Freelance Sales. Is there such a thing?

[BeastCoast]

We have a number of ecommerce brands and are looking to push one into offline channels - Retailers, Installers, Wholesalers, Trades etc...

It is just one product at the moment but more coming through imminently, so the job would start out freelance/part time.

Are there sales people out there taking on this type of work?

I'd appreciate any general advice regarding the sales world as my experience is solely online. And if anyone knows someone in the Audio Visual industry please shout!

[Eric Mc]

The answer is yes, sometimes sales agents are hired on a feelance basis. However, HMRC can be curious as to why they aren't on the normal payroll like other employees.

[jeremyc]

Very common, often acting as sales representatives for a number of clients/products.

Find someone that has experience selling to your target customer base - they will likely already be selling other products to them already.

[Wacky Racer]

I had a retail business for over fifty years.

Some days I would see three or four self employed agents some representing as many as five companies.

They would get their commission at the end of the month usually.

Firms would find it cheaper to employ an agent, rather than a rep, where they would have to buy him/her a company car every two years.

[Simpo Two]

The phrase is 'commission only'. I once got a nice chunk of work after advertising for recently-redundant people. A former employee of Ove Arup responded; he came in for a briefing on what I did, then went off to an exhibition in his former field and got me some leads. One landed; I did the rest and he got his commission.

[Geoffcapes]

I use Freelance Sales people all the time.

They send me leads, if they convert commission is paid.

We've one guy who's pretty good at it and probably gets circa 15-20k a year in commission. He just uses us as a sideline to his current job, but it kinda fits in nicely with what he does.

We've actually got a guy starting with us next month, who apart from a very small retainer, will be working commission only.
Because of his background I think he will do very well.

When I pay comms only I give them a much bigger share of the profit as effectively it hasn't cost me anything to get the work.