Photo by DownTown Pictures.
This guest-post on outsourcing your work to a local sales-person is by Warren Greeley, writing from Chicago, Illinois.
There is this reoccurring daydream I have of working on my laptop while lounging on a beach somewhere I’ve never been, with white sandy shores and clear-blue water as far as the eye can see.
There is a problem though. I own a business that has a well establish local niche — and it’s my main source of my income.
I had a simple but great idea to fix this problem. This idea was to implement a local sales person to do the selling for me. In doing so, the burden of pitching my services is taken (mostly) off my shoulders—and—my location becomes less necessary in serving my local niche.
The benefits of hiring a local sales person, then, are great.
- You can benefit from a local niche (or several) regardless of where you are.
- Your business can maintain a higher level of personal (face to face) connection even if you are half way around the world.
- You are more likely to get clients and make sales by adding a personal salesman to the equation. People like talking to a real person more than websites or resumes.
So, with all that in mind, how do you go about finding and hiring the right person for the job?
The Search
This can be the most tedious part of your journey. There are plenty of ways to search for this type of worker. But fortunately, you are a web worker, meaning you probably understand a lot of the resources you have. Listing sites like Craig’s List are great for finding someone in need of a job who wouldn’t fit on Career Builder or other conventional online job listings.
The best place to look, though, is through your contacts. If you are reaching out to your location of origin you’re likely know a lot of people there. Ask them, get the word out and be proactive about it.
In spite of my efforts elsewhere, I found just asking friends and acquaintances rendered the best results.
Choosing the Right Person
Though this is an unconventional job position (working for a nomadic business owner with no office!), it still needs to be treated professionally. Some traits to look out for are:
- 1. Ability to work on their own.
- Crazy amount of personal charisma.
- A thirst for a challenge.
- Experience in a similar or complimentary industry.
All four of these will be needed to ensure the candidate is a fit for the position.
The most important trait overall is trustworthiness. This is easier to establish if you find them through personal connections but in any case, be sure to check their references like you would if you were hiring a full-time employee to your office.
Negotiating the Position
As I have already mentioned, this job position is not normal. There will most likely be no office to go to and very little regulation. This holds problems for both you and the sales-person. They need to trust that the position is worth it and you need to trust they will live up to their end of the bargain (even if you’re relaxing on a beach somewhere).
Because of this uncertainty, there must be some kind of compromise on both sides. You will most likely have to pay out a slightly larger commission to the sales-person because of the risks involved and they will have to understand there will be no base pay. Compensation will be solely from commission.
Working out odds and ends is important too. Be sure they understand if they will or will not be compensated for additional projects in the future with the clients they bring in. Also, be sure they know how and when they will be paid (including taxation).
Side note: You do not have to treat this person as a full-time employee. By treating them as a free agent working for you there is far less hassle with taxes.
Training the Person
If you chose the right candidate, you will not have to train them in how to sell (nor should you), but you’ll need to provide the basics of your business — and FAQ’s.
When hiring, be sure to explain and provide on paper all of your services, your pricing structure, terminology for your field and anything else you think they would need to talk to potential clients and sound like they know something about your industry.
I even went so far as to recommend some blogs my salesman could read to get a feel for my field.
Getting Started
Some people may need a push in the right direction to get started. Even if they have connections themselves (which they probably will) you should give them a couple of leads to start with so they have an idea of what you are looking for and also so they can get started quickly. Once they make their first sale they will become more motivated.
Keep in mind that though this is a good way to get work, it should not be your only way. Do not rely completely on the sales person to get you work, especially when they’re just starting out. Remember to pursue the other avenues you use already.
The most important things to remember:
- Use your resources and connections to the fullest to find candidates.
- Trust and enthusiasm are very important in your relationship with your sales person.
- Make sure you give them all the necessary information to do their job. Giving leads and incentives when starting really helps.
- Don’t rely on this as your only source of selling.
Warren Greeley is an Entrepreneur and writer at Zen Problog where he writes about professional lifestyle.
rss feed
13 Comments, Comment or Ping
sterling | bizlift
@Warren - Thanks for the info. How has your sales person been working out for you?
I’m very interested in trying a freelance salesperson. When interviewing potential candidates, what seemed to be the average per-sale commission dollar amount that would make the opportunity worthwhile for them?
