Sales & Out-sourcing

Previous Experience

[macz_g]

I am starting a new business venture and I am investigating my options to kick start sales.

It will be a B2B service and I wonder if anybody has had a positive experience with hiring commission only sales people?

My main concern is the lack of control over the image they present of my company and the techniques they would use to sell.

[JonR28]

We've had a few commission only, they did okay but require close monitoring. Give them oppurtunity for advancement and they will strive to perform better and more for the long term. Try and hire sales people whove had long stay's at previous companies, etc. A lot of sales people float from company to company exploiting them.

We started with 2 sales people in the beggining, one rated on the other for stealing online orders and claiming they were his. That one got fired, and the first got promoted a few months later and is now in charge of hiring other sales people. Some are commission only, some are low-salary + commission. Things seem to work fine as we add more salespeople.

Keeeping an eye on them is important, I'd say about only half the sales people who are hired stay more than a month.

[macz_g]

Thanks JonR28,

From your post it sounds like these people are based in your office.

We want to set up a deal where by the sales person gets X% out of every sale. They do not have to be in our area as we have no office space to offer.

Have you ever worked this way?

[lorax]

If they aren't employees of your business then you're talking about Affiliates and yes, absolutely, there are many companies that use them and make good money from their efforts.

[macz_g]

Are there affiliates that work doing cold calls?

[lorax]

All of the ones I know don't do cold calls - but I wouldn't rule it out!

[JonR28]

I don't work directly with the sales people but I do believe they were giving a woman a chance to to work commission only from home. A lot of it is trial & error I suppose. Our sales staff is primarily in two offices.

My advice is to try it. I don't know of any companies that will handle it for you, but I'd trust that less than finding your own people.

A common thing to do is post your commission-only inquiry on CraigsList, maybe a local CraigsList to find someone local who is willing to do it. Craigslist is good for that kind of stuff.

[ymkg]

Just read a piece in the Nov. 15 Forbes issue about outsourcing the cold calling process. The article made it sound like large, well known companies are doing this as well as some start ups. An interesting option. The article mentioned a couple of companies that offer this outsourcing service.

[edited by: ymkg at 9:25 pm (utc) on Dec. 29, 2004]

[macz_g]

Thanks for all the info and ideas!