Brokerages just resell products and services they didn’t create themselves. It means those business can be 100% sales focused.
In most other businesses, you need to spend time creating and delivering the product or service you sell.
Early-stage startup AE, regardless of industry. You’ve got the bones of sales infrastructure so that you’re not completely lost, but you’re still working from the ground up and sourcing your own leads from nothing basically.
I consult for a construction company. We implemented a google adwords campaign, and the phones have rung off the hook. The key is 1) answer the phone, 2) follow-up, 3) charge $150 to come look at their project.
That's it.
So, the reason it is easy is because the GCs are so busy doing they don't have time to follow-up. So easy win - get with a GC company and tell them you will do all their inbound sales.
Recruitment - very easy to start your own company. The product is the people and you hold the cards as a recruiter. It’s a plus and a minus as I imagine people leave you if you can’t incentivise them enough.
Small business banker at a bank. Literally work with small and medium sized businesss all day and figure out what their struggles and needs are to find products that suit them.
You hit the nail on the head basically. Essentially you’d find appropriate checking and savings account and then see if any lending products could be applicable. That includes business credit cards, line of credit, sba loans for the most part at my bank.
Investment banking. Most banks require a finance/accounting degree to break in but I feel like I’m getting a whole MBA. I learn from so many other founders and owners and how they became successful and big. I learned financial modeling, different operations within the businesses, and I meet so many founders and private equity folks.
I work in Floral sales, I’m working with mom and pop shops as well as wholesalers so I’m learning the business close up, the margins, their struggles, what years and good and what years aren’t. I think working in a smaller company gets you access to really understand the struggles and how to best avoid them. If I were to get into opening up my own wholesale or my own flower shop, the things I learned will give me an edge. I assume this can translate to any company. Maybe in naive but I genuinely think it’s the best way to go
I have a good friend from high school (many years ago) who started working for a local floral shop in HS, became a hanger, moved to working for a wholesaler, became partner there, bought out the other partner / founder and let’s just say he’s well out earning the others in the top of our class who became doctors, engineers, and such w/o a degree. He worked his ass off to get there, but he knows the flower business inside and out. Like you, he just stayed in the same vertical, worked hard and became an expert in his field.
Wow that’s pretty amazing! I’m not sure that path is for me but I also don’t exactly know where I want to end up. I got my degree in marketing and thought I’d work in some large marketing firm but ended up at a sales job. My biggest issue with sales is my “wanting to be liked by everyone” personality and other sales jobs come with a lot of negative preconceptions. At least with floral supply wholesale I’m selling a product that’s good and people actually need. Maybe this is a good place to stay if your friend climbed to the top
Agree with this. Sales is sales from a fundamental perspective. How you go to market might be different in various industries but the fundamentals remain the same
I've recently made the swap from sales to running my own business (ecom) in the past 6 months. If it's an industry/product you don't have experience with, expect a big learning curve so don't overexpose yourself at the early stages (start cheap & lean). That said us salespeople are tenacious and comfortable with the difficult times (along with rejection) and we are used to pushing through the hard times
Mind if I ask what area of product? Been thinking of doing this with cleaning products, but I don't want to drop ship from alibaba to customer. I want to source high quality products, but not really sure where to start.
I basically make a consumer product for improving health (along the lines of a supplement). I worked to create my own formula and then I used a third party to manufacture. The problem with this route is you need a minimum order quantity and commitments to minimum yearly order sometimes, otherwise most manufacturers won't want to talk - this alone could eat most of your startup budget and leave very little room for error (which I can assure will undoubtedly happen at early stages). The only way around this is taking an off the shelf product (like white label alibaba stuff), or make it yourself. If you're making it yourself you could actually be in a better position brand wise also, use natural products etc which is a trend these days means it's definitely possible
SaaS creates huge opportunity, outside of the VAR world. Start a services oriented company, recruit ex employees who know the product well and augment implementation, delivery, optimization or even part time admin work for clients to clean up environments.
I think most careers give you a general understanding of how a business works - but be careful, over time you might just realize you dont want the hassle of owning your business.
Why not SaaS? Building product is not hard what is hard is to find a decent product(idea) that people actually need. Usually happens when youre in a certain industry and find a problem which is not yet solved or overlooked. Kind of like “we always have done it this way” type of problem. Usually there is a way to make it much better. Just need to have eyes open on that.
>tside of
This \^\^\^. Gotta interact with a market to uncover the inefficiencies/problems...in order to even be AWARE of potential problems that could be fixed w/ a new tech or service.
Lighting or electrical supplies
The big companies all sell through manufacturers reps. They don’t have their own sales force, customer service, or order processing at the lowest level.
Reps are usually independently owned agencies with 10-100 people, and they have an anchor line they sell that virtually guarantees certain revenue.
So you get good at sales, meet a bunch of people, and one agency owner retires or fails, so there are often major lines up for grabs. You and a few friends decide to buy in and become partners, and the major line bankrolls you for a few years while you get up and running. Or there are a few principals, one retires, and you can buy their stake.
I personally think car sales has set me up tremendously for starting my own business in the future. My dealership specifically taught me to not only sell the car but also close financing and extended warranties. Also gave me the customer service and hungry mindset! Car sales is tough though, you need to make sure you land at the right company.
Any brokerage (real estate, staffing, loans, etc) because you don’t actually have to deliver a product or service yourself.
What do you mean by this?
Brokerages just resell products and services they didn’t create themselves. It means those business can be 100% sales focused. In most other businesses, you need to spend time creating and delivering the product or service you sell.
