Book Description

Are you struggling to grow your sales? Trying to decide whether the time is right to hire a direct sales force? Would you like to approach new markets and territories using a proven business model that will reduce your go-to-market costs? If you are looking to expand your sales into new markets or territories it usually means you have to find a dedicated sales person to work direct for your company. This is an expensive and time intensive method of expanding your business. Attempting to recruit and train sales people who are going to be in a territory that is not local can be very difficult to accomplish. Costs of recruiting are high, remote management and training becomes a problem and monitoring the new sales rep's performance can become a full time job. The answer is to find experienced, local sales agents who reside in the territory you want to penetrate. In some industries sales agents represent the bulk of a companies selling strategy. In North America alone there are tens of thousands of sales agents and many are looking for new products to represent. If you are looking for a comprehensive guidebook that can help you find, train and manage independent sales agents (ISA's), also called manufacturers' representatives then this book is for you. How to Find, Recruit & Manage Independent Sales Agents is a proven, turnkey system that will become the foundation of your sales agent program. What You Will Learn: - The power of independent sales agents - Three models for sales agent programs - How to find sales agents in your industry - How to approach and engage sales agents in their language - How to design a sales agent compensation program Each chapter contains coaching exercise to help you create your program so it will attract the attention of sales agents. The book is loaded with scripts, templates and tips that can help you build your own alternate sales channel using sales agents. It All Starts Here! – if you are trying to decide whether to hire more full time direct sales people for your organization of look for new alternatives that will reduce your cost of sale then this book is right for you. "This fast-moving, practical book, based on years of experience, shows you how to leverage and multiply the sales potential of your products and services, selling five and ten times as much as you ever thought possible." - Brian Tracy – Author, Ultimate Sales Success. "Bob has written a comprehensive guide which offers the reader a complete review of how to select, manage and motivate independent reps. He provides proven exercises, forms, and templates to equip interested sales managers with the necessary tools to run their own successful sales agent program. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the independent sales rep business model." - Allan R. Lambert, CSP Billiken Group, LLC "Manufacturers need to learn more about how the rep business functions before they approach someone. They need to talk to other companies that use rep's or attend one of the MRERF programs. Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of companies know about reps." - Karen Jefferson, CPMR CSP Executive Director, MRERF "As more companies are looking for cost savings you are going to see a move towards more sales outsourcing. The agent business is poised for growth. Agents are going to play a very important role as more international companies are trying to break into the North American market." - Pierre Carriere, President BEXSA Solutions Inc. "More and more large companies are finding their direct sales force is a huge expense. Cost of sales is rising and the ramp up time for a new sales person can take months or more. With agents getting paid on results it really makes sense for companies to consider this sales channel." - Craig Lindsay, CPMR CSP President Pacesetter Sales & Associates