Mr. Wright's latest article

[archkre]

Mr. Wright's idea expressed in his latest article about using the services of a

"Sales Representative" although captivating is totaly non-viable.

1]Where are you going to find a "Sales Representative" willing to carry CG

-rendering & animations as only merchandise to an extremely tiny universe of possible buyers

(Architects,Developers,I.Designers,and similar) ?

A "Sales Representative" usually carries a called "basket" of different products

from diverse manufacturers to multiply his possibilities of making trades.

 

2) This "Sales Representative" should be trained to answer every possible

technical questions his prospective client would ask him.

 

3) Suppose you find one, train the person properly, she/he pays a visit to all the

spectrum of possible clients devoting his best efforts/time/etc.

When this person completes the loop , what would he be supposed to do next?

Visiting the first client again and starting a new loop?

Would this "Sales Representative" be received again by the ones received him before?

 

And many more aspects to consider that IMHO make Mr. Wright's proposal non viable.

Thank you

[Jeff Mottle]

Clearly you are unfamilair with the sales process and how it works in this and all industries. Typically is makes sense to hire someone that does have at least some hands on experience in the industry, but that is not always necesary either. Have you ever heard the expression "He/She could sell snow to an eskimo"?

In laymen's terms it means that a charismatic and crafty person can sell anything to anyone if they are good at what they do and know how to extol the vitues and values of a company and work a business relationship.

 

Our industry is not a commodities industry as you seem to be implying. Sales-Reps are not selling a product from a suitcase. In this industry you sell a services and solutions that save companies time and money. There are literally thousands of oppourtunities all over North-America if you know how and where to look.

 

In terms of answering questions, most clients are not going to ask what anti-aliasing level you are going to use, so a super technical background is not required. Most want to know your track record, how your company can help them meet their requirements and how you are better than your competitors. A good rep will learn about the company before they start to do the marketing so that they can answer these types of qustions. The rest is basic business sense. This fundamental knowledge is something that you would use regardless of whether you were selling cars, hi-tech medical equipment or oil and gas consulting, and is what seperates a good rep from a bad one. If they do ever have to answer a question they don't know, I can gurantee you are not going to be faulted for it if you can follow up with them with an answer at a later date. No one can know everything.

 

You question about closing the loop and starting over at the first client makes no sense. When an archititect finishes a building do they close the firm down and fire everyone? Of course not. Business is made on business relationships and like any relationship you need to work at it. That means following up with them more than once. Just becuase they don't have work for you now does not mean that won't in 2 months time. A smart rep will also do research and work other industry contacts to find out about upcoming projects so that they time their follow ups with previously contacted clients. As a general rule you should be back in touch with a contact every 2 months in some form so that they don't forget about you.

 

A dedicated sales rep in some firms is a very viable solution. And if it is not, presumably due to the company's size, what do you think the owners of these companies do to get business? They act as, guess what, sales reps. You would typically consider a dedicated sales-rep when the owner, who traditionally performed this role, is too busy working large contract relationships, developing new business avenues and other high level business direction strategies and does not have the time anymore for the more ground level marketing work.

 

I was hired 9 months ago by Smoothe to lauch and start their North American office and I have spent the majority of my time doing all of the things I metnioned above. While a push like this does take time and requires a lot of meetings, face time with potential clients and research that is how it's done. While I am also a CG artist and have been working in the industry for about 8 years, my role right now is bascally a sales rep. And yes it does work. I just closed a VERY large deal today for about 3 months worth of work.

 

I would highly reccomend you buy a copy of Seth Godin's books on permission marketing or another one called Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema. Both are excellent and will teach you more about how successful marketing in general works.

[mbr]

Thanks, Jeff, I know I'll be taking a look at those books. I could personally use more insight into the process of successful marketing (although much of it is common sense).

 

There are also firms such as Aquent that are only there for the purposes of marketing. I have had several contacts through their office (in Los Angeles). It's a pretty simple process: they advertise, talk a lot, and someone comes to them to have a particular job done. This could be web design, or arch viz, or any number of graphic/creative services. The client looks at your work, and usually that speaks for itself, then they ask you for an estimate, if it's a go, you work, the client gets their rendering, and they take a percentage of the payment.

 

It's pretty simple. Much of it is simply time and skills. Some people are good at sales, and enjoy it, others would rather have it given to them for a small expense.

