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Would you hire Upwork salesmen?

Marketing, social media, advertising

Would you hire a part time sales rep from Upwork to sell your product?


  • Total voters
    12

Scot

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Between Lex's thread about restarting his Upwork profile and Fox using part time rep's to deliver warm leads for his design business, this got me thinking.

If your business was based on the sales of a product or business, would you outsource sales if you got to the point where you could no longer keep up?
 
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Sadik

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It depends on the product of course, but I would most likely need to hire a support person versus a sales person. But my perspective is from online products and driving sales through targeted advertising. If I had to do this offline via cold calling etc. sure I would hire someone off Upwork. But with due diligence.
 

ApparentHorizon

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I've hired mostly to take over what I'm already doing/competent (programming), with the exception of a cold appointment setters. Hired 3 at low rates, and they paid for themselves but they didn't last.

It seems career sales people need constant motivation with all the rejections. I've seen early morning meetings from some of my clients, and the ones that do it every day tend to be more successful.

Since you're already in sales it's worth a try. It would be interesting if you found someone who can just pick up and go.
 
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Scot

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ApparentHorizon

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Great feedback guys.

@ApparentHorizon where did you hire the three reps from?

UpWork

Had them answer a few fundamental sales questions (always agree, never interrupt, be extremely polite, etc). Then got on a Skype interview to hear their voice and how they improvised answers not included in the script.

Afterwards, created 3 new skype accounts, added US numbers + unlimited calling, and passed the login over. Everyone had to record their calls and upload to dropbox.
 

Scot

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UpWork

Had them answer a few fundamental sales questions (always agree, never interrupt, be extremely polite, etc). Then got on a Skype interview to hear their voice and how they improvised answers not included in the script.

Afterwards, created 3 new skype accounts, added US numbers + unlimited calling, and passed the login over. Everyone had to record their calls and upload to dropbox.


Oh very cool. That's a really good process, thanks for sharing that. Rep++
 

JAJT

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My take (as a former professional sales guy):

- If the sale was simple and based around a script that just needs to be repeated a million times? Then sure. I'd likely consider it. Anyone can do that and it's largely a numbers game. Call 1000 people, get 50 appointments. Rinse. Repeat.
- If the sale is complex or requires "working" of the leads, no. I would not trust outsourced labor. I would get a proper sales person on commission who is hungry for it.

Just my 2 cents anyway.

Also something to consider: You should try to understand your product/service costs and lifetime customer value as best as you can. It can shed a lot of light on what you can afford and what you can't for every sale and the quality of salesperson you can get. Example from a real life past employer:

Subscription: $10 per month
Commission paid out to salesperson: $10 (yeah, 100% commission from the first month)
Salary for salesperson: $30,000
Average sales per day: 10
Average customer subscription length: 18 months (i'm guessing here from memory, it was close to this, if not longer).
Total paid to salesperson per year: ($10 commission x 10 sales per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks per year) = $26,000 + ($30,000 salary) = $56,000.
Total yearly company revenue: ($10 subscription x 10 sales per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks per year x 18 recurring payments) = $468,000 - (sales commission of $26,000 + salary of $30,000) = $412,000 per sales person.
Total sales people on staff: 12.
Total yearly sales revenue: Damn.

On this model, assuming costs are relatively low (they were extremely low) you can hire a HELL of a sales person for $56k per year. But if you don't do the math and know the numbers it would be the easiest thing in the world to say you can't afford to pay someone that for a $10 subscription service.

(the math was quick and dirty, just food for thought)
 
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Scot

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My take (as a former professional sales guy):

- If the sale was simple and based around a script that just needs to be repeated a million times? Then sure. I'd likely consider it. Anyone can do that and it's largely a numbers game. Call 1000 people, get 50 appointments. Rinse. Repeat.
- If the sale is complex or requires "working" of the leads, no. I would not trust outsourced labor. I would get a proper sales person on commission who is hungry for it.

Just my 2 cents anyway.

Also something to consider: You should try to understand your product/service costs and lifetime customer value as best as you can. It can shed a lot of light on what you can afford and what you can't for every sale and the quality of salesperson you can get. Example from a real life past employer:

Subscription: $10 per month
Commission paid out to salesperson: $10 (yeah, 100% commission from the first month)
Salary for salesperson: $30,000
Average sales per day: 10
Average customer subscription length: 18 months (i'm guessing here from memory, it was close to this, if not longer).
Total paid to salesperson per year: ($10 commission x 10 sales per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks per year) = $26,000 + ($30,000 salary) = $56,000.
Total yearly company revenue: ($10 subscription x 10 sales per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks per year x 18 recurring payments) = $468,000 - (sales commission of $26,000 + salary of $30,000) = $412,000 per sales person.
Total sales people on staff: 12.
Total yearly sales revenue: Damn.

On this model, assuming costs are relatively low (they were extremely low) you can hire a HELL of a sales person for $56k per year. But if you don't do the math and know the numbers it would be the easiest thing in the world to say you can't afford to pay someone that for a $10 subscription service.

(the math was quick and dirty, just food for thought)


Damn that was impressive!

This thread is more for market research but that's definitely a great breakdown of how to compare lifetime return of a customer with the cost of commission. I'll definitely be revisiting this post.
 

Tom.V

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Agree with @JAJT . Pure script where tonality will develop over time, sure outsource away. But if it requires any type of nurturing or follow up process, probably not gonna work. I've tried it with several outsourced workers even on a commission base. Finding good reps is a hassle in general, keeping them around is another topic entirely.

Not saying you won't find the needle in the haystack, but the odds are slim.
 

letter9

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Had them answer a few fundamental sales questions (always agree, never interrupt, be extremely polite, etc). Then got on a Skype interview to hear their voice and how they improvised answers not included in the script.

Afterwards, created 3 new skype accounts, added US numbers + unlimited calling, and passed the login over. Everyone had to record their calls and upload to dropbox.
great advice
 
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