Recruiting 1099 Sales Reps – The Key to Attracting Independent Contractor Sales Reps

I have many schools of thought on this topic of recruiting.  In this episode you’ll learn several models for hiring.  I’ve done it many different ways.  The key to building a solid ISO is hiring good people.  Whatever model you use, remember that key!  Take your time to hire very carefully.

This episode contains information I would give you personally if we were conversing by phone.  I’m probably one of the few people who is actually honest on the phone.  I think many would say having a phone conversation with me is an interesting experience because of that honesty.  I’m not super concerned about your feelings; I have no reason to care about that.  My goal in conversation is to tell the truth and be a help.  I’m sure in the last week I’ve told at least five people to stop sales and get a job.  I know they will never be successful in sales.  There have also been several people to whom I’ve said, “You can do this, but you’ve got to be more committed.  You need _____ .”  If you would like a conversation with someone honest, go to CCSalesPro.com.  Fill out the form or email me at james@ccsalespro.com.  My assistant will schedule a ten to fifteen-minute call with you.  I enjoy the opportunity to connect with you.  That’s one main reason I publish content.  You may have noticed that I don’t make a ton of money off my content.  I don’t do any ads.  I occasionally mention instantquotetool.com which you can use for $29 per month.  That’s the maximum I can make from you.  I do truly enjoy having a conversation.  So, if you’ve enjoyed my content, I’d be glad to talk with you.

To decide which hiring model you prefer, you should answer this question.  “What do you want to be doing in twelve to twenty-four months?  What do you want your day to look like?”

>You want to be sitting in an office on the phone all day and enjoy back-to-back phone calls.  You might work on a larger national team and recruit 1099 contractors all over the place.

>You say, “No, no, no!  I really want to work with a small group of employees.  I like to manage people.”  Hire W-2 employees locally in your local market.  Pay a decent wage and get them in the field.  Then spend tons and tons of time training and working with them.

>You say, “Well, I don’t know if I really want to manage anybody.  I’m just really good at what I do.”  Find someone else who is very good.  Hire that one other person who could be more like a business partner.  Perhaps he/she could offset some of your weaknesses and work closely with you to grow your business more rapidly.  This model can be very successful.

As I discussed in the previous episode, you want to become very proficient in the model of being personally responsible for twenty to thirty deals a month with a small team.  I find many people working with a team of five to seven still struggling to get thirty deals a month.  If you have members of your sales team who can’t sell, you’re stuck with them for a while and then have the necessity of firing.  Managing a team isn’t easy.  Don’t discount the idea of just one business partner.  You might have an admin person, a customer service person, yourself, and a business partner.  The four of you doing thirty deals a month is a good arrangement.  You get to keep all the residuals.  You get tons of up-front money.  You have more flexibility.  And you don’t have to train people before you can make any changes.  This is a very good model. 

To be a successful recruiter, you must understand the key to recruiting.  Understand what is important to THEM.  To recruit good people and keep them, you must understand what is important to them.  Everybody is different.  Several months ago, I was doing a consulting gig.  After working a couple days with the inside sales team, I was talking to the CEO and executive team.  As is often the case, I was asked, “What do you think?  What should we be doing differently.”  My answer was a surprise to them, “You need to start being unfair to your employees!  You’re too concerned about being fair.”  Employers usually feel that every employee must be compensated in exactly the same way.  If one person has an extra week off, they feel others must also have a week off.  No, they don’t!  It doesn’t have to be “fair.”

There are several ways to recruit:

• Give out fliers at your local Best Buy.
• Put fliers under the windshield wipers at a local call center.
• Put an ad on Craig’s List.
• Go to Career Builder.
• Visit LinkedIn.

No matter how you recruit, there is one basic question to ask yourself and the prospective recruits.  “What is important to them?”  Each one has something very important to them which may not be important to your other employees.

As an example, when I was twenty years old I wanted to make as much money as possible and work eighty or ninety hours a week.  This was when I had no family, no kids.  I just wanted to work.  Now I have a wife and two small kids at home.  This is a different season of life for me.  I don’t want to work ninety hours a week!  I prefer working fifty-five or sixty hours a week and having time with my family.  All people are at different stages in life.  Find out what someone wants and find a way to give them that.  Some may want time off.  Others want schedule flexibility.

No matter how you recruit, remember the key to building a solid ISO is GOOD PEOPLE!  Don’t try to make some cookie cutter program and recruit anybody who is warm and breathing air.  Hire people very carefully, one at a time – even if you’re doing a 1099 nationwide program.  Make sure your employees are happy with their job.  Communicate, communicate, communicate!  Hire good people and keep them.

Read the previous post here:  http://bit.ly/2DF8rdo  Choosing the Right Sales Model for Your ISO

Read the next article here:  http://bit.ly/2D8iGG5  Negotiating For More Profits