Value Added from a sales Rep

[Laughing Dog]

Hopefully Some one out in forum land has an answer to my question

we are looking at bringing on a full time sales Rep. My questions is this,
For a brewey that put on a full time rep for the first time, what percentage of an increase did you see and what time frame did it take to see the increase?

Laughing Dog

[beertje46]

Hopefully Some one out in forum land has an answer to my question

we are looking at bringing on a full time sales Rep. My questions is this,
For a brewey that put on a full time rep for the first time, what percentage of an increase did you see and what time frame did it take to see the increase?

Laughing Dog

55% in 18 months.

[v2comp]

it seems that the answer could be skewed based on your current marketing/sales efforts as well. I.E., if your market has already been saturated by your own sales efforts, then where is he to go. it would just seem that so many variables could contribute to your personal scenario that a hard number for your exact situation would be hard to nail down.

after saying that, I firmly believe that you really need a good sales person/staff in order to grow past your on efforts. a MOTIVATED full time sales person CAN create huge opportunities in a very short time.

[jazzmac]

We experienced 30% in the 9 months since we hired our rep. So far this year we're up 25% in the first 2 months.

We hired an older guy who is just really motivated. I've seen other people go younger or with a woman. I have mixed feelings on who to hire. It seems the younger sales rep will be able to do more tastings, events, etc., but you also could have the issue with them going out and getting too drunk at an account of yours.

Be very choosy in who you hire and they don't need to be a beer geek but willing to learn.

[Laughing Dog]

Great feedback Guys I know I only have time to visit my major areas about 3 times per year and while it helps I think I need more presence in the markets. keep the feedback coming

LDB

[tsewong73]

I don't know if this applies to your situation, but I've been doing my own distribution to great success in the local market. There really isn't much more opportunity around here that a new sales person would be able to exploit. However, a salesperson would be great to open up new markets around us. In addition to helping us to expand our geographic distribution, it would also be nice just to have a salesperson who could also help me to service the local area and support the sales work that I've already done. As the founder, brewer, salesman, delivery guy, keg cleaner and floor mopper in my company, time is getting tighter and tighter and having a salesperson spend days our in the market instead of me would be a welcome break in all the action.

Know what I mean?