Where are all the Sales People?

Are there people out there who are prepared to work hard at selling to forge a career?

Everyone appreciates how tough the economy is at the moment. A recession, and the changes that this brings to business, can have a dramatic and radical effect on the individual lives of so many people.

I saw one example the other morning on BBC News: a chap who used to work in the motor industry was made redundant and used the opportunity to retrain as a Nordic Walking Instructor.

We, as a business, have found it far more cost-effective in these harsh economic times, to employ freelancers on a per-project basis - developers, designers, PR experts, you name it; they are all readily available at competitive rates. Our overheads are lower because we are not paying out on superfluous salaries, and we do not need large premises to house staff.

This will change, however, and when the economy starts to improve, we will need the solid infrastructure around us to allow us to capitalise on economic growth. At that time, we will invest in full time permanent staff, and office premises to house them. We have made it a policy to be open and transparent with every individual who works for us in any capacity. They see the cash flow projections, and we share our plans for the future and the opportunities that may be available. These individuals can then make informed decisions as to whether or not they stay as freelancers or if they would like to become full-time employees. The choice will be theirs.

The one black-spot in an otherwise ideal landscape is sales.

With unemployment as high as it is, with gloomy predictions still prevailing over the state of the housing market, and with large-scale redundancies still forecast, why is it so impossible to find committed freelance sales people? I am realistic enough to know that commission-only sales jobs are generally about as popular as a dose of swine-flu, but I cannot understand why it is so difficult to find people who would like to invest some time to forge a medium to long term career.

I have gone through half a dozen freelance sales people - people with whom I have worked before and who all express a burning desire to earn money. I know these people can sell, as they produced results when they were on a basic salary. However, after a couple of weeks, the interest wanes and they go quiet. No sales, no feedback, no commitment.

Am I offering too little commission? We pay between 20% - 40% on the total sales value of any order. A website order of £5,000 would pay a minimum commission of £1,000! Not bad for a couple of days' work.

I have made it clear to all freelance sales people that those individuals who show commitment and bring in business when times are tough, then they will be first on the list when we do come to employ permanent sales people (good basic salary, expenses, banded commission scales and profit share). But at the moment, it makes no sense whatsoever to employ people and pay a basic salary if we are not going to achieve the results.

Where are the sales people who genuinely want to sell, who are prepared to invest some time and effort for their rewards and who may want to build a future as we all emerge from a particularly grim time?

If you are a sales person interested in a commission-only role with prospects, do please get in touch - ian@argentrammedia.com.  But only do so if you are committed to driving your own business and working hard to make money.

Hobbies versus Personal Achievements

I gave a presentation today to Year 2 Students on the Multimedia Design and Technology course at the University of Kent. The topic was "What Employers look for when recruiting students and graduates."

In the presentation, I referred to my pet hate of lists of hobbies added to the bottom of CVs, and understand this may have caused some confusion amongst the presentation attendees. A presenter on a previous occasion had advocated the listing of hobbies, so:

Hobbies vs Personal Achievements

To clarify, my pet hate is for those CVs that have a paragraph at the bottom reading something along the following lines:

"In my spare time, I like to read, cook, ride horses, play board games......"

A hobby is something done in one's leisure time for pleasure - gardening, sewing etc.

Compare that to "Personal Achievement". Those students who attended my presentation will recall (hopefully) that I had a slide or two entitled "What have you done today, to make you feel proud?" An achievement.

I came across a news item recently that sums up what I mean by Personal Achievement:

http://www.justgiving.com/charliesimpson-haiti

This little chap is only 7 years of age, but what an achievement. So, his CV? "In my spare time I like to ride my bike..." OR "In 2010, I rode 5 miles and raised over £200,000 for Unicef's Haiti appeal." Hobby vs Personal Achievement.

Many of you will undoubtedly follow pursuits in your spare time, but personally, I am looking for your achievements. How have these pursuits made you different? How have they made you stand out from the crowd? What have you achieved that makes you feel proud?

The two are not mutually exclusive.  A hobby can still be a pursuit through which you achieve something.  You enjoy reading as the hobby, but getting a review of a novel published in a respected magazine is an achievement.