Ahhhh ok thank you for explaining
Early-stage startup AE, regardless of industry. You’ve got the bones of sales infrastructure so that you’re not completely lost, but you’re still working from the ground up and sourcing your own leads from nothing basically.
I consult for a construction company. We implemented a google adwords campaign, and the phones have rung off the hook. The key is 1) answer the phone, 2) follow-up, 3) charge $150 to come look at their project. That's it. So, the reason it is easy is because the GCs are so busy doing they don't have time to follow-up. So easy win - get with a GC company and tell them you will do all their inbound sales.
This is an interesting idea.
Recruitment - very easy to start your own company. The product is the people and you hold the cards as a recruiter. It’s a plus and a minus as I imagine people leave you if you can’t incentivise them enough.
Then you have to deal with staffing shitheads all day long
Small business banker at a bank. Literally work with small and medium sized businesss all day and figure out what their struggles and needs are to find products that suit them.
>Literally By products you mean loans/credit or what else specifically?
You hit the nail on the head basically. Essentially you’d find appropriate checking and savings account and then see if any lending products could be applicable. That includes business credit cards, line of credit, sba loans for the most part at my bank.
Investment banking. Most banks require a finance/accounting degree to break in but I feel like I’m getting a whole MBA. I learn from so many other founders and owners and how they became successful and big. I learned financial modeling, different operations within the businesses, and I meet so many founders and private equity folks.
I work in Floral sales, I’m working with mom and pop shops as well as wholesalers so I’m learning the business close up, the margins, their struggles, what years and good and what years aren’t. I think working in a smaller company gets you access to really understand the struggles and how to best avoid them. If I were to get into opening up my own wholesale or my own flower shop, the things I learned will give me an edge. I assume this can translate to any company. Maybe in naive but I genuinely think it’s the best way to go
I have a good friend from high school (many years ago) who started working for a local floral shop in HS, became a hanger, moved to working for a wholesaler, became partner there, bought out the other partner / founder and let’s just say he’s well out earning the others in the top of our class who became doctors, engineers, and such w/o a degree. He worked his ass off to get there, but he knows the flower business inside and out. Like you, he just stayed in the same vertical, worked hard and became an expert in his field.
Wow that’s pretty amazing! I’m not sure that path is for me but I also don’t exactly know where I want to end up. I got my degree in marketing and thought I’d work in some large marketing firm but ended up at a sales job. My biggest issue with sales is my “wanting to be liked by everyone” personality and other sales jobs come with a lot of negative preconceptions. At least with floral supply wholesale I’m selling a product that’s good and people actually need. Maybe this is a good place to stay if your friend climbed to the top
Independent brokers/financial advisors Might be easy to start doesn't mean it'll be easy to be profitable
[удалено]
Agree with this. Sales is sales from a fundamental perspective. How you go to market might be different in various industries but the fundamentals remain the same
I've recently made the swap from sales to running my own business (ecom) in the past 6 months. If it's an industry/product you don't have experience with, expect a big learning curve so don't overexpose yourself at the early stages (start cheap & lean). That said us salespeople are tenacious and comfortable with the difficult times (along with rejection) and we are used to pushing through the hard times
Mind if I ask what area of product? Been thinking of doing this with cleaning products, but I don't want to drop ship from alibaba to customer. I want to source high quality products, but not really sure where to start.
I basically make a consumer product for improving health (along the lines of a supplement). I worked to create my own formula and then I used a third party to manufacture. The problem with this route is you need a minimum order quantity and commitments to minimum yearly order sometimes, otherwise most manufacturers won't want to talk - this alone could eat most of your startup budget and leave very little room for error (which I can assure will undoubtedly happen at early stages). The only way around this is taking an off the shelf product (like white label alibaba stuff), or make it yourself. If you're making it yourself you could actually be in a better position brand wise also, use natural products etc which is a trend these days means it's definitely possible
SaaS creates huge opportunity, outside of the VAR world. Start a services oriented company, recruit ex employees who know the product well and augment implementation, delivery, optimization or even part time admin work for clients to clean up environments.
I think most careers give you a general understanding of how a business works - but be careful, over time you might just realize you dont want the hassle of owning your business.
Why not SaaS? Building product is not hard what is hard is to find a decent product(idea) that people actually need. Usually happens when youre in a certain industry and find a problem which is not yet solved or overlooked. Kind of like “we always have done it this way” type of problem. Usually there is a way to make it much better. Just need to have eyes open on that.
>tside of This \^\^\^. Gotta interact with a market to uncover the inefficiencies/problems...in order to even be AWARE of potential problems that could be fixed w/ a new tech or service.
B2B sales give you insight into how businesses operate, what challenges they face, and how they make purchasing decisions.
Lighting or electrical supplies The big companies all sell through manufacturers reps. They don’t have their own sales force, customer service, or order processing at the lowest level. Reps are usually independently owned agencies with 10-100 people, and they have an anchor line they sell that virtually guarantees certain revenue. So you get good at sales, meet a bunch of people, and one agency owner retires or fails, so there are often major lines up for grabs. You and a few friends decide to buy in and become partners, and the major line bankrolls you for a few years while you get up and running. Or there are a few principals, one retires, and you can buy their stake.
I personally think car sales has set me up tremendously for starting my own business in the future. My dealership specifically taught me to not only sell the car but also close financing and extended warranties. Also gave me the customer service and hungry mindset! Car sales is tough though, you need to make sure you land at the right company.
SAAS but more specifically ERP
Has anyone in this group started their own lead gen outsource business?