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Needing advice on hiring a sales team

by Jim Schaub
12 replies
I plan on hiring some part time sales people to sell some of my internet services to local business in my area. I have a pretty good idea on the amount of the commissions i'll be paying them and how i need to train them, but my question is, is it smart to hire a few people starting out, or just hire 1 or 2.
My services and game plan are solid, so i'm trying to get this ramped up asap, and i know i can handle a good amount of work.
Thoughts?
#advice #hiring #needing #sales #team
  • Profile picture of the author Jim Schaub
    Any help is greatly appreciated.
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  • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
    Have you gone out and sold your services yourself yet?

    If you have not, then maybe going through your own training is step #1. It is always better when you understand what your employees are going through.

    My experience in sales you might want to hire 3 to 5 on a trial basis, especially if you are paying commissions online. This is simply because probably out of those 3 to 5 one or two will stick for more than a week or two. After a few weeks you can either hire more or you can go from there depending.

    Commission only sales is not easy for everybody and some will buy into your program, but end up dropping out quickly because they expect to make cash fast. It just all depends on the people you hire and it is hard to judge how well they will do until they are out in the field for you.

    Benjamin Ehinger
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeremiah Walsh
    It is better to start out small and ramp up from there. That way you can be sure that you are going in the right direction with out too much commitment.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      If you do have your game plan in order as you indicated, the best resource I have found to hire commission-only salespeople is in metropolitan or nationwide newspapers. Use the help wanted ads and say specifically Sales reps - commission only. Also mention experience in a related field as a minimum. I have 22 commission-only outside sales reps now and the last dozen or so came from USA Today.
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  • Profile picture of the author garyfromdurham
    Originally Posted by bringinrevenue View Post

    I plan on hiring some part time sales people to sell some of my internet services to local business in my area. I have a pretty good idea on the amount of the commissions i'll be paying them and how i need to train them, but my question is, is it smart to hire a few people starting out, or just hire 1 or 2.
    My services and game plan are solid, so i'm trying to get this ramped up asap, and i know i can handle a good amount of work.
    Thoughts?
    I tried to recruit some salespeople for my pizza marketing business with mixed results.

    I'd hire just one or two first. Spend a lot of training time with them and make sure that they know your business/services inside out.

    Once you are happy with them then recruit more salespeople and send them out with your established sales team so they can see how to sell your services.

    The problem I found was that some salespeople didn't listen to what I was saying and tried to blag it with some potential clients and either oversold what I was offering and promised them the world in order to get the sale or they simply made stuff up. It was an expensive and time consuming lesson.

    In theory it sounds great but I think you will encounter a lot of problems.

    Your strength is YOU. You will get a lot more recurring business if you deal with your clients personally.

    Hope it goes well for you.

    Best wishes

    Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    I ran a telemarketing room for a few years. The key to my success was to always be hiring. Always have an ad for new talent.

    When you are starting out, you should hire 5 to 10. I say this under the assumption that you are paying commission only.

    The reason for hiring a bunch at once is so that you can have group training sessions and, most importantly, because most people won't work out. They will either never show up again or just not be cut out for it.

    Commission only sales positions always have huge turnover, so you must always be hiring... AND FIRING.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jim Schaub
    Thanks so much for the great input everyone! Really helps a lot!
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  • Profile picture of the author donhx
    I have hired sales teams at two different times in my past. One thing I learned for sure, is that they often take more of your time than you ever dreamed. You hire them because you think they will enhance your own productivity, but that's not necessarily true. They will eat a lot of your time as you train and manage them.

    Jeremiah Walsh suggested starting small and ramping up. Excellent advice. Once your first salesperson has been trained and has good success, let that person train others.
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  • Profile picture of the author LukeH
    You can accumulate outsourcers. Guru.com for example.
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    • Profile picture of the author Devid Farah
      If your game plan is this 'solid' why don't you start with just ONE sales person and be ready to increase the number after five days?

      This would have given you the opportunity to know how realistically 'solid' your marketing ideas are.

      All the best,
      Devid
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  • Profile picture of the author hotseochick
    You are going to need a solid core group of great sales people to get things going. I would hire a few sales people, give them goals and keep the ones that meet or exceed expectations. Those are the people you are going to trust to ramp up your business and create other great sales people. If you have some extra start-up cash, I would recommend hiring a reputable sales manager so its more hands off for you (especially if you are not handling sales much at all).
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