I never managed to hire a sales rep who could sell. I quit trying years
ago. I can sell more work than we can do anytime I want. Heck. If I don't
sell at all word of mouth keeps us busy.
My last year in sales in this industry, I sold about $2M. Depending
on the size of your organization, many of you do not need salespeople.
If you have any aspirations of growth, however, you'll need to persue
business with all of the tools at your disposal. The problem with
most salespeople in this industry is they don't know anything about
the product, industry, or market; they don't care to learn; and they
are only looking for the fast buck. About half of being successful in
sales is making contacts and finding opportunities. Most professional
salespeople are pretty good at this part. The other half has to do
with what you do once you find the opportunity. At this stage, most
salespeople in our industry fail miserably. Since this is a technical
industry, someone has to design and price the job. Screw this up and
you'll never win a sale. Most salespeople never ask the right
questions from the customer, and their limited knowledge causes them
to miss opportunities. The most important part of the process may
presenting your proposal to the customer in a way that conveys the
message that you are the company to do business with and that your
pricing is fair for the services you provide. Again, due to lack of
skill and knowledge, most salespeople are horrible at this. They fail
to present the right message to the prospect, never gain trust, and
never sell a thing.
The most successful people I've seen in this business combine a
technical mind with the ability to talk with people. Most people
either lack technical ability, or they are brilliant technically but
are socially retarded. Find a technician that has the people skills,
train them properly, and they'll be successful.
As for compensation, that really depends on the responsibilites of the
job, the market you're end, and what you are selling. A person who
sells and designs integrated systems for large industrial sites in the
bid market would be paid differently than someone who sells small
residential burglar alarms door-to-door.
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