[Paul Davidson]

Hi again guys,

Just about to make a big a effort to get things a busier. 

Looking at different ways to do this, there are the usual ways eg, local papers, yellow pages and leaflet drops.  All will work at various levels no doubt, but i fancied trying the more direct approach. 

I have contracted an experienced and sucessfull sales person to go out for 20 hours a week for 8 weeks.  They will be walking in to letting agents and estate agents, b&b's, guest houses, pubs and restaurants, also offices shops and factories etc

We will have a professional look and approach with decent literature etc ............

Do you think it will work?

Do you think it will be money well spent in comparrison to spending money leaflet drops?

cheers
Paul

[Jim_77]

Are you paying him £6 an hour?

[Paul Davidson]

On this occasion how much i am paying is unimportant as there is no question over the quality of the sales person. 

I have worked with them for over 10 years and have a proven track record

regards
Paul

[Jim_77]

Then why are you comparing it to £120/week on leaflets?!

[Paul Davidson]

Jim,
I have slightly amended my original post.
The quality of the sales person is all that is important and not what financial arrangement i may have with them.

regards

Paul

[Jim_77]

So now the whole thread makes no sense :

If you're that confident in your sales guy then asking the question in the first place was pretty pointless!

[Paul Davidson]

Jim i dont agree with you but thanks for your input.

[Mike Osbourne]

If he's really good he won't mind taking a cut of the profits that come in as this will be far more than an hourly rate. If I was him I'd be more concered about whether you could deliver what was being sold.

From your perspective payment by results means you can't really lose.

Sales people (on the whole) need a strong performance related reward otherwise they lose motivation, quickly. There are exeptions, but if he was one of those he wouldn't be working for you.

[Mike Halliday]

how many vans have got on the go? a decent salesmen working 20hrs a week will bring in more work than a single operator will be able to manage.

I would exspect a decent commision only sales rep to be earning Min £500 for 20hrs

mike

[carlton care]

Hope that's put that in perspective Harvey.  All of the replies are from people who know the business, particularly Mike Halliday who runs a very successfull marketing strategy.

The're not out to burst your bubble, just giving their honest opinions.

Having been in sales my entire life ( being self employed, you have to be a salesman ) I agree with the replies.

best of luck, hope it works for you

rob m

[Mike Halliday]

PS; my £500 figure comes from paying him 20% of the job price so he'll be bring in £2500.

mike

[Simon Gerrard]

I would think long and hard over this. I have done exactly what you are contemplating and both times it didn't really work out for a variety of reasons.

My advise to you is to make sure that this salesperson is on a commission basis and not a fixed rate and so has some incentive to do the business.

Also, what kind of equipment are you using. How many people do you have?

Simon

[Paul Davidson]

Thanks for your replies. 

The sales person is a family member who is taking some time out to travel the world, and has a few months spare before comitting themselseves to work full time again.  So commission and commitment to the job are not issues as they are as keen as me to make things busier.

We now have 2 vans on the road shared by 3 of us (my father my daughters partner and me).  Now if we end up too busy for 2 vans to keep up with  then we will just slow down the marketing, so that wont be a issue.

Have to say that would be a fantastic problem to have!

I have been in slaes and running my own companies since 1990 (including business to business sales repping) so understand about sales and marketing.  Having said that i have not done any direct sales for carpet cleaning so am interested to hear the results of those that have.

At the moment we have a cfr pro 400, which should be up to the job and an excell that my dad uses, but if things go well we will purchase some new equipment (possibly a TM) but lets see how things go and what might be best for the job.

Regards and thanks again for the input!

Paul

[Steve Chapman]

Hi paul,

Direct sales will always beat leaflet dropping every time, its whether you will get a decent enough return on your investment.

I tried a similar approach a few years ago and while it did work, it had its problems as the guy was a good salesman but not a carpet cleaner, and when talking direct to customers you need to know the ins and outs of the business and not just sell them a package!

Sometimes they have difficult scenarios or want a demo there and then, only someone who actually carpet cleans can weigh up all the situations and give good advice

You might be better off doing the direct sales yourself,  thats what  i'm planning on doing, as its more than just selling but actually educating people, and you can only do that if you know what your talking about!


regards
steve

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

well let me knowhow hes/shes done because i may do the same here good luck

[Paul Davidson]

well let me knowhow hes/shes done because i may do the same here good luck

Will do, thanks!

Paul

[Mike Halliday]

Paul it sounds like you have an ideal oppertunity

but i would get him to search out work which best suit the equipment you have available. The portable you have are good machines, but not ideal for the really big commercial jobs ( perhaps look into getting a bonnet system)

best of luck

mike

[Paul Davidson]

Mike, i have just sent you an email but it has bounced back (the email address from your profile).  Do you have another that works or is it just the the email system having a bad day?
regards
Paul

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Paul

I did this years ago and it worked although I found it hard.

These days rely on the internet, consider building yourself an internet porfolio.

Cheers

Doug

[Paul Davidson]

Hi Paul

I did this years ago and it worked although I found it hard.

These days rely on the internet, consider building yourself an internet porfolio.

Cheers

Doug

I agree, its all getting organised at the moment,it should be sorted for the end of the month.

I am in the middle of a complete rebranding exercise (same name and font style), but new logo, stationary, van signage and a new website as my Dad has never got round to completely organising the marketing and web side of things.

cheers

Paul