Hiring Sales Representatives to Market Your Business

One way to increase sales is to build a sales force for your business using independent sales representatives. An independent sales representative or manufacturer's representative sells the products of several different companies.

Before you go out and find a sales rep for your business, here are some steps to consider when hiring sales representatives to market your products or services:

• Analyze if you can afford to hire a sales representative now. The first question you need to be asking is whether you have the budget to hire a sales representative now.
• Determine the sales process. What is the sales process of your business? How will order and fulfillment be done? A sales representative selling through home parties will require different process if you are using a drop shipper or if sales is done mainly through cold calling on the telephone.
• Think about the best way to present and sell your products. You will be providing the sales reps with detailed instructions on how to sell your products. Should the products be sold in a party setting? Should it be sold on a one-on-one basis? Then prepare your sales manuals and detailed instructions.
• Decide on the compensation structure for your sales representatives. You can use a combination of salary and commissions or salary plus bonus. Commissions usually are based on the amount of sales, whereas bonuses may depend on individual performance, on the performance of all sales workers in the group or district, or on the company’s performance. An attractive compensation package can attract the right type of sales representatives your company.
• Find the right sales representatives. The right representatives can make or break your company. You need to start thinking about your hiring process – what types of candidates you need to look for, what skill sets they need to possess, and where you can find them. Your sales reps must have good skills in prospecting, presenting and closing the sales. They should be motivated and hungry to sell more and more of your products. As for the contract, here's a sample sales representative contract that you can use for your business.
• Be ready to train the sales representatives. You cannot just tell your sales reps to go out and start selling. You need to help them run through the sales process detailing how best to sell your products. A sales process defines the steps necessary to successfully close a sale, from cold calling to closing, and of course, the customer retention strategy that follows a sale. Give them the spiels they need; it is important that your sales reps are informed and knowledgeable about your products.
• Find the right candidates for your sales positions. Do not settle for mediocre sales representatives. Ask for referrals from friends, family and acquaintances, particularly those who have had similar selling experiences. Advertise in appropriate publications and websites, such as Craigslist and other local publications.
• Create a sales tracking and performance monitoring system. Use technology to help you track the performance of your sales representatives. Check out Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to help you understand the effectiveness of your sales representatives, as well as help the sales representatives become more efficient. Examples of CRM for small businesses are Salesforce.com http://www.salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
• Make your long-term plans. If having sales representative is the best option for you, you need to start thinking of the long terms plans for your business. How many sales representatives do you want? Will you need a sales manager? What geographical areas do you want to be covered? How will you expand to other geographical areas?

To find sales representatives, here are some resources that you may want to check out:

• Association of Independent Manufactures
• Bureau of Wholesale Sales Representatives
• United Association Manufacturers' Reps.

How to Improve Sales Technique: Learn from God

I've had for quite some time a copy of the book "God is a Salesman: Learn from the Master" by Mark Stevens, but I never had the interest to read it. Maybe it's my strict Catholic upbringing that I don't want God to be portrayed as a salesman, or maybe it's because of the cheesy intro "Through the deep thought, spirituality, and philosophy that form the basic tenets of my life." Okaaay!

But after the initial trepidation, I found that it is actually a useful book. Cheesy, but nonetheless, insightful and useful. You just have to make sure that you don't consider religious significance and focus on the business implications. This is, afterall, not a book trying to prove the existence of God.

As the author writes:

According to the book, here are some of the things we can learn from God:

• God treats us all as family: "We must view selling as a way of building and maintaining faith in one another .... When practiced by The Master's standards, sales is the connection that fuses an enterprise to people, helps to shape the company's offerings to meet customers' evolving needs, and nurtures its growth over time."
• God shares His vision: "God never sells a product or a service. God holds out an ideal, a standard to achieve, and most important, something to achieve. Great salespeople learn from this and emulate it."
• God makes guarantees: "When you sell something to someone, you can be unequivocal about what that product or service will deliver. And this has exceptional power."

It seems hard to think that we can be anywhere like God even in selling. But the tips the author gives are sound and practical. There's actually no new selling tips that other books on sales haven't mentioned before, except, for associating the sales tips to God.

