[HSMRick]

Hi i'm a young guy. My business is just coming into its third season and i've just hired some new sales people. any tips.

 

[Grumpy]

I'm not into landscaping but I do know lots about motivation. First pay them on commission. This forces them to sell more!

Second I'd increase their commission if they bring in a sale on their own. I mean if it's one of their freinds relitaves neighbors, or they get off their butts and stir up their own leads. This also promotes them to sell more.

Third after they work for a few months and you can see how many sales they can pull in, setup a sale quotta. If they sell X jobs a week you will give them a $100 bonus for that week. When setting this quotta, figure out which salesman sells the most. Take his average sale and add about 2-3 sales to this number. If each of your sales guys sell 2-3 extra jobs per week you will need to hire more crews! Also tell your sales guys whoever brings in the most profit at the end of the year will get a trip to vegas. The key to making this work is to post their monthly sales publicly so they can see what they have to beat.

Encourage education in your sales guys. What I mean is find sales seminars and spend the money to send them.

Lastly TRACK ALL YOUR LEADS. You MUST know who is selling what. I would keep a log of all incoming leads and which salesman is working that lead. Keep track of who sells the most, and who sells for the most profit.

 

[Floorwizard]

Training is real important. If you bring in an experienced salesperson, they tend to sell their way, which may work for you. If you bring in a green salesperson who shows alot of promise, you can train them to sell the way you want em too. But be aware, when you spend the extra to train, they can always leave you and work for another company, but if you don't train em, then you spend nothing, but possibly don't get better salespeople.
You can't afford not to train.

Grump's ideas are fantastic.

 

[HSMRick]

thanks

thank you for the tips i think i will put it all into effect

 

[Lawngodfather]

Systems...........

Do they have exp?

Need guidlines and systems for them to follow.

BTW a sales person is only going to close 10% of your bids vers you out that closing about 65%.