Freelance Salesmen

[merdok]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to employ a few salespeople all around the UK to sell my website design and printing services. The problem is I dont know where to list it. The Job Centre wont let me place an advert because the job is freelance and rather than a wage I will pay 25% commission on any job brought in.

Any help would be appreciated, also, if your interested, let me know.

[gammaray]

Using sales agents on commission only is a non starter for any business. I tried this a good few years ago with freelance sales agents taking my portfolio to ad agencies and art directors. The main problem is that on a commission only structure there is no incentive to actually do any work. The agents I used were all part time, so they would be handling, in some cases, three or four other types of accounts. They would naturally lean towards the sales that generate the most income in the shortest time. The other problem with sales agents is that as they are not directly employees they have no loyalty or accountability. You can try and exert pressure but believe me, they don't respond well.

In short the only sure fire way is to pound the pavement yourself in the early years until you can afford a salaried sales person, who gets commission on sales and performance.

[merdok]

yeah, the problem with that is that although I am a skilled designer and a hard worker, I'm a terrible salesperson. I get a fair amount of business from referrals, repeat business and advertising but its not enough to pay a salary to anyone.

[gammaray]

Samefor me merdok, I am crap at promoting myself. However a business built on refferals has a very strong foundation, because word of mouth is the best form of advertising, and clients sourced in this way tend to bo more loyal. The down side is it can take a while to develop a strong and viable client base.

One thing I did was to employ the services of a PR and marketing consultant to direct me to the sorts of clients I needed for my business. PR people generally have a wealth of contacts and know exactly where and how best to market a business. They won't do it for you (unless you pay them lots of money) but they will give you the sorts of tools you need to get your foot in the door, along with very useful prospect lists. My PR consultant provided me with a list of prospects on CD (about 300) and gave me an idea for marketing and follow up conversational scripts (I could send stuff out but never had the guts to follow up with a call). It's hard work and you do develop a bit of a thick skin and a sixth sense about time wasters but it payed off. out of that 300 I got to see about 40 agencies and generated income from 5 of those. Those agencies I still have on my client list today, 2 of which are still my best clients.

as revenue would allow I took on a sales person (salaried and commission) and she is now responsible for 75% of new business. the other 25% is via refferals and target specific advertising.

I know it's not easy but don't ignore your own potential to create new business.

[merdok]

Thank you for your help, I think I am going to go with a PR company as well.

[iwdesigns]

hi, you could try posting the offer here.. http://www.bidlance.co.uk , its a new freelance jobsite! its free to post projects and to accept workers so its not gonna cost you anything to try!