Tips on Negotiating from a Successful Real Estate Entrepreneur

I just got the book "The Peebles Principles", a first person account of R. Donahue Peebles -- head of a real estate development company The Peebles Corporation who made his fortune from scratch. He made his mark in Washington DC area, but his crowning achievement was the establishment of the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza, which became the first African American-owned resort in the U.S.

Peebles' book is surprisingly very informative with lots of tips on how could one start wheeling and dealing in the real estate world. Peebles may not be as well known as Donald Trump, but his book has a breath of freshness and believability that Trump's books often lack.

Some of Peebles tips on negotiations and running a business include:

• Don't quit even if it seems like the end, endurance in key.
• Don't be intimidated by better established rivals.
• Never stop looking for a way to win.
• Don't get sloppy at the end; the last five yards are more important than the first.
• If you cut deals with questionable parties, always make sure the documentation is thorough.
• In addition to thinking about how much money you can make from a given transacion, carefully consider your financial exposure. Be aware that this may exceed the intermediate cash you've put on the line.
• Maintain political relationships even when you don't need them. They may prove to be good insurance in critical situations.
• When it comes to closing deals, delay is the enemy of the entrepreneur -- unless you use it to stretch out your financial obligations.

I have written about the principles that Peebles live by based on his own experiences, and you can read it over at WomenHomeBusiness.com

Sell -- After Closing the Deal

I was leafing through my old copies of business magazines and came across a great article from Direct Marketing magazine on selling after you close the deal. Small businesses often make the mistake of ignoring or failing to communicate enough to customers after their purchase, and doing so reduces the chance to promote to your own customer base.

The article then raised 4 accepted facts in after-purchase marketing:

1. For an average company, 80% of its new business comes from existing customers.
2. You are likely to get strong referrals from your customers within 3 months of their last transaction.
3. A new customer tends to buy from you again in the next 3-6onths.
4. It costs 5x as much to sell to a new customer as compared to an existing customer to buy again from you.

Whether you are selling online or not, it is important to specifically ask your existing customers for referrals. If you are marketing on the Web, sending a pass-along-to-a-friend offer may even prove fruitful.

Spend time reaching out to your customer base - they already know you; they've bought from you so it takes less effort to convince them to buy again from you. Remember that a sizeable portion of your profit comes to those who are already your customer.

Where to Find Sales Representatives

If you are looking for people to represent you and help sell your products (other than the affiliate program on the Web), try going to various manufacturers' representatives association. There are a number of sales reps organizations representing various industries, and your best bet is to contact these associations for referrals. Here are some of them:

• Agricultural & Industrial Manufacturers Representatives Association (AIMRA) http://www.aimrareps.org/ = for agricultural and light industry and OEM manufacturers
• Association of Independent Manufacturers Representatives (AIM/R) http://www.aimr.net/ = for plumbing, heating, cooling & piping products.
• Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (Manufacturers Rep Division) (AAIA) http://www.aftermarket.org/ = for vehicle aftermarket products and parts.
• Broker Management Council (BMC) http://www.bmcsales.com/ = institutional foodservice industry
• Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) http://www.era.org/ = for electronics products.
• The Foodservice Group, Inc. (FSG) http://www.fsgroup.com/ = independent food service brokers selling to the restaurant, deli and food service distributors.
• Health Industry Representatives Association (HIRA) http://www.hira.org/ = healthcare products except pharmaceuticals

For other groups, check out the Manufacturers' Representatives Educational Research Foundation and their list of members

Improve Your Sales Call Technique

If you are looking to improve your sales technique, the book "ULTIMATE SALES TOOL KIT: The Versatile 15-Piece Skill Set That Every Professional Needs (AMACOM, January 30, 2007; $19.95 hardcover) by William Miller can give you the right tools and skill set. The book presents 15 skill sets that a sales professional need, giving concreate examples and even worksheets to help you internalize the book's teachings.

One of the techniques presented by the book is called the 20-Second Intro. This tool is designed to help you create an effective intro message for your sales call or email in order to pique the person's interest enough to contact you back.

