Uhh, Brian, I have NEVER disagreed with anyone from the great Hagopian establishment. And I never will. But may I gently suggest there is much more to it than that?
The problem is carpet cleaners hire a sales person but don't really train or manage them OR hold them accountable. The result? Wasted money!
But wait, you say. The sales people are on commission only so who cares how efficient or good they are? Here's the deal: The true cost of an incompetent sales person not only the time they waste or the jobs that are under priced and are cleaned at a loss. No, the real disaster is the blown opportunities and contacts you only get one chance with.
NOTE: And the stakes go up even higher if you have a bad person making sales calls on adjusters.
Respectfully and timidly submitted,
Steve
PS The answer? If you are going to hire outside salespeople (which can be a very good thing IF YOU DO IT RIGHT) then learn from the auto industry. (No one knows more about sales than a car dealer!) And every car dealer, no matter how small their sales force, has something called a "Sales Manager". Why did these notoriously cheap dealers add another layer of management? Because dealers have learned that sales people must be managed, motivated and
held accountable.
Once our
SFS students understand the tremendous amount of hand holding the average sales person needs many of them decide to do the selling themselves! (Even thought they hate it!) Which is what most owners should be doing up till they reach over 1 million in sales.
.
Very difficult to employ and maintain.
