Good in theory, what happens when your "virtual buddy" starts talking in his pocket during a sales call?

You mean I, the salesperson, am going to have to talk to some foreigner who I don't know, for the sake of motivating me?

If motivation and loneliness is a serious problem, enough to contemplate this solution, trust me, you've got bigger problems on your hands than you realize.

What are you selling and what problems are you having with your salesforce?

You are going to get an inexperienced person to critique your door to door salespeople all day? This idea confused the snot out of me.

Hi,

Your salesperson should be financially motivated enough to go through the Gobi dessert (that's a metaphor) on his/her own without company of any sort from another human being.

If he/she has an issue then the manager should be available for assistance.

Work isn't always about fun, but I can appreciate where you're coming from

Best of Luck,

Justin

hi; to clarify a few things:

- My door to door guys handle most of prospecting work and then either call me directly and pass the phone for me to talk to the person directly, or try to schedule an appointment right there at the door. It's a tough job and motivation to continue is the #1 issue. I also need to make clear that these aren't top level professionals; they're $12/hr + commission part timers.

- I didn't fully explain the role of the virtual staff. They'll be trained on monitoring the person to make sure they hit their key talking points and also evaluate the delivery, probing for hot buttons etc.

- Staying motivated is tough in this line of work. Turnover is high. If this plan helps reduce turnover by even a small amount then it pays for itself many times over.

It is a horrible idea...and your "virtual staff" have no business monitoring your sales person. I don't know any sales person that would be ok with that for 12 bucks an hour.

Not to mention, if you don't trust your sales people to hit the "high points" why did you hire them, and who trained them?

You could easily pay an appointment setter the 12 bucks an hour plus whatever you're going to pay to your "virtual" people to set you appointments qualified to your specifications.

Motivation is the MONEY they make, if they are making money, they will have fun.

Please don't use the model you are explaining, it will tank hard and then you'll be back here in a short while asking what to do since you have no sales people.

- Is money the only motivator?

- Why do you say virtual staff have no business monitoring?

- Monitoring is not about trust, it is about feedback & reinforcement. Everyone makes mistakes and has room for improvement

- You are encouraging me not to even try this model because you're sure it will cause all my salespeople to quit. What if I tested this with just a couple people and sought out their advice/feedback? Does it have the potential to help them in some way with refinement?

Yes, some of these questions were rhetorical. I'm just trying to ease the negative cloud you have and hopefully make this more productive.

One more observation...if you are so adamant that it's a good idea and that we are wrong...why haven't you already done it and why are you asking if it's a good model?

Seems you would be open to other ideas if you came here unsure and asking for feedback. I don't think anyone here is trying to crush your dreams, but it's really not a good plan.

I'm not adamant that it's a good idea. I do want a rational discussion though, and will point out if I disagree somewhere. I hope that's not interpreted as "being argumentative for the sake of argument"

The key question seems to be how well I can train the virtual staff to evaluate my field guys. I'm going to focus in on this and make darn sure they do a good job.

Delta money is not the only motivator but I agree that this is a bad idea.

Good sales people don't like being micro managed. And I can't image being managed let alone mico managed by someone who is not a solid sales leader (aka sales manager).

When is comes to motivation there are IMO (and many others) three kinds.

1. Whip/Fear: This is where the person is motivated to "avoid" punishment. As you can guess this is not very good and only works to get minimal standards. Also you are likely to have high turn over. Many small restaurants and retail stores use this kind and you can guess why they seldom have the same staff year over year.

2. Reward: This is the most common form of motivation used. Commission is reward at its most basic. Other forms come in the form of contests and etc. This form of motivation is very good but the problem with it is if you take away the award or if the reward is not enough they will stop being motivated. When designing a commission structure you must ensure that more sales are motivated properly. If a guy doubles his sales the guy's reward should double or more than double.

This is why salary plus commission is so bad. If I sell 100 and make $40k commission and have a base salary of $20k I made $60k or $600 per sale. If I sell 200 and make $80k plus $20k I made $100k or $500 per sale. Can you see the problem? The reward gets to be less per sale as I sell more so selling less rewards me best on a per hour of effort basis. This is the number one reason I recommend per salary but with a draw (prepaid against future commission) or even better a guarantee (minimum pay per week regardless of sales, sell more you get the commission, sell less you get the guarantee) for the first 90 (or 180) days so they can be trained and paid well enough to want to stay for the higher pay later.

3. Internal/Self: While the other two are done to the person this final form is all internal. But a good manager can foster this. I have done this myself multiple times and it works better. The people will still leave. But they will only leave for better opportunities. If your reward is high enough and they continue to have the challanege they need to grow year over year you can keep a good employee for decades using this. But the reward/pay of the position must be high. "A" level employees are almost always majority motivated by the internal. Some even stay in jobs making less due to this. But to build a team of "A" players you need to make sure the pay is the best for the job.

A self motivated person will not be looking for another job. If they are looking they will be looking for a better opportunity. So if you can offer them the best opportunity and really feed their internal need for challenge you will be in great shape.

Fair enough, thanks for the help. To clarify the post you quoted, I meant to say I was unconfident in my abilities to hire and maintain a team of that caliber because I have no experience with that

Lol. I'd quit and find a new job.

