Is This Type of Job Scalable and Out-Sourceable?

[HalfSwede]

I work as an independent contractor and have just started a new "job" (I already have my muse set up, but still need the "job" at this time). As I was driving around the past few days calling on prospects it occured to me that it should be the type of job that is scalable and largely out-sourceable...thereby freeing up my time while generating a NICE income.

Let me hear your thoughts as to whether this job sounds scalable and out-sourceable...

My job is to sign up a certain type of business (for sake of arguement let's say restaurants, although it is not restaurants) and then sell advertising that would be displayed at that busines location. Pretty straight forward, really. As I understand it, as an Independent Contractor my "employer" can't tell me how to do the job, therefore this gives me the freedom to hire others to help me sell the advertising.

I'm thinking I will focus on signing up the "restaurants" and then hire people who want to work part-time from home and let them sell the advertising. My target market for advertisers would be: attorneys, CPAs, jewelers, travel agents, high-end car dealers...businesses that might want to advertise to a high income/high-net worth individual.

In crunching the numbers, I think I could afford to pay my telemarketing reps $25/hour (something like $15/hour + bonus).

My goal would be to sign up 20 "restaurants" which should take me about 8 weeks. After that I can just "sit back" and let my telemarketing team do the advertising sales. My scaleable I mean that if I wanted to I could work 16 weeks, sell 40 "restaurants", then hire more telemarketing reps and double my income.

So....
1. Do you think selling advertising is something that could be done totally by telephone? Or will potential advertisers require a face-to-face appointment?

2. How many ads could one sell per week? I have no experience selling advertising.

Thanks for any feedback you can provide...

Cheers,

[Zntow]

Herb,

I think you are on the right track.

I think you are going to have to take the plunge and learn how to sell your advertising products yourself first though.

I sell all of my advertising products myself face to face. I never had any success with selling my type of advertising products over the phone either by myself or though others.

I have used independent telephone reps and the telephone myself to set face to face appointments with good success.

Right now I am at the stage where I pick my target clients, walk in cold and use risk reversal to get customers. (Risk reversal is something I learned from Jay Abraham’s material-I highly recommend it....) You need to understand the numbers of your business and the lifetime value of the customers you are going to generate to figure out how much you can invest (spend) to get your customers.

You might do better than me, everyone is different. Selling did not come easy for me. I have read scores of books and have many techniques at my disposal that I can pick and choose from. Plus there just really is no substitute for getting out there and making your mistakes etc. You are already signing up you “restaurants”, so getting out there to do the ad's shouldn’t be a problem for you.

I suggest you get some books on selling, read them, and go out and make some ad sales. You’re going to have to test. Find techniques that work for your product and market and then reproduce it by outsourcing what parts you can through others. I really don't think there is a way around learning how to do it first yourself before contracting out others to do it.

If you are going to hire an independent telemarketer you are going to have to either develop a script yourself first, so you know that it works, or you are going to spend money with them to develop and test different things to find out what is going to work in whatever market you are in.

There are many sub-contractors who do telemarketing. Check out www.repsforrent.com or similar firms. You can also hire locals to work from home etc., but you are probably going to have to train them well to do what you need them to do.

I hope this helps………….

P.S. Perhaps someone else on the board has been able to do it without the do it yourself thing-I would love to hear about it..............

[final_id]

I don't get it. You are not working at a restaurant but then you pretend that you are and you hire people to advertise the non-existent establishment?

[HalfSwede]

I think you are on the right track.

I think you are going to have to take the plunge and learn how to sell your advertising products yourself first though.

I sell all of my advertising products myself face to face. I never had any success with selling my type of advertising products over the phone either by myself or though others.

I have used independent telephone reps and the telephone myself to set face to face appointments with good success.




Thanks, Zntow. That's what I was thinking...that I would need to get out there face-to-face first to see what works. Then, the next step, would be to use reps to set up appointments for me or some other independent contractor who is local to the area.

Zntow...I suppose all advertising will be slightly different, but any stats that you can share? You know, how many appts per day, close ratio, etc.?

[HalfSwede]

I don't get it. You are not working at a restaurant but then you pretend that you are and you hire people to advertise the non-existent establishment?

Sorry, Cliff. Not sure I understand your question...but I will try to clarify.

It's actually a 2-step process:
First, I sign up a particular type of business (I was just using restaurants as an example) that can benefit from having our product. The product itself has a dual purpose: there is room on it for the business to put information that will provide a better "customer experience" and there is also enough room on the product for some advertising.

Second, after we sign up a business, we sell advertising to other businesses such as attorneys, CPAs, new car dealers, travel agents, etc. We generally look to sell the advertising to businesses that want to advertise to high income/high net worth individuals.

Maybe that clarifieds things...or not. :)

[final_id]

OK, what IS YOUR PRODUCT?

The word "product" is a generic term which people who want to be impressive use. People call hair gels and sprays "product" if they work in a hair dresser's salon, for example.

Basically, I'm asking, why are you tooting your own horn so loud that I can't hear the tune? Do you actually have a PRODUCT or a SERVICE? What exactly do you DO or SELL? I can't figure it out, there's so many buzz words about "product" and "sign-up."

You're an advertising broker? Is that it?

Really, I'm not being nasty or daft on purpose. I am a bright guy, a native speaker (and sometime teacher!) of English, I even have Master's degree in that very subject from a highly reputable institution; so I think my ability to ferret meaning out of complicated contexts is pretty strong. Yet I read your paragraphs and I go, "Umm, you haven't said anything. You keep saying your product produces, and your maintenance will be systematized with great upswing for potential development in people oriented maximization." I want something ... real.

[Zntow]

Hi Herb,

I don’t think I should answer the question about the stats.

Why?

Because the answers I give can cause YOU to lose sight of YOUR goal.

You probably have some mental idea of what you think the answers are to those questions.

And most likely...it’s wrong.

So if I answer with numbers too low from your perception, you may think your business won’t work, and you may pass up a chance of a lifetime.

If I answer with a number much higher than your idea of where I’m at with my business, then you may think that the sales are so easy, you’ll be a millionaire in a year.

No matter what I answer...there could be a perception problem.

I think you should concentrate more on what value you are giving to your clients. What is your advertising doing for them? Is it worth a crap? The absolute advantage I have over my competition is that I can and do prove that my advertising products bring in customers into the business who give them $$$.

There is a direct provable relationship between what my clients buy and how much money a new customer who responds to their advertising gives to them. I test demonstrate this at no risk to the client (a sample). Who is going to turn that down? I come in and hand you money that you wouldn’t otherwise have. This is the risk reversal.

Once they are on board, the client is put on a monthly until forbid billing cycle. If the ads stop working, I stop charging. It’s very fair.

In that way it changes my attitude in the sales and business situation. I don’t really need them. I have plenty of potential buyers. More than I have time for. If I run into a jerk, I just walk. I don’t even explain. It’s not my problem. I just go straight to their nearest competitor. F##k them.

This is why you need to work on your business. You need to develop and test ways to prove to a stranger who does not trust you that you will do what you say you will do and deliver. Then the selling gets easier........