Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

I just finished listening to a great call between Rich Schefren and Chet Holmes. Chet was an inspiration for how Rich launched his Internet business using education marketing techniques, giving away some fantastic free reports in the lead up to the Strategic Profits launch. I then in turn replicated Rich’s formula when I released the Blog Profits Blueprint in anticipation of the Blog Mastermind launch.

I thought Rich had come up with the education marketing process himself, or at least intuitively decided to go with that format. It turns out Rich was calling on the training he received after studying some of the materials Chet provided in his home study packages that Rich purchased many years ago when he was running an hypnosis business.

Education marketing is by far my favorite form of marketing, since it doesn’t feel like a hard sell. You help people, then ask for money if they want even more help. Genuine credibility and value is established before any selling is done, as opposed to some methods where you go in blind with no prior relationship asking for people to buy something from you.

If you want to hear more about this concept and Chet’s Four Ways to Double Your Sales, go have a listen to the podcast on Rich’s blog, it’s free.

Would You Benefit From Dedicated Sales Staff?

In the call Chet talks about a system he uses with his business where he rewards his sales people with 100% of the profit on first product sales. So if a sales person makes a $3,000 info product sale, the profit goes straight to that sales person. I don’t know the exact particulars, but I assume Chet pays out the profits on the first product after the cost of fulfillment is taken out, then goes on to sell more product to the same customer, which is how the business realizes an income from the system.

Using this method Chet hires sales people and only has to pay them when they make sales. They get paid very well of course, but only for performance. Given Chet’s focus on “top performers” it’s clear his recruitment process must be very good to make sure he identifies the top performers otherwise the relationship won’t be good for anyone involved.

Chet mentioned to Rich on the call that he’s always looking to hire more top performing sales people since it makes sense to have as many as you can handle. Cost is only incurred when product is sold, so besides the hiring cost, there is no expense. Chet claimed that the best performers can make $400,000 a year selling for his company, which no doubt is very appealing for people who enjoy sales.

From the business owner standpoint it’s worth thinking about what a sales force full of top performing sales people could do for your business. I know a lot of readers of this blog already have a business and I expect many of you deliver the product or service yourself and you are your sales force too.

What would happen to your business if you suddenly had 10 professional “gun” sales people all working full days to market your products?

In my case it would do amazing things, although my sales funnel needs to be more established since I don’t have enough product to sell at this point, but I can see the advantage.

I expect most people don’t contemplate hiring sales people because of cashflow issues, assuming your business is small. Using a structure like Chet suggests means you can recruit a sales force for marginal upfront cost and if they do what they are there to do - generate cashflow - you will quickly realize a return. It almost seems too easy - we should all be planning to do this, the sooner the better.

I expect the hardest part is finding the top performers. I’ve not hired staff specifically for sales before, but I can see the advantage and I think more online businesses will start to take advantage of this strategy as they become aware of what is possible.

Have a listen to the podcast if you want to hear more from Chet - it’s good stuff.

Yaro Starak
Salesman