Renegade Conservatory Guy

I’ve spent the last week or so looking to fill two sales positions in the Yorkshire region. We’ve been struggling for the last few weeks to cover the volume of enquiries at West Yorkshire Windows, especially since we took another conservatory showroom on in Leeds. Also, Prime Windows have been requiring a top salesman for the South Yorkshire area.

The main reason is the increasing success we are having from our Conservatory Outlet website and the dealer sites:

So, we used Monster.com which is a great resource as you can search through hundreds of CVs of potential sales staff, and then contact the ones that fit your criteria.

Today, we interviewed 4 potential candidates and we all really like 3 of them! Over the last few years we have found that training people from outside of the industry works better than finding staff who have worked previously in the industry.

It makes you realise what a great opportunity it is to sell our products, with the great sales literature, showrooms and generally professional set ups we have, when you hear the challenging sales arenas some sales people have to endure. The people we have talked to today have been selling advertising, car finance, limousines, insulation, pay per click - you name it!

Our three best sales staff at West Yorkshire Windows currently convert at around 55-60% of all the leads they sit with projected sales close to £2m each this year, and all of them had no experience of double glazing or conservatories before they started. Actually, that’s a slight exaggeration as one of them had been brain washed at St Helen’s Glass for a couple of months, so we had to dust him down a bit.

I’m not saying that sales professionals from other conservatory and double glazing companies are not suitable for Conservatory Outlet or its dealers. I’m sure we’ll take on people from the industry in the near future as we expand.

It’s just that when you take on someone from outside the industry, you don’t have to try clear out all the crap they have learnt elsewhere. You have a clean slate to work with, and as long as they have the ability to sell, then with good product training, I believe you have a winning formula.