dogcow Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 has anyone had success locating in house? i am trying it. i hired a guy from craigs list to locate for me part time. he was formerly a regional sales manager for coca cola so he understands how to sell mom and pop accts. We met over lunch a few times and I gave him the basics of the vending business, the pitch, the commissions and so on. so far he's been working 2 weeks and has got me a few solid appts. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this and if so what has their results been? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 has anyone had success locating in house? i am trying it. i hired a guy from craigs list to locate for me part time. he was formerly a regional sales manager for coca cola so he understands how to sell mom and pop accts. We met over lunch a few times and I gave him the basics of the vending business, the pitch, the commissions and so on. so far he's been working 2 weeks and has got me a few solid appts. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this and if so what has their results been? Had a guy back in 04-05, that I tried this with... spent a couple of weeks teaching him the ropes from cold calling to submitting a proposal. came out of the gate really strong 5-6 locations with signed agreements in the first 30 days. Faded at the turn and only picked up a couple more over the next couple of months. I think the problem was that I pretty much got him going and then cut him loose without really managing him, I was expecting him to be self motivated enough to not need me holding him accountable and keeping him motivated. End result, we both wound up being disappointed with how it was working out and he moved on shortly thereafter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted June 25, 2012 Author Share Posted June 25, 2012 Had a guy back in 04-05, that I tried this with... spent a couple of weeks teaching him the ropes from cold calling to submitting a proposal. came out of the gate really strong 5-6 locations with signed agreements in the first 30 days. Faded at the turn and only picked up a couple more over the next couple of months. I think the problem was that I pretty much got him going and then cut him loose without really managing him, I was expecting him to be self motivated enough to not need me holding him accountable and keeping him motivated. End result, we both wound up being disappointed with how it was working out and he moved on shortly thereafter. how were you compensating him? the tentative deal we worked is a flat base hourly rate with a min number of hours per week (20) plus a small bonus for every appointment secured and a larger bonus for any locations secured without me having to do the close. For smaller accounts he closes those bonuses are a flat fee for larger accts they are based on net revenues. appointment commissions are a flat fee regardless of the size of account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Its been a while and I'm a little foggy but I seem to remember something like 250 week IF he brought me 5 proposals to approve for submittal. A soda/snack location that was signed was another 250 upon verification of agreement and another 250 at installation. For locations with more than two machines it was also 250 paid upon verification of signed agreement and the balance figured at 300 per machine upon installation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Just a general suggestion...I am not giving tax advice: If you are paying the person over something like $600 in a year, you need to provide the contractor/employee proper tax docs at the end of the year (1099 maybe?). In my opinion, you should not hire someone you are likely to pay more than $600 until they give their tax id info for reporting purposes. Otherwise, they will probably not provide it AFTER you pay them...they may not want to report their earnings to the IRS. If you pay over the threshold amt and there is no tax info you can use to provide the salesperson with IRS docs, that will leave you with a dilemma regarding whether or not you will write off that pay as a business expense. The IRS will probably not like you writing off such a huge amount of "salary" without that contractor or employee paying taxes on it. Remember, you aren't getting a tangible product for your money...it's more of a service than a product you are receiving so a receipt will not do. The $600 may not be exact...but whatever the figure is, it applies to locators/contractors, too. That $600 is just the figure that seems to stick in my mind. VERIFY MY POST WITH YOUR TAX PROFESSIONAL AS I AM NOT A TAX PRO MYSELF. I just have a little experience with business ownership in and out of vending. My comments are not tax advice, they're just a heads-up suggestion to anyone considering hiring a dedicated salesperson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 Just a general suggestion...I am not giving tax advice: If you are paying the person over something like $600 in a year, you need to provide the contractor/employee proper tax docs at the end of the year (1099 maybe?). In my opinion, you should not hire someone you are likely to pay more than $600 until they give their tax id info for reporting purposes. Otherwise, they will probably not provide it AFTER you pay them...they may not want to report their earnings to the IRS. If you pay over the