Ways to Pay Salespeople?
 

Hello,

I want get some sales people that I know of for appointment setting. What would be the best type of arrangement? I really can't afford to pay them hourly, but would there be a way that I can pay them a gross amount over a minimum, both up front and then monthly if it's set up that way? Residuals, in other words?

Say like if the sale is for $300 year minimum, they keep $500 if they're able to get it or if the minimum is $30 per month, they keep $10 as a residual of they can get $40?

Also, IF I DON'T HAVE LOT OF MONEY WOULD THIS BE A GOOD WAY TO GET A BUSINESS GOING QUICKLY?

Thanks!

Re: Ways to Pay Salespeople?
 

Hi Leonard,

Should that be "sale is for $3000 per year minimum"? Just wondering if there's a typo.

You could take a leaf from Joe Girard's book. He was the "World's No. 1 Salesperson" according to the Guiness Book of World Records.

If you grab a copy of his book "How To Sell Anything To Anybody" he reveals how he used the "bird dogging" technique to sell cars.

It essentially means you can ratchet up sales by paying your own customers a commission for bringing more customers to you. In "internet-speak", he was using an "affiliate program" before the internet was a light bulb in anyone's brain. He did it "offline".

The system he used to "sizzle" up his sales was he agreed to pay a certain amount to anyone who recommended someone to him, who ended up buying a car. I forgot what the amount was right now (I'd have to look it up).

For every sale he'd make, he'd explain his system to the customer. He'd hand the customer a stack of his business cards, and ask the customer to write his/her own name on the back, and distribute them to his/her friends.

For example, if Amy came in and bought a car, and she had Frank's name written on the back of Joe Girard's business card she had with her, then Joe would pay Frank a set "finder's fee" or "bird dogging fee" for the sale he made to Amy. He just paid a flat rate per sale (not a percentage).

Anyhow, you can steal this idea out of Joe's playbook and make it your own.

The key is, you have to have a way of tracking who each person "came from", so you can track who you should pay a "bird dogging fee" to.

Secondly, you should always pay the fee. When you reward people for bringing you a customer, they'll go away and bring you some more.

The effect could be like adding growth fertilizer to your business garden - then sitting back and watching it grow. That's because you don't pay until you've already made a sale - and have already made a profit.

Hope that helps!

- Dien

Re: Ways to Pay Salespeople?
 

I think that you are on the right track there Leoard. Pay your sales people the biggest cut you can.

To do that effectively you need to find out the LVC which is the lifetime value of your customer.

For example if a customer buys from you on average $300 per buy say 4 times per year and they stay with you for 2 yrs than the LVC would be $2400($1200 per year for 2 years).

You could in fact pay your sales people the entire first order amount because he just made you over $2100.

Jim
Don't wait for your ship to come in
Swim out and meet it

Re: Ways to Pay Salespeople?
 

paying on commission, referral fees, affiliate marketing are all low-cost methods of getting others to sell for you. Try all these methods and see what works best for you.

from my experience ...
 

you gotta pay em GOOD...good enough so that they dont want to go out and do the same gig you are doing ....

if you dont , you will be training competition...

like I have done in the past ...

good luck to you

bob