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This is one of those very very grey areas....so many variables, just so many variables to consider.

So...

RE hiring: http://bevforce.com/ is a standard place to begin. Or local craigslist / job wanted listings.... Or friends and family too....though resort to this group last and avoid if at all possible.

RE Pay: going to be different for every situation in every market, and greatly depending on your hire's experience AND connections....so...unfortunatly, it's literally as much as you can afford with goals to get your sales to "sustainable" as quickly as possible.... And don't forget to factor in their travel $, expense $, and the point of sale/marketing materials they are going to need to be carrying and distributing too. Obviously commission is the best type of structure, but just starting out, sales volume will unlikely be high enough to pay enough.

So with all of that thrown at you, your best bet is more than likely going to be You. Hire others around you to do all of the tasks you've mastered, and get to the selling yourself.

Best of Luck,

-Scott

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Scott,

What I have in mind is having an ambassador in Portland. Its a 3 hour drive from where I am located and Portland has a much bigger market. I was thinking of getting someone to start making relations and getting the name noticed. What I really want to know is how can I track their work. Would I pay for each different bar they went to or by the hour? And since I will only go up there every couple weeks is there any clever way to make sure they are actually doing what they say they are doing? For example I can have them fill out a form and maybe get the bartender or contact to sign it. Or is my best bet just finding the perfect someone who is 100% reliable and not interested in taking advantage of me? :)

Leon

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What I really want to know is how can I track their work.

Sales. That's how.

I am in the same boat as you are, being located in far far northern Maine, I'm 2 hours north of Bangor (population 33K and an international airport) and 4 hours north of Portland (population 66K, and yeah actually goolgling the pop of portland oregon, you have 10X the people than my Portland.....) Well, anyway, point being, distance is an extreme factor that must be accounted for. Sales is how we track "progress and performance". Makes for a very cut-and-dry system.

Don't pay by the hour. And do setup a structure to measure time spent and performance, but be careful it's not burdensome, or draconian. A certain level of trust must exist between you and your employee. That doens't mean you set them and forget them. I have acutally found I travel more often now having a sales guy than I do without him. But it's not to check on his work, it's because our efforts are multiplied even more when combined.....

Get ready for the tough part of the game. Making product is the easy part. Selling it is the real bitch... but don't give up. And seriously Portland, OR with your 10X population of my Portland....so jealous...lots of opportunity there, lots of opportunity....

-Scott

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We pay a salary with required contacts per month. Bonus for placement/menu listing. Expense account card with a monthly budget. We did a lot of research to find out what seems to work and this is working for us. Trust is key. If you don't trust them it won't work for you or for them. Make it benefit them as much as it does you and everyone will be happy.

It will take time to see results but then they seem to be steady.

Hope this helps.

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Personally, I'm not a big fan of hired mercenaries. Leon, whatever you decide, before you execute an agreement, bring it to the one friend you think is a selfish, opportunistic, snake in the grass. See how he/she can take your agreement and twist it to overwhelmingly his advantage to point out where the weak points are. You will soon see how no agreement is both functional and perfect. Must: a termination factor. Include tight periodic performance reviews and not only a success tier, but a failure tier also. It is up to you to set the goals and expenses. I have seen these product ambassadors work three or four brands at a time. You do not want to pay travel, etc, for them to sell another product. I agree with Scott, you are top rep. But you are also the last to get paid.

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  • 1 year later...

For those that have or have not used product ambassadors or hired sales people, has anyone had an experience with bars/restaurants wanting you to pay for the shelf space or pay a certain amount to be on their specials? I'm starting to hear that happens somewhat often.

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For those that have or have not used product ambassadors or hired sales people, has anyone had an experience with bars/restaurants wanting you to pay for the shelf space or pay a certain amount to be on their specials? I'm starting to hear that happens somewhat often.

Absolutely. ...and it is illegal. Mostly what I hear is "we'll carry your product but how much free goods are you going to provide"? It is our policy to not even try to do business with these people.

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Yeah - that was my thought. I have a friend who does liquor sales out in CA and he mentioned how prevalent that is. He was telling me about how some people will buy out the bar's existing stock of a product that isn't selling great to get the shelf space, give out free product, or actually pay to be on a specials list.

I had not given it much thought because I was in the camp that you mentioned where I'm happy to help the bar with events, etc but not free product or pay for shelf space.

I guess I am more curious what percentage of craft distilleries are doing those sort of things.

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  • 7 months later...

For anyone who uses sales rep, what do you typically pay them in terms of a commission per bottle? We're not there yet but I am trying to get an idea of what the going rate is for someone to establish local accounts, maintain those accounts and possible make deliveries (or we can have someone do it for them).

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For anyone who uses sales rep, what do you typically pay them in terms of a commission per bottle? We're not there yet but I am trying to get an idea of what the going rate is for someone to establish local accounts, maintain those accounts and possible make deliveries (or we can have someone do it for them).

8% to 10% is typical for the companies that offer this service in various states.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey all. Looks like this post is a bit old, but I have some experience in hiring spirits Brand Ambs/Sales guys. (in full disclosure, I'm a marketer/sales guy...I don't own a distillery).

First, it might be good to distinguish between the 2.

A brand ambassador is a marketing extension, sometimes with commercial objectives. They generally are reflective of your brand and focus more on marketing goals (events, tastings, dinners, pushing visibility) with a secondary objective of pushing business through commercial objectives (menus, visibility, case sales, etc).

A sales person is the inverse.

It is a fine line, but when hiring someone, I think it's important to note what the expectations and objectives are out of the gate.

If you don't have a ton of money to hire a sales guy, you can build something based purely on incentives (case and accomplishing specific marketing objectives). Obviously you'll want a very small base to keep them engaged, but you can have incentives for menus, visibility, features, etc.).

And whether you go with a sales guy or an Ambassador, you have to hire someone who will be reflective of your brand, your culture and who will love the brand as much as you...finding this is the toughest part.

And when putting them out there, don't send them out bare handed. You've got to invest in tools and programs to support accounts and drive consumer pull.

Anyone can get out and push cases on an account...the art is to get the account to push it for you and to get consumers to want it before the walk in the door.

Hope this helps...and happy selling!

TB

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