How can I increase appointments as a sales rep for a home-delivery foods service I work for?
Asked by Ryan L
Okay, I just recently started as a sales rep (a Food Consultant) for an established food-delivery company. We have plenty of customers, and have been serving in PA, NJ, DE, and MD for 15 years. I know if I can just make the appointments, I'll be able to sell. We offer five-star restaurant quality for the same price people are paying at supermarkets. (Hence the name of our company Five Star Home Foods, inc.) We have an excellent referral program where for every person someone refers to us, they get $100 off their next order, and for every 5th referral, they get 6 months of free food. Basically most of the sales reps within this company work off of referrals. But I can't get referrals if I don't have a customer base! The company is doing the best they can to set me up with initial appointments, but if I make my own appointments that were not given to me, and I sell to my own appointments, I get *double* the commission. So instead of $250/sale, I could get $500/sale, and so on and so forth. So my real question to the community is, how could I increase my initial sales, or at least make my own appointments?!? We have a sample bag program where we throw in 4 samples of our meats and frozen foods, and then offer them to potential customers door to door. I tried to do this tonight, but it wasn't a success. I left home with 5 sample bags to give out, and I came home with 5 sample bags to put back in the freezer. And we work within communities where we already have customers (which is where I was), so that way we can use the family down the road as a reference. I also printed out these little post-card fliers with contact information to get back to me if they're interested in the company based off of what I have written. I'm thinking about walking through the parking lots of supermarkets and placing them on peoples' windshields. lol. Any great ideas to help generate interest to the public, and to get some more appointments? I just need a base to work off of, and then I can really get into referrals.. I'm brand new at sales and would really hate to quit. I know there's going to be a lot of struggle with this for the first few weeks.. but I'd like to be as successful as the sales reps are within this company--they do awesome out there.

Best Answer:
Call a reporter for the local newspaper and ask if she will interview you. If that works, you will get discovered quickly. These articles work best in the Saturday paper when news is slow. Then offer to go on the tv station morning show at 6am. Bring some sample bags for the station personnel so everyone can be eating while you film.

Do some social networking. Ask friends and family for names that you could contact. Put your post-card fliers at shops - of course, you will have to get permission - like car service shops, dry cleaners, etc - where people who are waiting for their stuff back will be hanging around. Ask your local library for permission to pin one of your cards ont he public bulletin board. Do the same at your community center, and other public places. Go to an organization like a senior center, and tell the staff there that you will give them a commission ( of course, it will com out of what you get ), for their allowing you to make a presentation to the residents - you may have to get more sample bags for this type of event. You can also approach churches and clubhouses with a similar idea. Finally, make a nice looking presentation on Microsoft Powerpoint, and get yourself a cheap but reliable laptop and LCD projector. You can write these off your income tax as tools of your trade - or maybe the company will allow you to expense them.
Answered by InspectorBudget