Mar 31st, 2008
Chris Johnson
And if anyone is interested in having said salesperson in Columbus, OH…I myself might dig it.
Mar 31st, 2008
Warren
Things have been going good. I have been getting more work and it is keeping me busy on the design end of things, which is what I really love.
The percentage all depends on what you do. If you are selling a high priced service like business-class web design, the commission percentage can be lower than say a logo design because they would get more per sale. What also is a factor is how much work they have to do to close the sale. It’s harder to pitch some services than others.
Mar 31st, 2008
Spenser
Interesting, the only big deal for me would be trust issues. You never know, especially with people in a new town that you don’t know about. But in your case, if you’re just leaving where you’ve already established friends and a business, it would probably work out pretty well.
Mar 31st, 2008
Outlaw Design Blog
I have tried this a few times and it never seems to work out well. One thing worth mentioning; if you are looking to hire people who are willing to work for very little, expect very little from them.
What kind of advice would you suggest for training sales people on your product?
Apr 1st, 2008
Warren
@Outlaw Design Blog - There is a certain expectation depending on how much you pay them and that is why commission is the best route. It makes it harder to find someone who is willing to work for pure commission but the risks are far less this way. If you want results you do have to be willing to pay a good percentage of your sales to the sales person. Depending on what you sell this can range from 15-40%.
First of all, establishing a basic knowledge of your product while focusing on the benefits is good. They should know how to sell. It’s only your responsibility to show them what they are selling. Also make sure they know the flaws and how to persuade the prospective buyers in spite of them. There are downsides to anything you sell, be it product or service. A good sales person needs to be able to overcome this obstacle.
Apr 1st, 2008
Remarkablogger
I hadn’t considered this idea, but I can see how it could afford me to concentrate on actually doing the work. Right now people just come to me and I have plenty of work, but now that the seed’s been planted, I’ll keep this in mind. Thanks, Warren!
Apr 2nd, 2008
Terra Andersen
One of my businesses implemented this strategy, and we found that these sales people did great knowing they were the first (or only) people in their region selling for our company.
Great post!
Apr 3rd, 2008
Maicon
I new perspectiv very interesting… nice article.
Apr 4th, 2008
65 Ways To Get Traffic
A love the idea of being able to work from home or anywhere else in the world that I wish, as long as I have a decent Internet connection.
Although for me the dream is a little different. For me the dream does not involve a beach on some far-off remote island with sand that gets everywhere. I would much prefer to travel the world and immerse myself in different languages and cultures. But the dream of freedom is the same.
To do this successfully I think training is really key. Find the right person and train them while. Build a relationship of trust with them.
Just like with most things it’s best to start small and slowly grow.
Apr 9th, 2008
Warren
@65 Ways to Get Traffic:
What an inspiring dream you have! Yes, the beaches are nice but what you aspire to will be so much more fulfilling in the long run of life. Good luck with your pursuit. I hope this article at least gives you some ideas for how to accomplish it.
And yes, I agree about training. I cannot stress enough how important it is. You can look at training your sales person as an investment in yourself.
Apr 9th, 2008
Vacant Desk
We’ve struggled with this in the past.
My firm leadequity.com has 4 partners with a few employees and we work from 3 main locations: Southwest Colorado, Arizona, and Austin. I’m the primary sales guy and manager of all the new business and this comes up all the time. And I like to travel a lot.
For what we do I’ve found it very helpful to be totally unapologetic about the fact that I’m not always local and don’t have the ability to meet them in person. It helps that the nature of what we do validates this. (SEM and Design. It’s all virtual anyway.)
Sometimes the tendency is to make excuses for why we can’t meet people face to face is hard to overcome. And I occasionally talk to a prospect that can’t reconcile with that. But if you’re positioned properly in your space one should have more than enough prospects. (You can politely “defer” the prospects that need to be in “meat space” with you.)
Apr 19th, 2008
Brandon Smith
Chris,
If you’re serious, we could use a sales team (one or more people) in your neck of the woods (well we have a lot of territories available actually) and it is in an industry related to yours.
Extremely high margins.
Send me an email
Brandon
brandon@adaptyne.com
Apr 19th, 2008
Reply to “How to Work Anywhere and Still Get Local Clients”