threshold amt and there is no tax info you can use to provide the salesperson with IRS docs, that will leave you with a dilemma regarding whether or not you will write off that pay as a business expense. The IRS will probably not like you writing off such a huge amount of "salary" without that contractor or employee paying taxes on it. Remember, you aren't getting a tangible product for your money...it's more of a service than a product you are receiving so a receipt will not do. The $600 may not be exact...but whatever the figure is, it applies to locators/contractors, too. That $600 is just the figure that seems to stick in my mind. VERIFY MY POST WITH YOUR TAX PROFESSIONAL AS I AM NOT A TAX PRO MYSELF. I just have a little experience with business ownership in and out of vending. My comments are not tax advice, they're just a heads-up suggestion to anyone considering hiring a dedicated salesperson. It is 600 if you are paying on a 1099 independent contractor agreement. Depending on how the arrangement is set up the person might also be considered an employee and witholding taxes will be applicable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted June 26, 2012 Author Share Posted June 26, 2012 Just a general suggestion...I am not giving tax advice: If you are paying the person over something like $600 in a year, you need to provide the contractor/employee proper tax docs at the end of the year (1099 maybe?). In my opinion, you should not hire someone you are likely to pay more than $600 until they give their tax id info for reporting purposes. Otherwise, they will probably not provide it AFTER you pay them...they may not want to report their earnings to the IRS. If you pay over the threshold amt and there is no tax info you can use to provide the salesperson with IRS docs, that will leave you with a dilemma regarding whether or not you will write off that pay as a business expense. The IRS will probably not like you writing off such a huge amount of "salary" without that contractor or employee paying taxes on it. Remember, you aren't getting a tangible product for your money...it's more of a service than a product you are receiving so a receipt will not do. The $600 may not be exact...but whatever the figure is, it applies to locators/contractors, too. That $600 is just the figure that seems to stick in my mind. VERIFY MY POST WITH YOUR TAX PROFESSIONAL AS I AM NOT A TAX PRO MYSELF. I just have a little experience with business ownership in and out of vending. My comments are not tax advice, they're just a heads-up suggestion to anyone considering hiring a dedicated salesperson. yeah i already got that taken care of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulkjake Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I hired an in house locator (independent contractor) last week. I will post the results of the locations she is stacking up for me soon. So far...I am impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 I hired an in house locator (independent contractor) last week. I will post the results of the locations she is stacking up for me soon. So far...I am impressed. did you train them yourself?if so what was their previous sales experience? are they closing accts and placing equipment or making appts for you to close from my experience a "yes" is really an appointment, unless the locator is going out to the car and bringing in the equipment its really not a yes...you will most likely have to do some closing once you get there with the equipment a lot of people say yes and they mean "i'll say whatever to get you out of here"and they have to be re-sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulkjake Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 did you train them yourself?if so what was their previous sales experience? are they closing accts and placing equipment or making appts for you to close from my experience a "yes" is really an appointment, unless the locator is going out to the car and bringing in the equipment its really not a yes...you will most likely have to do some closing once you get there with the equipment a lot of people say yes and they mean "i'll say whatever to get you out of here"and they have to be re-sold I agree with you. She is telemarketing only on commission. On site locators charge way to much in my opinion. Shas sales experience...I think I stole her from Payless Shoes...No that can't be right. LOL. She was a loan officer who is now a full time mother. The training is ongoing. I sent her scripts, placement letters, pictures of my machines, and brochures (all of our marketing). We have had some locations get rejected...that's just life. I am debating doing a confirmation call after she sets the appointment before I locate the machine. In other words, she calls Monday, I call Tuesday morning and confirm, then show up two-four hours later to place the machine. That would certainly take some time...but, it would save on fuel costs. As you said locators are really just appointment or lead generators. The difference between me hiring a company and me hiring her is it's more customizable to my business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulkjake Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 Just an update...I placed 14 triples last week from my in house locators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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