I posted something over at ESI about the administrative aspects of hiring a salesmen but wanted a broader answer

Just curious how many of us RCers that are actually business owners have salesmen?

Or as a business owner do you do all of the sales?

Don't have one. Probably like many of us, my job description has evolved into technical sales and I will facilitate the transition from consultation and design into the presentation/closing/contract management side of things.

I also did the same thing at my previous company.

People prefer to by from the owner. It gives you a leg up over the competition.

Now that doesn't mean the little guy wins all the time. Stability and longevity matter a lot in larger transactions.

I think a natural transition to business owner from self employed is the path we should be focused on.

I'll post it here too.

Pardon the Ernie moment...

Salesman = singular
Salesmen = plural

I'm a one-man shop and can't imagine a salesman being nearly as effective as I am in generating & closing sales.  It's not that I'm a good salesman (I'm not), but potential clients get a quick feeling for my experience and sincerity.

I think that I'll always need to remain the face of the company so as soon as I decide to grow my plan is to first staff someone full time in the office to handle admin tasks and then start bringing in technicians as needed to help in the field.

One of my fears in growing is that at some point all I'd become is a salesman and I still really enjoy the technical side.

This all depends if your Salesman has a passion for the industry, or a passion for being a shady salesman.

I have watched many a shady salesman make a lot of money and piss a lot of people off and have ZERO passion or knowledge about their chosen industry.

I have also watched them switch industries and not skip a beat.

Find one that has a passion for the industry and helping people and your gold! :)

Also having owned my own business I completely understand where you are coming from.

Im too much of control freak to trust sales to anyone else. LOL. I know sales, i have a history of sales. Combine that with a passion and it hard to beat!

That said, like others say, if you hire a salesman, they have to have a passion for the product, not just a passion for sales or it will be a failure long term.

^^ That's kinda my thoughts too.

Here's a trap I used to see years/decades ago at Circuit City. In the Roadshop (car audio sales and install), a lot of new managers were very good techs (security, remote starts etc). But, all of the sudden, they were supposed to manage a sales floor as well. Well, many couldn't do that and sales would suffer and eventually the technical manager would get fired or demoted for bad numbers. Bottom line, if you're in a car or attic all day, you're not going to be selling to much product or managing the process

Owner/Operators always have to be on the front end. Without sales, there is no install. It is just as hard to find good sales people as it is good installers. O/O have to be the face of the franchise, constantly filling the pipeline. If anything, close business but also help on the back end, setting your people up for success.

I was in sales before I became self-deployed. Most sales people don't know shi* about getting the job done.