for.
Instead of looking at commission only, you can minimize your new hire risk by bringing on sales contractors that can eventually be brought on as employees if they work out.
Often the issue is not the salary but the LACK of a repeatable, scalable sales process. Ensure you are ready for a sales team.
There are many places to look for.
CareerJet has been around since 2001 and centralizes over 40 million job listings in one place, scanning over 58,000 websites daily. We chose CareerJet as the best overall site for international jobs because it lets you easily search for open roles across all levels and industries in over 90 countries. Note that CareerJet will display the official language of the countries you’re searching for, so be sure to use a browser that will translate everything if you aren’t fluent. It’s free to search on any of CareerJet’s international sites, and you don’t need to make an account to apply for open positions.
Indeed Worldwide: Indeed, serves over 250 million monthly users and adds 10 new job listings every second. We chose Indeed Worldwide as our runner-up because, although it has more job listings than CareerJet and is quite easy to use, it has significantly fewer countries listed. Indeed, posts international listings in every industry, every level, and every lifestyle. With an account, you can sign up to receive email alerts when new jobs are posted and save jobs to apply for them later.
You can read more here: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/best-job-search-engines-for-international-jobs-2061907
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Related Questions
-
What's a reasonable profit margin on merchandise?
Are you the manufacturer or reseller? If you are the reseller, typically about 40-50% above cost. Use the MSRP as an indicator.ZR
-
Best sales funnel to scale $47 fitness infoproduct?
Scaling with paid/cold traffic is a very different kind of beast. Depending on your paid traffic source their motivations and behavior is different than that of a house list or affiliate / JV traffic. Usually paid (cold) traffic is more difficult to convert with a $47 initial offer. I've had success warming up this type of traffic, with clients of mine, before asking for that level of sale. There are some exceptions to the rule depending on how rabid your market is to buy, but the fitness niche is usually more skeptical. You can warm them up by starting with an email opt in to a lead magnet then present them with your $47 sales offer, theres a side benefit to this as well. The other way to warm them up is to start with a survey leading them into a customized VSL to your $47 product. There's also some major benefits here if you segment your traffic right. As far as after the initial sale in regards to the backend funnel itself my typical flow looks like this: Sales page > Up Sell #1 > Down Sell #1 > Up Sell #2 > Thank you page. However some of my clients have much more than 2 up sells in place in some funnels. The trick is that your up sells should flow logically to each other. Meaning make your first up sell a product that gets your target market to their desired solution faster and easier with the up sell. For your down sell, you can keep the same product / offer but lower the price or offer a payment plan. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.BH
-
What would be a good answer for describing the size of your company to a potential prospect who might consider you too small to service their account?
What an awesome question! Businesses are running into this issue more frequently that ever, good news is, it can be done. Having worked on projects with oDesk, Fox Television and Wikipedia and having a very very small staff, it's certainly possible. Here's how I say it in our pitches to larger organizations: "Tractive West provides tailored video production services to organizations of all sizes. We have developed a distributed workflow using the latest digital tools. We leverage our small creative and management team with a world wide network of creative professionals, that means we can rapidly scale to meet the demands of any project while keeping our infrastructure and overhead lightweight and sustainable." Cheers and best of luck.SM
-
How to write effective follow up messages?
