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"I tell my guys to try and get away from using email unless a customer specifically wants to do business that way," Mike explains. "We want our people to get out and talk to them, meet them face-to-face and get to know them. And, we do a really good job of hanging on to customers, even when Tim from ABC moves over to company XYZ. We've developed new business that way and have kept a lot of our loyal customers."
No sales commissions
ELFCO's staff is unique in that outside salespeople don't have specific territories nor do they have specialized areas of emphasis, but it is most unique in that it doesn't work on the basis of sales commissions.
"We pay salaries, not commissions," Mike explains. "Our guys go where the business is and don't worry about fighting over accounts or territories."
A truism in the business is that a lot of contractors and subcontractors move around - with key people going off to start their own company or moving to competitors. That means that a salesman's contact from a big account could, without notice, move to a company in another area. That often results in either infighting among salespeople or lost business - or both.
"We know that people are moving around all the time," Mike continues, "so we encourage our salespeople to work their contacts and build relationships no matter where the people are. We want to keep their business."
Many of ELFCO's outside sales associates have come to the company from other organizations and have found the sales situation not only unique, but beneficial. "We don't recruit from competitors or customers," Mike points out, "but when someone comes to us we'll listen. They have heard on the street that we're a good place to work. We've never had a salesman quit, but we've had several of them actively recruited - and some have turned down lucrative offers to stay with us, so we feel we're doing something right."
What's new?
The outside sales team is also ELFCO's first line for intelligence gathering from the field, and what they learn can lead directly to new products finding their way into the company warehouse.
