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I have been doing all the sales myself and it is killing me. I am a soft touch - I don't have the stones to be a real "Closer". I can admit it.
I own an advertising/marketing/design agency that specializes in the financial industry. We have been around for over 26 years and have a pretty good reputation. We are strictly B2B and since we deal with banks and CUs, we rarely exceed 30-day terms. Most of my sales come from referral or the website requests for information. Average sale on basic services for the year is around $200,000k to $300,000 a year (wehave a few that are larger and a few that are smaller).
Recently we launched a new product that has been getting a good response (10% sales close on cold calling). It is a high volume product and seems to be an easy sell. We are also about to launch a new product that should do even better than that. The commissions are pretty generous. Our in house team is making about $3k to $5k on 2 hours of phone calls a day. The problem is that I have my designers on the phone when they should be designing.
I talked to a collegue - she owns another agency - and she told me that she has reps in Texas and LA and the east coast. She has even stolen a client from me (first time that has ever happened). So she told me what I needed to do but not how to do it. I thought I would start here to see if anyone here had any suggestions.
I own an advertising/marketing/design agency that specializes in the financial industry. We have been around for over 26 years and have a pretty good reputation. We are strictly B2B and since we deal with banks and CUs, we rarely exceed 30-day terms. Most of my sales come from referral or the website requests for information. Average sale on basic services for the year is around $200,000k to $300,000 a year (wehave a few that are larger and a few that are smaller).
Recently we launched a new product that has been getting a good response (10% sales close on cold calling). It is a high volume product and seems to be an easy sell. We are also about to launch a new product that should do even better than that. The commissions are pretty generous. Our in house team is making about $3k to $5k on 2 hours of phone calls a day. The problem is that I have my designers on the phone when they should be designing.
I talked to a collegue - she owns another agency - and she told me that she has reps in Texas and LA and the east coast. She has even stolen a client from me (first time that has ever happened). So she told me what I needed to do but not how to do it. I thought I would start here to see if anyone here had any suggestions.
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Re: So, I was told that I needed to find a good rep
Thu, September 27, 2007 - 8:55 AMOutsource your sales reps & agents. Hire a sales team, pay the design staff a salary which allows them to feel a comfortable sense of job security. -
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Re: So, I was told that I needed to find a good rep
Wed, February 6, 2008 - 8:58 PMHow do I go about "Outsourcing Sales Reps"?
I would love to hire a sales rep, but everytime I try that, I spend 6 months of payroll and never see a client from it. It has always been a waste of time and money and my designers seem to be more productive sales reps than my sales reps.
It is crazy frustrating.
And my design staff is very happy - they just get worried when sales drop off and they find they have more time to surf. Other than that they all make over the median average and they all get full benefits. -
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Re: So, I was told that I needed to find a good rep
Fri, February 8, 2008 - 3:35 PMThey need to work on commissions with incentives. For every _____ new clients you bring in, you earn a bonus of $___. -
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Re: So, I was told that I needed to find a good rep
Fri, February 8, 2008 - 6:35 PMI've never been able to locate anyone who would work on just commission... Although I'm in a different industry -- software -- and have been more looking for a partner to manage marketing & sales. Someone who knows more about pricing theory, etc. because I'm liable to not have a clue about how to price it, in spite of the fact that I know who my competition is. -
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Re: So, I was told that I needed to find a good rep
Mon, March 10, 2008 - 9:18 AMike, believe it or not, there almost always is a person out there that believes enough in themselves enough to think that they can sell whatever product an employer is offering for sale. Speaking as a salesman-type myself, all that enthusiasm I start with at a new job works better if my transportation to & from work is covered along with my lunch money, and leave the rest up to me.
And if you havent tried researching websites related to the specific sector of your industry already, there's also guru.com you can try too.
good luck!
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Re: So, I was told that I needed to find a good rep
Mon, March 10, 2008 - 1:39 PMmaybe try salesforce.com?
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