 

Professional marketing is a necessity to any successful business. Most successful architecture firms I know of have at least one person managing their sales and marketing, otherwise it cuts out of important time. It's just a matter of expanding your potential with a reasonable investment.

[archkre]

As usual in your Forum, when it comes to answer a post,

 

somebody first disqualifies the skills/knowledge of the author and

 

afterwards they go for the statements/thoughts/opinions.

This was your turn Mr. Mottle!

What point in my original post makes you think that :"Clearly you are unfamilair with the sales process and how it works in this and all industries."???

Let me tell you something Jeff: I was dealing with "sales representatives" long before I could walk.

In our family bussines I was in a stroller by my parents listening to them dealing with "sales representatives" so I know a couple of hundred of them , how they work, how they think, etc.

Maybe Mr.Wright in his article is talking about a new kind of "sales representatives" , a new breed,and not the traditional ones.

If so, please explain what would it be.

If not I stick to the statements of the original post.

On the other hand, the "Modelling a Terracotta Roof" is wonderful and the author is a master of modeling, comparable to the best ones!

 

[ October 21, 2003, 07:44 AM: Message edited by: archkre ]

[ingo]

Originally posted by archkre:

.....

Let me tell you something Jeff: I was dealing with "sales representatives" long before I could walk.

In our family bussines I was in a stroller by my parents listening to them dealing with "sales representatives" so I know a couple of hundred of them , how they work, how they think, etc.........

Well, so why you than ask so dumb questions when you know it already and waste Jeff's time ? Otherwise its all in Davids article, so read it before you ask.

[archkre]

Ingo, what question do you consider stupid?

I don't make anybody waste his time, reading/answering posts is not mandatory.

[dwright]

Originally posted by archkre:

Mr. Wright's idea expressed in his latest article about using the services of a

"Sales Representative" although captivating is totaly non-viable.

1]Where are you going to find a "Sales Representative" willing to carry CG

-rendering & animations as only merchandise to an extremely tiny universe of possible buyers

(Architects,Developers,I.Designers,and similar) ?

A "Sales Representative" usually carries a called "basket" of different products

from diverse manufacturers to multiply his possibilities of making trades.

 

2) This "Sales Representative" should be trained to answer every possible

technical questions his prospective client would ask him.

 

3) Suppose you find one, train the person properly, she/he pays a visit to all the

spectrum of possible clients devoting his best efforts/time/etc.

When this person completes the loop , what would he be supposed to do next?

Visiting the first client again and starting a new loop?

Would this "Sales Representative" be received again by the ones received him before?

 

And many more aspects to consider that IMHO make Mr. Wright's proposal non viable.

Thank you

Regarding Q1: This market is big, not just regular average big, seriously big, 350 billion a year big, real-estate development is incredibly huge, and an example of that are the cities we all live. 90% of new development use rendering at some point and at multiple stages, from fund raising, competition, proposals, design, marketing, pre-sales and early leasing. A fraction of the 350 billion is our potential.

 

Where can you find them? By a simple straight forward newspaper add, or agency. Sale representatives, a.k.a executive sales a.k.a business development are common practice in any B2B firm.

 

I am truly sorry that you did not understand what I was referring, a common, everyday practice among B2B and B2C companies. Your descriptions of a sales representative sound to me like a door salesman; these are not the ones I recommend, not for this practice.

 

Regarding Q2: True, this is a given, perhaps it was not clear in my article; I honestly thought that this is common sense among entrepreneurs and self-starters. Common sense does not dictate such an act, the one of giving a portfolio, brochures, dvd's to someone without training. I was discussing and exploring the diverse range of flavors of sales professionals, not about business management involving training and other tasks. Agreed, you always educate new personal or anyone that represents your firm in my opinion this is common sense.

 

Regarding Q3: I don’t understand your question. I think Jeff answered your question in part, but I honestly do not track your question. Regarding your “loop” This is common practice, to build relationships. Is more than a repetitious loop, is not as simple, is about building professional relationships.

 

Regarding your strong opinion, that what I had written is not viable, I do respect your opinion and I do listen to you and others; clearly I do strongly disagree with you.

[archkre]

Thank you Mr.Wright for your respectful answer.

Maybe some parts of your article are difficult to understand by us, non native English speakers,specialy the acronyms like B2B/B2C, etc.

I like the idea,core of your article,I really do!

But I can't imagine a positive implementation of it!

Maybe you could explain in a more plain language the implementation of the "sales manager"idea, please!

Thank you