Pay scale, Commission, and Hiring discussion

[gripmarketing]

A reader and customer PM'd me with the following:

“Good morning. I am writing to you with a request to write about options on pay scale for our sales people. I have spoken w/ Drew about this & he has been very helpful, but I would like to hear it more specific. I am a customer of Grip & have started my new price menu but realize my staff probaly has to go & be replaced with sales people. I would like a staff to make $$$ & stay w/me a while. But also create a greater profit to myself. I have always paid straight wages & if it were me, I would quit that job. I am interested in options to choose from. Since your writing is always so insightful, I was hoping you would consider a forum segment on this subject.”

Thank you for your kind words and thoughtful suggestion for a forum topic. There have been many books, too numerous to mention here, that have been written on the subject, but here is the gist...

The best ways to hire and retain the best sales employees

Finding new hires
In the salon and want ads must talk to the reader – your new hire prospect. Research other help wanted ads to cull out the best wording.

Testing
Either develop or purchase an interview test for sales employees that will determine whether the prospective hire can SELL, get along well with others and co-operate, take directions and follow orders, is hungry, and is a customer service oriented personality. Selling counts more than any of the other attributes in a sales job.

You must start with the best raw material you can. Hiring someone who is used to making $12 an hour and paying them $12/hr is a lateral move and they will have one foot out the door the moment you hire them. You must try to hire people used to making less and show them how to earn more. To do this, you must find people with promise – and you’ll need a test to separate the talentless from the talented.

BTW, (spam alert), we have a Sales Interview Hiring Test that we sell and as a 9-store chain operator, Alex R said, “It's amazing how likable some people appear in the interview but obviously have no killer sales instinct whatsoever. This interview test will help you determine this. It's not foolproof, but pretty darn close to it.”

Training
At least 10% of weekly hours should be spent in training. You can’t expect sales employees to be at the top of their game unless they practice – and train to know what’s expected of them.

Sales Tools
You must provide the proper sales tools and visual aids to help your staff close more sales. Too many salon owners don’t have visual aids or have inappropriate ones.

Presentation
Having a better sales presentation will improve sales greatly. You have already begun your Sales Presentation with Drew – so you are partly there.

Commission
The best way to pay that provides the most incentive. You should have commission against a weekly draw. The weekly draw is the guaranteed amount they will make regardless. Take the amount of money they are making now and translate that into 100% commission percentage. This or a little less (if you want to provide extra push and are aggressive in your hiring practices) becomes the weekly draw against commissions and is guaranteed they will make it.

Anything above that is more money for them.

If someone doesn’t make the draw for months running, then retraining or a replacement is in order.

Bonus and Recognition
Contests. Bonuses. Recognition. All must haves to reward and award.

Retention
Now that you’ve hired a better class of employee, you’ve got to try to keep them. Benefit programs, Cafeteria Plans, perks, and more should be available as an added relationship hook.

I'm sure others can add more...[ This Message was edited by: gripmarketing on 2004-08-25 16:11 ]