You will have CALEA and 911 requirements too. From: Adam Moffett Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 7:27 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Finding Sales People
I think the reality is somewhere in between what your boss and Joe are saying. I'm sure it varies somewhat by state too. As a de minimus VoIP provider you don't have too many obligations. USF, Sales Tax, and some forms you file quarterly. You just keep the USF money if your contribution is less than $10,000 per year, but you still file the forms. A key point is don't trust a vendor to keep you compliant with the law, get a lawyer for that. Multiple VoIP wholesalers in the past told me it wasn't a big deal, no problem, lots of guys just like you are doing it this way, etc etc. The vendor does not get in trouble for your lack of compliance, and they're not lawyers. On the original question about hiring sales staff, I have no ideas. It sounds like you want a marketing VP type of person rather than "sales". That will be a tough role to fill. On 10/28/2016 8:58 PM, That One Guy /sarcasm wrote: Would you mind elaborating on that in a manner I can relay verbatim to my boss. He doesn't think voice would be a big deal cause we are little, he doesn't understand why I dismiss anything he talks about when it comes to us doing any voice at all On Oct 28, 2016 5:34 PM, "Joe Falaschi" <[email protected]> wrote: The technical aspect of providing voice isn’t difficult. The regulatory aspect of voice is no joke though. I wouldn’t do it unless I thought I could do at least 30k/year in voice revenue, or related Internet service deals lost because I didn’t offer it. Joe On Oct 28, 2016, at 1:09 PM, Mike Hammett <[email protected]> wrote: It certainly makes sense. It isn't overly difficult to do, either. ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions Midwest Internet Exchange The Brothers WISP -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Ken Hohhof" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 12:57:13 PM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Finding Sales People Joe, would you agree that you must have a killer hosted PBX product in your portfolio if you’re going to target businesses? I find many small businesses want phone and Internet bundled, in fact saving money on phone service or replacing an outdated phone system may actually be what convinces them to switch from the LEC which is screwing them over with business pricing for everything and crappy service. Without a business phone solution, in many cases I don’t think the Internet sale can be made. Unless you’re looking to be the backup connection. From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Joe Falaschi Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 12:38 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Finding Sales People Two other things: You/someone should figure out your buyer personas. For us we sell very little Internet Service to retail organizations - especially directly. They all seem to have corporate policies and decisions. The vast majority of our retail sales come in via the CCRs of the world. We stopped going to the Chamber of Commerce events. We left at least three of them in the area. It just seemed like everyone attending events was either another sales person or not fitting into our buyer personas. We looked at who our best customers were and who was attending the events and the positions and companies were not matching up. Generally the CFOs and IT directors are not going to the Chamber events. A lot of small service businesses who wanted basic best effort internet service were attending. If you have the time and want to be a part of that community - it might pay off in the end but it wasn’t for us. Joe On Oct 28, 2016, at 9:27 AM, Mike Hammett <[email protected]> wrote: Either approach. Sometimes the management company wants to be involved, sometimes they don't. Sometimes the anchor stores are owned separately from the rest. ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions Midwest Internet Exchange The Brothers WISP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: "CBB - Jay Fuller" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 8:06:09 AM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Finding Sales People I'd love to wire up whole strip malls to and have had this conversation with a potential sales guy - but how do you get access? is there one management company or one land owner you have to get through? Once you wire the place do you own your own infrastructure? ( no ) , can you get a term-deal? I'm not sure, can you? ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Hammett To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 7:58 AM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Finding Sales People I'm not in a position to offer a base pay that would do anything other than offend. If they want to hook up everyone in a strip mall, paying $100 each, I'm fine with that. Each deal is $100, but there's seven separate deals, that's real money whereas if I discourage them from lower deals, they wouldn't have chased that. If they want to work all day for a $30/month account, that $3/month residual is all theirs. I'm not out much. Tying the compensation to the value of the sale should incentivize most toward the higher dollar accounts. I figured the long term residual would be self-fulfilling. If I'm getting paid forever from the customer, paying the sales guy forever really isn't an issue. Once the ROI is done, I'm in an even better position. If the customer stops paying me because the sales guys wasn't taking care of them properly, I'm no longer paying the sales guy for that account. If he stops working because he's collecting $10k/month for doing nothing, fine. I get a new sales guy. If someone truly wants to do nothing, they'll do everything in their power to do it. Then again, I'm not getting any bites, so maybe I have the wrong approach. I have done regular LinkedIn posts and even shared those posts to the greater Chicago area B2B and sales groups, but not a job position ad. I have a hard time swallowing paying $400 without the guarantee of getting someone good (or at all). ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions Midwest Internet Exchange The Brothers WISP ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Lewis Bergman" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 7:45:13 AM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Finding Sales People First, I would focus on just business sales and raise the minimum package value sold by this person to a few hundred dollars. You don't want them wasting time with the consumer level stuff you already handle well. Small businesses wanting to pay $100 or less are making their own phone calls and expect to be treated more like regular consumers since that is what they really are. Next, make sure you put a limit on the revenue share. Tying it to a contract length or 18 months are good. If you give them rev share forever eventually they don't need to work to earn a substantial paycheck and become unmotivated. At least that is how it ended up for us when we made the mistake. Most of these people want some kind of estimate of what they can earn so I would try to come up with that and put it in the ad. In addition, if you can pay a lower commission and add base pay some people are just not in a position to live commission only. I prefer it and I think the absolute best sales people do but you just might not get those people. Maybe consider doing without the first month and replace with a base as an option. I give my candidates the choice and the option to switch at 12 months. You might try LinkedIn. I have had some success recruiting there. Otherwise, if you like a salesperson that tries to sell you on a B2B service ask them if they know anyone interested in a sales position. They may be or they may know someone who is. That is how I hired my last one. I like copier sales people for their technical side. I like the phone book salespeople as they are 100% cold call with no support for leads. It also easy to make a case on the fact that they work for a dying company. Most of them are actually selling web pages so they are close to your business anyway. On Fri, Oct 28, 2016 at 6:46 AM Mike Hammett <[email protected]> wrote: What's the best way to get a B2B sales guy? That's the overall point, but digging in deeper, what should I be asking for? I'm very tech oriented, very little sales. I'm needing someone that can do it on their own without guidance from me on what I want them to do. To me, sales sounds more like B2C or lower end services while business development sounds more B2B or higher end, but does the sales world reflect that? Where do I look? The #1 source people say is referrals, but apparently I don't know anyone that knows anyone worth a darn as I've posted it on various social media... a dozen times over the last couple years. Here's the copy from a posting I did this past summer: Job Description Local ISP seeking independent sales leader. ICS has been operated in the DeKalb - Naperville area for 12 years by tech guys. Compensation will be a one time commission after the sale and a 10% residual to ensure the customer is attended for on an ongoing basis. Our services range from $30/month into the thousands of dollars a month. The path you take is yours. Job Requirements We need someone with B2B experience to lead our sales force. You will be responsible for the entire sales and marketing process. The tech guys will say what they can do where and your job will be to develop the strategy and then pursue those clients. We can teach a good B2B salesperson the tech they need to know far easier than you'll teach us how to sell. We believe that boots on the ground would be necessary, so willingness to travel to the DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, southwest DuPage and northwest Will County areas as needed would be required. ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions Midwest Internet Exchange The Brothers WISP