The mistake of most sales people is that they leave messages -- but the messages are about themselves, which will obviously not interest the potential client! For example:

"Mr. Smith, this is Jim Morris at the ABC Company. What we do is ..."

Instead of doing this approach, use the 20-second intro by asking questions that will resonate with them, not you. The goal of this approach is to have your prospect take your second call. For example:

"Hi Mr. Smith. I'm Jim Morris from the ABC Company. The reason for my call is to answer any questions you may be asking yourself, like: Is there a way that I can increase my revenues in a timely manner?"

The book offers more useful how-tos. Check it out if you need help finetuning your sales techniques.

Selling Tips for the Small Business Owner

Costco Connection, the monthly magazine of the warehouse club Costco, has a very interesting article entitled"Tips from the Top: Selling for the Non-Salesperson" in their January issue. The article is a collection of tips from the top sales guru. While most we already know, it is also useful to be reminded of them again:

• Selling is about helping your clients
• Listen to your customers: they will tell you how to make them successful and grow your business
• Tell everyone you know what you do: referrals can come from the most unlikely sources
• Customers don't want to be sold: so stop selling and start solving the customer's problems, needs and wants
• To be successful in sales, learning to operate outside this comfort zone is a must!
• One of the most common mistakes people make when presenting is being too informative versus being persuasitve
• To close more sales and have more satisfied customers, business people must understand what their prospects want.
• The greatest weakness of businesspeople today is that they are product centered, not people oriented.

Business Idea: Selling Merchant Accounts

One business you can do from home, whether full time or part time, is to sell merchant accounts. There are a number of merchant account providers, including big companies such as Card Service International or smaller outfits such as Vantage Card Services.

In this business, you tap businesses accepting credit cards processing to use your merchant account provider or to shift to your provider in case they are already using another provider. Basically, you're a salesman.

But merchant account salesman is not an easy work. You have to know business owners -- which is not an easy task. You can't just go into a nail salon or restaurant or dry cleaner and ask them to change their credit card merchant provider. Many businesses are against soliciting, so you'd be turned away right at the door.

To get accounts, the business owner must be familiar with you, know you, or you must come in highly recommended. If you have contacts with a lot of business owners -- e.g. you are a member of a business networking group -- then this would be a great fit for you. For example, getting restaurant owners to shift their credit card processing entails a lot of dining and wining in that restaurant - just so owner get to see you and become familiar with you (they are more likely going to give you the business if you are their loyal customer). You need to win the trust of the business owner -- before they give to you their merchant account bill so you can analyze where you can help them save money.

Your earnings will depend on the profit of the merchant account provider after paying off the fees of Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express and other credit card companies. What typically happens is that Visa for example sets a rate, and the merchant account provider gives a higher rate to their customers. That difference is their profit -- and you as their salesman, will only get a percentage of that profit.

It's not a flat commission, but your earnings will depend on the profitability of the account. Note though that your income depends on the sales volume of the business owner and the rates that you've given said business owner. The problem lies on the fact that this is a very competitive business, and you cannot give the business owner a high rate. In fact, if you're trying to win the business owner, your presentation will focus on how much they will save if they use you instead of their current provider -- so you lower the rate that was given to them or you remove some of the extra fees that are typically charged. As a result, profitability of the account becomes smaller and your earnings are smaller.

For example, your customer is a convenience store owner whose credit card sales volume amount to $35,000 per month. It wouldn't be too far fetched to earn only $45-$100 a month from this account. Hence to make a lot of money from this business, you need to have a lot of accounts.

One thing to watch out in this business is the requirement for landing new accounts. I've seen merchant account providers that require their sales people to have at least one sale every quarter -- otherwise commissions from previous sales will be forfeited. Imagine if you already have 100 accounts earning you a couple of thousands a month, and you laid low in that quarter, then boom -- that earning will disappear!

Choose a company that you know offers good rates to their clients as well as salespeople. Be sure to look at how well they support their sales people, especially in the implementation and hookup of the new credit card processing system when the business owner changes to your company. Also check how many salespeople they already have in a particular location, so you won't have to compete with other salespeople from your company.