Thanks Claude, I see where you're coming from. We do the in-field trainings right now BTW. Our numbers are across the board; we don't have a set standard of "good performance" yet.

I like your idea of requiring them to report hourly. A question about that...

By having them call in they have the motivation to perform, but that "instant feedback" I was gunning for is lost. How would you feel if I had a highly qualified sales manager with strong coaching experience listening in on the field guys and then radioing out feedback? The benefit here is he gets to provide feedback instantly, based on what he actually hears (vs what is reported)

Stop with the "constant monitoring" idea!!!!!!!!! It is a waste of time and horrible. If you want instant feedback, do as Claude suggests and go with them yourself until you feel they are ready to be on their own, or hire someone like a sales manager to do that.

You are trying to micromanage and treat them like they are school children. These are not callers in a call center, they are people you have hired to represent your company, either train them correctly, or do not use sales people and do it yourself if you don't trust anyone.

There is something to be said for accountability. However, being accountable to a Philippine that was hired for cheap labor and cant really offer you much guidance or inspiration isnt cool.

There is also something to be said for working with others...truly the larger a telemarketing room is for instance, the better it hums.

I think the issue with most people is that they want to "have" a sales organization but they dont want to "build" one... They want to be perceived as an authority, but they dont want to BE an authority...which is cool if you are selling for yourself only... but if you want a team, they have to have someone to look up to...that person has to be a hero in their field in their eyes... People dont follow other followers, they follow leaders.

You have to be one... or hire one... a REAL one....if you want to inspire an army of salespeople. No 3 dollar per hour worker is going to be your magic bullet. I seriously dont know where people get these ideas.

Just think, I hire you, I promise to lead you to success....and then I go find the cheapest non professional labor I can find to hold your hand.... People who have NO CLUE how to lead you... or even inspire themselves beyond 3 dollars per hour.

That should not make sense to anyone.

Here's the deal, you have to hire and train salespeople just like Cluade or Ken Micheals or any other offline sales organization you have ever heard of...and it aint gonna work pacifying people with some Phillipine buddy... I have no issues with people from other countries... but Im just telling you it wont work, and its almost insulting.

You cant have a successful organization and look down your nose at your own methods simultaneously. I dont think you really respect this idea....and I dont think anyone else will either. Give them the credit of having at least as much intelligence as you do, if not, do you really need them on your crew anyway?

Im sorry, there are 10 more reasons, but I do not see anything good about this idea. The best "buddy" is another salesman going out in the field working with you...either that or a true pro manager monitoring constantly either in house or remotely and offering feedback.

Another thing is that your salesman wont be able to make distinctions with someone chattering in his ears all day distracting him from learning and messing up his focus.

Sorry for the neg post....Havent read past the OP, some of this may have been said already, but you have better ideas than this Im sure. You are asking for input.... and so I feel sure that you dont take it personally when someone says this is a bad idea. I have had terrible ideas....this one is terrible. Not even in the general ballpark.

In short:

Dont re invent the wheel. Find out how successful sales organizations do it, and do it like them. There is no effortless bullet that requires no skill development. Running a sales organization requires the development of skills...not sloughing it off on some cheap, unqualified foreign labor.

-John

Ask your sales staff what motivates them, and work on helping them achieve that goal. A lot of the time what motivates people is simple recognition. I wouldn't waste time with hiring a foreigner to motivate your sales staff.

Another idea would be to hire a business consultant and asking him/her what to do about your problem.

Bottom line, you need someone with experience as a sales manager to help you get your problems under control.

I have 2 responses to this.

1) No one is going to stay motivated for 100% of their shift, for every shift. That is unrealistic.

Seems to me what you are afraid of is your sales people slacking off, and you don't want to pay them for the time when they slack off.

And you feel that having someone monitor them is the solution.

But truthfully it is not.

No one, even if they are monitored is going to be 100% productive all the time. Even your monitors.

Instead of motivation what you need to look at is "productivity" which is different.

This is why sales companies have sales quotas.

The know that no one is 100% productive nor do they need to be. What they do figure out is how much that particular sales person needs to make in order for them to be considered an asset for their company.

And instead of hiring monitors (a fancy word for babysitter) what you should do instead if figure out

how many leads do your sales people need to make
how many appointments do your sales people need to make
how many sales do your sales people need to make

all of this is geared toward making sure that they are profitable for you and your company.

And if they are not, then you fire them, you don't babysit them.

2) You can't outsource Leadership

Just like John said, your workers are going to look to you, or a manager in your company for leadership and direction, even motivation.

Yes your sales people should know or learn how to motivate themselves, but when they can't, or when they are down in the dumps and need a pick me up, that is when you are supposed to step in and inspire, motivate, lead, etc.

A qualified sales manager who is good at motivation will be worth their weight in gold.

And if they are not, then you fire them and find another.

It might take awhile but just like everthing else when dealing with employees and leadership there is no magic bullet.

I believe the money would be better spent hiring a manager, with strong interpersonal skills, that the salesmen could rely on for guidance and motivation.

A guy in a far country working for even less than you wouldn't cut it.

being in sales and working directly with sales people, I know for a fact they would hate their life. Yours and their sales would plummet and between you looking for replacements and them trying to find other work you business would suffer.