What Excites Salespeople?

[kerf]

New to the site.Reading the thread i noticed you are from the ottawa Valley.i am located in The Rideau valley. take care

 

[treehumper]

There's two things here, James, what will attract good salespeople and what do they wish to find in the workplace. How to word a piece of advertising so as to elicit response and then how to deliver, to wit, the sizzle and the steak.

When I was in sales, I looked for companies that offered income commiserate with the job description. If they are looking for sales development and client management then I would expect a base ++, i.e., commmission and expenses. If it was strictly working qualified warm leads provided by the company then a straight commission. When I went to the company I looked for a direct correlation between their promotional material and the staff. If they promote themselves as a professional company and the staff come across as a lose bunch of riff raff picked up at corner then I'd walk away.

I wanted to know that I could "undersell and over-deliver". What training materials and sales intelligence do you provide? Do you work as a cross-functional team or does everyone operate in their own silos? I want to be able to sell based on the crew's abilities and deliverables not on the owners wishful thinking.

Where did you advertise the posting? What did you do to grab the sales people's attention? Sales positions are difficult to fill so paying extra attention to what you are doing. Use as many avenues as possible. Job classifieds are not the best vehicle. Try advertising in green industry trade journals, trade shows, schools, etc. look for senior arborists looking to come down out of the trees. Offer an enticement like professional sales training not just inhouse training. How about smaller tree services? Offer the owners/operator the chance to leverage their contacts and knowledge without the headaches of running their own show.

 

[easyphloem]

I do sales exclusively for my company, and have been in this role since 2003.

Our company has three full time sales guys (including me), and we all came up through the ranks of the company. I started as a groundman in 1995.

I think the key to finding the right fit in a sales position at a tree company is having a good understanding of what the company's goals are.

Are you a pruning and removal based company? Do you want to branch out into other services (PHC, Consulting, etc.)?

Nobody who works in the field wants to hear this, but selling the work is just as hard as the actual work, and to keep someone motivated to continue day in and day out to go out there with a smiling face and present your company in a professional manner, you are going to have to pay them. Probably more than you want to.

A good salesperson will want to see a compensation package that rewards the hard work they will have to do to get jobs on the schedule. But it does depend on how your organization is put together.

Do your leads just come from phone calls to the office looking for tree work? What percentage of income does your company commit to advertising? LIke Treehumper said, good leads turn into good jobs, and would most likely be good for a situation like commission-only pay (something in the range of 10%-12%, plus expenses).

If the salesperson is supposed to go out every day and knock on doors, cold call commercial properties and generally make work appear out of nowhere, they will want to see a little more security than commission only pay, something like a base salary and then a sliding scale of commission + bonuses for performance.

Is there anyone currently working at your company that has the potential for a sales position?

Doing sales full time can burn someone out if they are not right for the job. If the money is right, it's harder to get frustrated with the same thing day in and day out.

I find my job rewarding when the client is happy with our service, the crew knows that I care about their safety more than dollar bills, and when my boss tells me that I am doing a good job for the company (and gives me dollar bills).

Good luck in your search!


SZ

 

[southsoundtree]

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price shoppers!!

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I just thought of something... The next time someone tells me they have recieved 7 bids and they are "price shopping," I'm going to tell them, "how about quality work shopping?"

Or, would I come across as a smart a$$?

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I'd say it. If they are looking for the cheapest thing going, you are already out of the game.

If not, then you need to explain why you are quality, and contrast it to others' poor or good work without bashing them.

Tell them why your work is worth the money, what you will be doing to earn it, and why it makes a difference.

If people want a hat rack, offer to take their golf clubs to the SUV and ruin that, too, of course, for pay for the dis-service.