As a company owner or manager with an existing sales team your thoughts might be turning to increasing revenues by expanding the sales team but worrying about the costs and risks associated with bringing in another employee.

Commission only sales agents are often rightly regarded as the top of the league of sales professionals.

An item often overlooked by principals is Training.

One of the most common questions involved with the engagement of independent sales agents relates to commission. “How should we pay our sales agents?”

Having spent a lot of time and energy building up contacts, most sales agents guard their network as if it was a priceless jewel, and rightly so. But just how much information should you pass onto your principal if you want to protect your ‘capital’.

Most company principals will know that using sales agents has become a cost saving way of getting a company product out into the big, wide world without the restrictions that come with employing an in-house sales force.

Many businesses are finding it more cost effective to hire a sales agent rather than commit to a full-time sales force. Outsourcing to a specialist who has their own broad network of contacts and the experience to create new ones has become more popular as we come out of recession.

It’s good news and we are coming out of the recession, businesses are starting to move forward again and the economy is on the rise. For many companies, however, finances are still tight and mobilising an effective sales force can often prove difficult.