Need to get commission based sales people.. where?

Hi there,

We've found the only people who'll work on commission are people just like you - entrepreneurs.

"I am offering high commission from $100+ per closed lead to over $900+"

This will be an almost impossible "sell" to a regular salesperson.

We hire telesales and outside sales people regularly. We hire them regularly because we fire them regularly. We offer them a base salary (some security for them) but before they come on board we put a the quotas and expectations right up front.

They get one fail - that is they get one chance to mess it up, and redeem themselves. The second time they screw up - they're out.

This has worked well for our clients. Out of this process, you'll get a couple of stars who'll make you and them some good money.

Sash...

Hi Sasha
Where did you find the telesales person?

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I don't do a typical rep hire and have more business than I can handle... it is much easier to have an influx of business from free leads that are highly targeted and already qualified.

Having trained thousands of sales people I can tell you that is you are not willing to be a full time sales teacher and manager you may be disappointed in the results

Let me offer you some advice.

$100 is not high commission. Do you know what a mini is in the automotive sales world? That is the minimum commission you can get on a deal. So when you sell low or no gross you get that. The worst minis are $100.

So when most dealerships pay their failures more than you how will you get the sales winners? The true superstars?

1. You need to design your pricing and commission to be able to get an "average" sales person to $50k
2. You need to come up with a realistic but high number that a superstar could achieve.
2a. $900 per sale? Good start if a guy can sell 3 plus per week. $140k plus income potential for superstars!!
3. Are these going to be employees or contractors? If they are employees just pay a base since the law will force you to anyways. If they are contractors the commission needs to be even higher since they are self employed and will be pay their own costs.
4. Give your sales person at least 50% if they are contractors. If this will be a monthly fee consider giving them 1 to 2 months plus the setup fee as their commission. $199 per month plus $499 setup I would give no less than $499 myself and might even give $698.

The key is it has to be worth the risk for them. Offer part time at first and aim for sales leaders in other companies where you can pay them more.

When I used to be a sales manager I went out at least once a month if not once a week and actively recruited sales people. I'd go into stores that I knew paid low but were sales (if not commission) based. Think shoe stores and mail clothing stores. I would just shop and see who could close me. If they were good i would give them my card. Tell them what my average guys made and what my superstar potential was. And even with that it was hard to get good sales people.

If you want good sales people you have to find them and then sell them on working for you. Make the reward high and lower the risk and they will come on board.

I've owned a few companies before, and I always say there are three problems with every business ... Sales , Sales and Sales! A great sales squad armed with the right materials and systems wins all day long.

A good sales team is the same as investing in solid copy, systems, ppc, media etc. Takes money to make it.

Speaking of dealerships... you could pay them on a draw plus commissions.

Basically you pay there salary out of their commissions up to the point that their commissions are larger than their wages.

If a salesperson can't "make draw" after a couple weeks than they normally find there-self looking for another job.

Jay brings up a great point with draw.

It covers you legally if they are employees (never give draw to a contractor) for minimum wage. And it gives a safety net for those afraid to jump ship.

It also allows you to pay more in commission (vs. lowing commissions to pay for a salary) since only the newest and weakest will take the draw and they will either get better or be fired for under performance. That means your superstar potential will be higher.

Offer a commission to clients to refer you to more clients? My guys under me at the dealership got a ton of business from referrals.

When we reached a critical mass at agency we had the same benefit. We went from spending $168 per client acquisition to around $40.

And we went from closing 1 out of 8 to closing 1 out of 3 with referrals. MUCH easier to work with endorsed traffic.

When we reached a certain size book of business we never had to advertised outside of our house list again. And this was one of the biggest assets when I sold my part of the company.

I guess I havent posted on this thread because I feel like I have mentioned this 100 times...but you get workers the same place everyone else does. Place ads in major employment publications where all the job seekers are looking. Its just like any other business on the planet. Want to hire more people? Do more advertising. Thats the way people find commission sales reps.

Do offline businesses have the same issues we do?

Yes, 3 out of 4 commission reps dont work out for ANY multi million dollar commission based sales organization.

You are dealing with the same issues all business people deal with, so deal with it like they do. Work hard on hiring.

Hope this helps. The vagueness of this answer is where you are supposed to read between the lines. It's just real world hiring and business. Thats all.

Take this from a guy who has spent at least $50,000 on employment and recruiting ads.

Or ....Dont.

-JD

classified site is best for that yet tell me which prouct you are saying for?

I'm curious how many hours you are doing client work per day?

Are you already getting some much work that you can't spend 30-60 minutes a day calling, sending post cards, going to chamber lunches, Rotary Club meetings etc?

Just wondering what your motives are... that you are already wanting to give up part of your net margins.

If you can afford, why not advertise the position as a regular job posting. Tons of companies do this on Careerbuilder and Craigslist.