Replace Yourself with a Virtual Sales Manager

Does replacing yourself as the salesperson sound ideal? If you hate to sell, maybe you’ve thought about hiring someone to do sales for you. Maybe you don’t want to have just an employee. Maybe you’re looking for a Virtual Sales Manager to manage the whole process and help sell.

They do exist. I do it for some of my clients. Not all of them are one person operations either!

How do you make sure they’re the right person or you’re hiring the right company? Be careful!

7 Questions to Answer Before Hiring

1. Are you really ready to give away that control? That can be scary. How much authority do you want to give them or allow them to take? You’re delegating; not abdicating. Ultimately, do you want to bring this in house? How can they help prepare you so you don’t start over? Make them demonstrate this to you through referrals to happy customers.
2. Do you have what they need to sell for you? Pricing strategy, marketing materials, clear benefits, concise information on preferred Platinum Profile Prospect™ you’re looking for and Radio Active Waste Customers™ to avoid, are just a few of those items. If you don’t, either you have to create this or they do. You’ll need more money and more time.
3. Do you product and can you take the time to train them on its strengths and weaknesses? You can lose weeks of important selling time if you’re not ready internally.
4. Do you know how much more sales you can handle and when it will be too much? You think you’ll have time to ramp up. You won’t. You have to have a ramp up plan with the money to support it ready to go.
5. Have you checked your pricing to make sure you can afford someone of the quality you need? Be sure you know your true total costs, have built in an amount for contingency, and have a profitability percentage built in also.
6. What do you really want from them? That means having a vendor job description. It won’t look exactly like one for internal staff but it spells out for you and them the commitment you expect. This then goes into an agreement you both sign.
7. How are you going to incorporate them into your business and processes? They can’t operate in a vacuum. You need good communication between you and you need to respond to them as soon as possible. If you’re not prepared for weekly meetings, this is not for you. They are going to ask you to make changes. Are you willing?