How To Locate A Superb Sales Position During The Recession
Getting a great sales position with the massive "cause and effect" practice happening today has become very difficult.
Customers aren't ordering because they're worried about losing their employment, losing their house, having their pension fund lowered by a stock exchange crash and because of this, individuals who are worried about a conceivable coming catastrophe hold their cash.
Organizations are concentrating hard on the bottom line to make sure that they're still vital as soon as the tough economy draws to a close. One important thing that's being watched carefully is the cost of sales.
The times of large expense accounts and credit card bills wining and dining prospective customers are just about complete. Traveling from coast to coast and running up hotel and rental car charges will be replaced by voice conferencing and online video conferencing.
One more casualty associated with the current recession has been the size of the salesforce. Organizations are implementing something like the fast food sector has always used as a yardstick; labor cost as a percent of revenue. As gross sales decrease, folks are sent home to keep the profit margin up. Several sales organizations are laying sales agents off for a similar reason. When you've got a sizable decline in sales, you will need less sales agents.
If you are a downsized salesman, you're experiencing something not really seen in years; looking for sales employment and not getting chosen. The old days of increasing sales by increasing the salesforce have ended, and may never come back.
One strategy that can be successful in generating some very decent income is to downsize your thinking. In the old days, only the inexperienced and inept salespeople took commission-only jobs. If you were a sales producer, you expected a salary plus commission deal, performance bonuses, a company credit card and maybe even a company car. Those jobs still exist, but now they are only for top producers.
There's two items you ought to look for in a commission-only sales placement before you decide to cross it off your list:
1.) Is it a fair commission? A 10% commission is way too little. a 20% to 25% commission is a lot more sensible.
2.) Is it a one-time commission, or a repeating commission program? If a one time commission and the commission percentage is not over 35%, you might be in a position requiring you to produce high volume sales just to get by. Sadly, it's no longer you that determines whether to make high volume sales or not. It is a buyers market just about everywhere, and there's not a lot of purchasers in many, many markets.
On the other hand, if it's a 20% to 25% commission with a continuing income element, take a closer look prior to rejecting it. There's two key reasons to think about this sort of commission package:
1.) By the end of the year, you will generate much more cash with the exact same sales volume.
2.) When you have a poor month, it isn't the end of the world. Your recurring commission still gets paid out.
Keep in mind, the commission-only sales market is not a survival strategy for out of work salesmen. The organization is still selling and still depends on competent salesmen to get the job done.
If you've always wanted to be a salesperson, but have no experience, or you're not a very productive salesperson, do yourself and the company a favor. Do not apply for the job. This is a strategy for the experienced salesperson only.
It could be a very tough and depressing process for an laid-off sales professional to find a job doing the work they love. Sadly, quite a few pass up opportunity because they refrain from commission-only employment opportunities out of hand, without digging into the total pay plan.
by: Michael Murray.
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