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MenuI would like to build an experienced and skilled sales team, however I can't afford the base salary. How do I approach this problem?
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What do you mean you can't afford a base salary? What has a higher priority in your spend plan than bringing in revenue? If you don't have enough to cover a base salary you are probably not ready to launch your company. In many cases the founders will do the sales themselves. In some cases offering sales people equity might work. But, few will work without a base.
Here's a tip I did with two startups. For the first five deals, do them at cost. This is essentially buying the business. BUT, they need to know that you are severely discounting the price and in return you must get from them an agreement to be a reference for you (assuming, of course, that everything works out).
In the beginning, breaking even is a good thing. And, doing that while building a cadre of reference accounts is even better.
Bob
Create a hefty payment structure based on commission based sales. This gives expert sales force the cnfidence that their hard work could actually be worth they payoff rather than working for a less than desirable work to pay ratio.
Having contractors sales people is always the first step in further validating your proposition as a whole, and it saves you capital. It does mean however that you if you want good efficient sales people you need to provide them with great compensation upon delivery of closed sales.
I structure my force on 2 basis:
1. If you are new or feel for a rough week you have the option to go for a minimum base pay (40% less than closing at least 2 sales a week on commission) this helps them still get some pay even if they don't perform but is not optimal option for many so they avoid this.
2. Commission based only, closed sales gives 30% off project while leads I close only gives them 15%. Win win for part time lead generators as well as for full time sales.
Just some ideas.
There is a sad reality to answering this question, but you're going to have to do the work yourself. Reason being, you're going to need money (capital) to hire and pay a sales team. This is one of those questions that the phrase "sales fixes all." Meaning, you're going to have to start selling yourself. Once you start making enough money to hire one sales person, you and that sales person can start selling enough revenue to hire another, at that point you can stop selling and have your 2 sales people sell on their own.
The short answer is: you're going to have to start selling on your own.
There is another way to do it, but u don't recommend it because of the high turnover and very shitty results: 100% commission based sales team. You could try to hire 3 or 4 commission based sales people, but they probably won't be any good. If they have any sales experience they'll know they should be making at least a small base salary.
Pick up the phone and start selling on your own. Once you have enough revenue coming in the door you can easily hire a sales team.
I would tend to agree with Humberto's answer here and will equally disagree with Bob's 'you aren't ready answer.'
Many sales teams or agents operate on a performance only basis, but it really depends on your expectations..
For instance, depending on your product or services, I would suggest your ideal sales team candidates will already be established in your niche and possibly already offering complementary products and services to your target customer. If this is the case, for them to take on a sales/agency role for your product and offer it to their existing network will be much easier than someone who has no experience in your field.
In consideration of this, you may seek ways to split 'territories' between similarly minded or profiled reps, grandfathering existing deep relationships for each respective agent and then providing new 'bluesky' areas for them to continue to prospect and grow your client base if/when the product gains more traction.
Happy to discuss further if you'd like to connect and ask me any other questions.
Regards,
Chad
Making sure that you focus the conversation on the total earnings expected and paying out more on the commission side might entice someone to give it a shot. Then you will need to realistically look at how much they can make and be able to show them how they can get there.
Related Questions
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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". 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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
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