Now that you understand the basics of how salespeople are c ompensated, let’s take a few minutes to discuss some of the types of salespeople you may encounter.
Fly-by-Night Salespeople I’ll start with the worst of the potential salespeople you could meet with so that I can leave you with a better feeling about advertising sales reps by the end of this chapter. These are the people you have to watch out for. They will sell you anything and everything to make as much money as possible, as quickly as p ossible. They tend to stay with companies for less than a year as they burn through as many potential advertisers as possible. While they’re trying to make a lot of money, they also look at their position as a stepping-stone to something better. Although most companies do everything they can to prevent fraud, if anyone is going to go for it, it’s these kinds of employees. Watch out for boastful reps who can’t back up their claims. They may tell you they have great numbers and have helped a lot of businesses grow, but you’ll be hard-pressed to get them to give you any references. They tend to be flashy both on a personal and on a professional level. Their favorite type of close is the assumptive close. Many seasoned sales reps will do this with clients they have worked with for a long time, but this is not something that should happen when you work with someone for the first time. An assumptive close is when the sales rep presents the idea and expects you to sign on the dotted line with no discussion or o bjections. A good rep will answer all of your questions and take your concerns seriously; a bad, fly-by-night rep will likely talk down to you and use guilt tactics to get you to sign. If you ever get a sales rep who makes you feel uncomfortable or who you simply do not trust, don’t be afraid to ask to work with someone different. You don’t have to address the sales rep in question; just get in contact with a sales manager. Also, don’t feel as if you’re taking food out of the sales rep’s mouth. If you provided bad service to one of your customers, wouldn’t you expect the customer to find someone else to provide a like product or service?
Rookie Burnouts These people are similar to the fly-by-night reps but usually are not loaded with as many self-serving intentions. They tend to have some people skills and a bit of professional ability, but they completely lack any knowledge of the product and its potential. If they have any need for a serious income, they, too, do not last for much more than a year. The bad side is that rookie burnouts do their own company a d isservice. They may be working for one of the most effective mediums in your area, but you’d never know it by their lackluster presentation skills. They often seek out very small sales in the hopes of simply making a sale. I can’t tell you how many of these employees I worked with at a particular Yellow Pages company. They’d go on a new business call, come back with a couple bold listings, and consider it a success. Most of those advertisers would see little reason to continue a paid program with us the following year because they didn’t get any tangible results. The good thing is that you can usually get exactly what you want out of your sales rep. These reps will turn into very quiet ordertakers if you already know what you want. It’s also very easy to get the rock-bottom best price out of them. They sell based on dollar value and will immediately hit rock bottom for you. This is good if you have an idea of what kind of program you’re l ooking into, but you don’t expect to be educated or consulted on any level. You’ll get what you want quickly and quietly, but you may miss out on some other decent opportunities. Also, don’t get too attached, because these rookie burnouts likely won’t be your rep for much longer. (Taken from Mark Hoxie Book)