I appreciate and agree with the point about keeping your reps busy, don’t know if too many company owners would be happy with their reps (self employed or not) working for potential competitors as it establishes a dangerous president, as I said earlier you are probably an exception to the rule.

I also understand what you say about the time share model and if you are currently working that system successfully then who am I to doubt it, my instinct though is having had one person establish empathy and trust with a customer and then introducing a closer would seem to me to be unnecessary, why not teach the person who has done most of the work to close the deal instead of involving another.

I understand the theory of higher authority closing as used by time share and also in car sales (called the Pendal system), I think the public have moved on and are much wiser than when these systems were at their most successful.

(I am based in Colchester Stuart…Andy)

I didn’t get the waist size and inside leg measurement Ron, sorry if I am being thick.

Regards

Andy

Im a size 38 inch waist and have a 29inch inside leg measurement!! I will however tell you I’m like a teacher, I never work when the kids are off.

Listen, the reason for my post was in response to RCG and the other threads. I was really just trying to explain to the guys running the Upvc companys that your reps need to be working leads consistently. They will improve their conversion and profitability through consistently doing the same thing over and over again. If you cannot keep them busy, allow and encourage them to work for other companies.

Another way to improve your conversions etc is to take a leaf out of the time share world. This only works if you have a showroom and should be considered by companies with a low conversion rate.

Employ a very professional and well spoken person (recent graduate or recently made redundent professional) to cover the showroom duties and do the initial visits. Their sole job is to establish what the customer wants, do a site survey and make a friend. Having done this they then re-appoint with the customer to meet back at the showroom to again view the products and recieve the price.

You then have a commission only, exceptional closer/rep sit in on this visit with your employee and they will close the sale. Job done.

Stuart,

I’m based in Suffolk. If you ask the RCG to send you my email address privately you can get in touch with me that way.

Ron

Although, if you’ve got something interesting please email it to me

Andy

Andy

I don’t understand how you can cover 15 such diverse leads every week especially when you are working for Amdega and I guess therefore doing quite a bit of travelling, same with Moben to a lesser degree.

Let us assume you take one day a week off (maybe not), you are converting at 20% for Amdega with 2 sits each lead so selling 1:5, lets say they are giving you 4 leads per week which means 8 visits probably travelling 50 miles at least per sit, that has got to use up over 50% of your week, you are therefore probably making 1 sale per fortnight for Amdega and earning I guess £2000.00 on average.(£1000.00 per week not bad).

Lets then take Moben, say they are giving you 6 leads per week and you are converting at 50% all pitched on the night with an average order value of say £8000.00, lets say you are earning £1500.00 per week from this source, we are at £100000.00 per year now, makes sense so far and that must use up another 30% of your week.

Then take the local company selling PVC-u conservatories with an 80% conversion rate, I guess they must be giving you 6 leads per week, some closed on the night and some back at the show room, lets say the average order value is £10000.00 with 4 sales per week, that should give you another £3000.00 on top of the previous £2500.00 making £5.5k per week.

Even with 12 weeks holiday then you can earn £200000.00 per year, what I am struggling with is working with 2 nationals with the mileage you have to put in, 2 sits for Amdega, 1 sit with Moben plus a combination of 1 & 2 sits with the local company means around 22 visits/showroom visits at lets say 2 hours each visit plus travelling time and then arranging all of those appointments into times that suit both customers and you, I have great admiration for you, your energy and time management.

All of the above doesn’t take into account preparing quotes and paper work, I would love to spend a week in your shoes to see if I could cope.

The other minor point is that if I had a salesman closing consistently at 80%, I would make sure I had enough leads to feed him locally and he wouldn’t need to do the traveling with national companies.

I might be way off the mark here with my implied doubts but I am sure you will put me right.

Regards

Andy

Whereabouts are you based?
We are looking for a self-employed designer and could add some high value products to your existing portfolio.

Looking forward to speaking to you.

Regards,

Stuart Young

The above conversion rates are based on all the leads/ bits of paper the companies give me, not just the pick ups.

I am commission only and would never accept a basic salary from any company. I earn in excess of six figures every year. The companies I work for are delighted with the return I give them and they have absolutely no problem with a self employed designer working for other companies.

The biggest problem with the upvc window and conservatory industry is that the owners treat their self employed designers like employed staff and expect them to be able to scratch a living. There is a fear/expectancy from employers that a designer will take their lead and sell it for another company. If you have self employed designers, my advice is to treat them as a consultant, if you want them on a self employed basis then accept that you dont own them and you should have no problem with them working for others. A professional sales designer is interested in absolutely one thing, making a sale and getting paid for it. Remember this, successfull reps need to be sitting 15 leads every week, this keeps them repetitive and in the zone, they will sell lots and earn lots, a fabulous Win Win scenario. If you can’t provide them with 15 leads a week, then share your designer with another company, it will improve your companies conversion rates and profit margins, guaranteed.

My thanks to the Renegade Conservatory Guy for this fabulous site. . .I hope the site stays alive for many years to come. Good luck.

And if a salesman doesn’t sell they never say it was because I wasn’t good enough or I had a lack of knowledge, it’s always your price is too high, they want more quotes, they’re not going to buy from anyone.

With reference to conversion rates I sell in the 70% mark when my sales guys now this they say “You cherry picked them” what they don’t know is I just pick one at random and go on it.

You can’t train someone to close if it’s not in their nature it’s more difficult than people think, but you can train people to be a fantastic adviser who still converts consistently, people love to buy but hate being sold too… Site survey / Listen / Advise / Offer Solution / Provide options and choices / Ask for the order. (If you need to). Always provide the solution to the problem it’s pointless prattling on about security if they are really interested in being green… or viser versa…. “What got you thinking about the idea of chages your windows Mrs …. ”

Oh and one 80% consistently that I no of was Paul Clifton however it was many years ago and some may say he wouldn’t be able to do the same now..

Sorry that probably turned into a teaching people to suck eggs thing, but I think people get the idea.

For sales training contact me on www. Imaknowitallwhenitcomestoselling.com