I am going to begin my answer to this question not talking about writing emails at all, but rather getting at the true source of the problem. Then we'll talk text. The problem with "follow up" messages is they illuminate something is missing in your sales process. Most people fly by the seat of their pants on sales process anyway, believing that only big companies need one. But *everyone* in the field of selling needs a consistent sales process. "To manage we must measure" is a process improvement maxim...and if we aren't consistent in our behaviors, how can we measure? How do you know why you lose some orders and win others? Do you just assume it's your personality, or your price, or your brand? That would be crazy!--and what salespeople do every day. You have given us a single sentence to work with (industry, paths to market, what prospecting/qualifying method you're using now, and other facts would have been helpful). So I don't know anything for certain about your sales process or lack thereof. However, the fact that "following up" is included in your steps and vocabulary indicates to me you are having conversations that go nowhere. If you had a conversation with a prospect and it didn't result in a clear understanding for BOTH salesperson and prospect what the next step was...your process failed. That's what leads to having to "follow up". Every time I see "follow up", the first letter of each word jumps out at me, and that's what I hear it saying directly to me. "FU, Jason. You screwed up." Determining what the next step is, and ensuring it is ultra-clear for both you and your prospect, is YOUR responsibility. It needs to be built right into your consistent sales process. Do it automatically, every time. Otherwise, you end up in this "mutual mystification" situation you're in, where neither you nor the prospect knows what's supposed to happen next. Leading to the plaintive, "Are we there yet?" email. No, we are not. We are nowhere near there yet. If in your qualifying conversation with the prospect you did not uncover the urgent reason they want to buy, do you think you are going to discover it in a "follow up" email? If you didn't find out how important (or not) moving ahead was to them in your live, interactive, back-and-forth dialogue...what makes you think you're going to get the answer in a dull, one-way, inert email? Doesn't that sound ridiculous? Having to "follow up" means you're chasing prospects. Stop doing that immediately, and work on qualifying more effectively. Is this prospect In or Out? A Fit with us or not? Do they have an urgent, important reason to work with us now, or not? Uncover this, and you won't have to "follow up". Most of the places selling falls down are where the salesperson and the prospect have left things in this state of "collective confusion". Each believes they understand what the other means and intends...but the truth is totally different. When a prospect says, "Leave it with me and I'll get back to you," at the end of your meeting, what does that tell you? Me, it tells me NOTHING! Except that I'm being "niced out" of the door. These are times to be a little assertive: "I appreciate that. How long do you think it'll take for you to have a look at it? When should we book a talk to discuss your decision or any questions you have?" Don't leave it to chance. In fact, your sales process ought to have you laying out this as part of the ground rules right up front: "Ms. Prospect, we'll meet for about 40 minutes, that's typically what these conversations are, and I'm sure you'll have some questions for me. I'll definitely have some questions for you, because I want to find out more about your operation and determine whether we're really a good fit for you. At the end of that time, we'll know whether we're a potential fit or not. If not, no big deal. No one will get mad at anybody. If we are a fit, we'll figure out what that next step looks like then. Make sense?" And if the prospect wants to add anything into the agenda, they can. Most salespeople never even lay out these simple ground rules. A consistent sales process is a series of steps. At the end of every step, either it's over or it continues. If it's over, you know why: it's not a fit for a specific reason (no need, the problem's not big enough for you to get involved, or the prospect has uncontrollable anger issues, for example). Over is not a bad thing; it keeps you out of trouble and away from The Client From Hell. If you goof up--and I certainly do from time to time, even though I work with this stuff every day; it happens fast and there's a lot to keep in mind--and you must write an email, you must get the train back on the rails. Let it read like this: Mr. Prospect, I appreciate you meeting with me on (date) about (topic). I forgot to make sure of something at the6 end of that conversation, and I'm hoping you can help me out. Turns out you and I didn't figure out what our next step will be. Now you've had some time to go over what we talked about. At this point, there can only be three possible outcomes: 1. You've reviewed everything, and it's just not a fit for you at this time. 2. You have looked everything over, but have more questions that need answering before moving ahead. 3. You are delighted with the idea and want to move forward, and were just waiting for me to give you this quick reminder of the project. Let me make this super-easy. If the answer is the first possibility, will you reply to this email with the digit '1', and I'll know you're no longer interested? If you want to talk further, please reply with '2' and I'll call you about the further questions you have. If you are ready to go ahead now that I've brought this project back on your radar, please call me at ### so I can get things started ASAP...or reply with '3' to this email, and I'll know to call you so we can begin. Thanks again, YOUR NAME ** This message doesn't chase. It gets things back on track. If your prospect ignores it and you don't get an answer, you can safely assume it's '1' and stop trying to "follow up". In sales, "Yes" is good, "No" is good, but "I need to think it over"--making you have to "follow up"--is torture.JK
-
What should my consulting rates be as a freelance developer who can also do SEO, social media optimization and other marketing services?
Pricing for different tasks that require the same amount of time from you tells the Customer (and your subconscious) that you're working at a 5 on task x, but working at a 9 on task y simply because it costs/earns more. That seems to be a disconnect. Your time is your most precious asset, and I would charge for it whatever you're doing. If you build a site, and they are happy with your dev fee, but feel like you should charge less for SEO, simply let them find another SEO guy. That's their choice, but YOU are worth $xx.xx, no matter what you're doing. Also, in general, take whatever you're charging and add 10% to it. If you're still busy, add another 10%. Let the demand level determine how much work you do, and at what cost.SL
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.