[Asterisk-biz] Good Salespeople

[Angus Campbell]

Tom
I understand your dilemma completely.  I operated a small call center 
for 20+ years in Manhattan and sold remote receptionist and telecom 
services to the NY area medical community - another niche.  I had one 
strong salesperson for about 15 years and various others for shorter 
periods from time to time.  She is still working for the parent company 
I sold the business to and might be available - with you permission I 
could send her your contact info.

Generally here are my thoughts on the topic, most of which have been 
corroborated by business colleagues with larger sales forces.

I found that a combination of a base salary and draw against commission 
to be the best solution; it is attractive enough to get qualified 
inquiries and still controls your exposure to non-income producing 
costs.  Pure commission is ideal for the employer, but it's hard for an 
employee to ramp up to a survivable income in a reasonable time without 
a huge draw, and that makes the job less attractive to qualified applicants.

The base salary is justified as there is probably some non sales related 
customer service duties involved in the position, but it should not be 
enough to live on.- you  need to leave healthy incentive.  The draw 
portion of the paycheck is essentially a loan from you against future 
sales commissions and, with the base, gives the sales person something 
to live on hitting the street running.  I worked it out that by eht end 
of six months, the saleseperson should be successfull enough that thay 
have either "paid back" the draw, or are tracking on a trend to do so 
shortly.  If not, then you know you have the wrong person and you all 
part ways.  In such a case, any outstanding draw is not a liability to 
the salesperson so that is your risk.

Watch our for pepetual residuals.  I do not know of anyone outside the 
insurance industry that thinks they are good idea and I'm not sure what 
the insurance people are thinking. (OK, LD providers pay on-going 
commissions).  Once a person builds a good book of business, residuals 
can supply an income stream that reduces their incentive to work 
harder.  I found a good compromise to be a one-time annual commission of 
something like 25% of the original commission.  It is not a recurring 
expense to you and it's only payable if the client is still with you, so 
the salesperson has an incentive to keep in touch with the client 
post-sale and ensure they are happy.

A successful salesperson ion the NYC area is going to be able to pull 
down $65 - $85k or higher.  More in some niches but I think it's about 
right for us.

As far as venues for trolling, an on-line venue such as Monster.com has 
sub-headings for sales and probably Sales- Telecom and is a well 
traveled site.  For local ads, the NY times generates a lot of volume 
but with a  lot oft screening required - an IVR app. might help there, 
but many might think that too impersonal for this level of job and might 
be a turn-off for some.  I always liked the Village Voice, as it pre- 
screens for a generally hip and literate crowd.  Fuhgeddabout the Post 
and News.

Hope this helps.  Let me know if anything else.  Not a bad web site, by 
the way.


Angus Campbell
*Aegis Reporting
* Aegis Management Associates, Inc.
New York, NY
212-517-1100


Tom Hayden wrote:

>Since this is the -biz list, I thought I'd pick the minds of other
>Asterisk-related business owners.
>
>Here's my dilemma. I've got some great asterisk based services that my
>firm can offer (mostly IVR and whatnot), but I am having a hard time
>finding clientele, as my target market is rather niche (right now -
>the commercial radio biz).  Unfortunately, my area of expertise is
>telecom, *not* sales or marketing.
>
>How do you find good marketing/sales people? Do you post ads or find
>them through others? Are they primarily commission-based or do you pay
>salary?  Is finding sales people for startups difficult?  Is it
>possible to outsource some of these functions?
>
>I'm curious to hear input from other business owners on this list,
>
>--
>Tom Hayden
>Astoria Telecom, LLC
>www.astoriatelecom.net
>irc: astoria
>_______________________________________________
>Asterisk-Biz mailing list
>Asterisk-Biz at lists.digium.com
>http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
>
>
>  
>
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