SaleInvaders: Rent-a-sales organization • Hacker News Board

Re: SaleInvaders: Rent-a-sales organization

#51

Post by gregpilling » Tue, Jun 24, 2014, 6:08 PM UTC

abcd_f wrote: post #40

gregpilling wrote: post #38

From your site: How much does it cost? We have packages starting at $1000, depending on your needs, we can pitch up to 100 customers in your vertical. --------------------------- So you are going to visit 100 customers for me, for the price of $1000? This seems to be quite low. From my experience (10 years, outside sales B2B, full commission) a sales person can only visit about 10 locations a day if they are actually…

Can I ask a noob-ish question? For the outside B2B sales you mentioned, what the compensation structure is like? Purely commission or with a fixed part / retainer? If it's a high-tech software sales, do you have an idea of what's the going commission rate is? The only experience I have is with salaried sales with tiered commission, so I just want to understand how the alternatives work.

I made between 5% and 15% on the sale. Sales were typically $10,000 - $50,000, and I was selling capital equipment. I sold about 1.2M per year, at an average of 12.5% commission (in the 90's). There was a $600 per week draw against commissions, and health care. All the other expenses I had to cover - fuel, vehicle, etc.

Top sellers liked the program, because they made a lot of money. Lower sellers would complain and want to be put on salary (so they would earn more). I preferred the full commission, but I was always #1 or #2 in sales so I earned on the high side.

It was nice, only worked 4 days a week (Monday morning and Friday afternoon off).

Re: SaleInvaders: Rent-a-sales organization

#52

Post by sharemywin » Sun, Jun 29, 2014, 3:48 AM UTC

codva wrote: post #32

As one of the few full-time sales people that hang out on HN... Business to business sales (which is the usual code for high volume cold calling jobs) is a slog. It takes a certain kind of person to do it. I've done it, but never really liked it. I'm more of an enterprise sales guy for start ups. Maybe the variety of different pitches every week is a selling point for potential staff? I really don't know. I do now th…

There's only a few markets that can cover the sales overhead of feet on the street.

Re: SaleInvaders: Rent-a-sales organization

#53

Post by sharemywin » Sun, Jun 29, 2014, 5:52 PM UTC

salesinvaders wrote: post #11

swalsh wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think its a really great idea, my only concern is that the sales staff you hire won't be as dedicated, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable about my product as I am. Sales is a core aspect to a company, and while it may be possible to outsource sales in an existing company after you've established processes, a young start up won't have that yet. Its a job the founders SHOULD be doing because you're still trying to get a…

I agree. If you haven't sat down with your potential customers yet, we probably aren't for you. If you have visited 5-10 places, can list the questions that get asked over and over, and have your pitch down, but just don't have the resources to hire a staff, then we can help. If you aren't sure what your customers want yet (ie haven't cold-called), we do provide the feedback relevant to a startups needs, but that is…

can you put up your email. I keep getting an undeliverable. sales@salesinvaders.com

Re: SaleInvaders: Rent-a-sales organization

#54

Post by abcd_f » Wed, Jul 02, 2014, 8:34 AM UTC

gregpilling wrote: post #51

abcd_f wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask a noob-ish question? For the outside B2B sales you mentioned, what the compensation structure is like? Purely commission or with a fixed part / retainer? If it's a high-tech software sales, do you have an idea of what's the going commission rate is? The only experience I have is with salaried sales with tiered commission, so I just want to understand how the alternatives work.

I made between 5% and 15% on the sale. Sales were typically $10,000 - $50,000, and I was selling capital equipment. I sold about 1.2M per year, at an average of 12.5% commission (in the 90's). There was a $600 per week draw against commissions, and health care. All the other expenses I had to cover - fuel, vehicle, etc. Top sellers liked the program, because they made a lot of money. Lower sellers would complain and…

Thank you, this is helpful.