I have a business of bakery ingredients trading and have been doing this full-time and part-time for the past ten years. Recently I have decided to do this full time and get more serious with it.  My problem is sales generation: how can I assure adequate sales each month to surpass my break-even point? Right now I’m the only sales agent, and I have one helper. Is it wise for me to train an inexperienced agent regarding the details of the product so he can start selling?  He is very willing to learn the ropes of the trade and wants to start selling next week.

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Jay’s Answer: You need to develop a large enough client base so that you’re assured sufficient sales in any one month. Ideally, you create an ongoing relationship with your clients so that they get the benefit of your services on a regular basis (think “automatic”) without you having to sell them. Otherwise, you need to continue to enlarge your prospective client base.

Unless you can create a sales system that basically runs itself, you’re limited by how much you can do each month. How many calls? How many emails? Would having another person around who knew as much as you did about selling be valuable to your business?  How much? Would you feel comfortable entrusting someone else with your client calls?

If you haven’t already, I suggest you read “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” (Michael Gerber). It describes a bit of the situation you’re in and suggestions for transforming your sales job into a full-blown business.

I am in the process of developing a Data Management and Research Company in London, UK. The company would provide services such as transferring data from forms, questionnaires, vouchers etc to computer, analyse data, present statistical data in a more meaning full form such as in a spread sheet or in the form of graphs and charts, take care of accounting and finance jobs that prove too costly if done in-house like filing of VAT returns etc, doing desk research for clients,summarizing currently available research to make it meaningful and useful for clients and bespoke research .

I want to approach other companies which would include larger research companies like TNS, KPMG etc. And companies in other sectors as well like EDF Energy, Shell etc . I am a bit nervous about cold calling and what my pitch should be. How to introduce myself and my services?

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Jay’s Answer: Instead of trying to cold call everyone, study one company well. Understand how they handle the task you’re looking to do for them. How can you improve their system in ways they can’t? Be able to answer how/why they should entrust their data to you, and what the ROI of working with you is. Until you’ve developed case studies for similar organizations, you’re likely to not get the welcome you’re hoping for.

Is it right to pay extra incentive for the salesmen when I launch new item?

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Jay’s Answer: Why would you need extra incentive for salespeople to push your product? If your product solves a need better than anything else, then your product should sell itself. If your product requires more effort to sell, then additional compensation may be required by the salespeople. However, the practice varies from company-to-company.

Hello, I’ve been living in the USA for a while and I was wondering how could I work translating ads. My native language is Portuguese.

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Jay’s Answer: You have 2 basic choices: work/freelance for an agency or start your own business.

If you’re looking to try it on your own, look at businesses that are already (or are hoping to be) in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal, or São Tomé and Príncipe (countries whose official language is Portuguese). Furthermore, take a look at websites for these businesses – do they have a well-translated web site for English? If not, that can be one of your offerings.