How you get a cooperation with a closer, a sales and closing specialist started

Companies

Maybe you as an entrepreneur, consultant or coach are wondering how you get a cooperation with a closer, a sales and closing specialist started. In this blog post we would like to give you an overview of this process.

Employment relationship: freelance or permanent position

Ask yourself first: Do I want to employ the closer on a freelance basis or do I want to employ him/her permanently in my company? Both forms have advantages and disadvantages. In the end, the employment relationship should fit your company philosophy and your financial capacities.

You will be more flexible if you hire sales specialists as freelancers. You have no fixed costs then. You only pay the sales expert when he or she sells something for you. For this safety and flexibility you pay with a higher salary. There are many other factors that speak in favor of either freelance work or a permanent position. We will write a separate blog post about this.

The questions to be answered are very similar in both cases. The process described here describes the initiation of a freelance collaboration. However, you can also use it as a guide if you want to employ closers on a permanent basis in your company.

Get in touch

First of all you get in contact with a sales and closing specialist, a closer. This works well via our platform closerfinden.de. There you can contact closers either directly via their profiles or you can create a job offer (completely free of charge, as of August 2019). Here it is recommended to arrange a phone call or a video call. For the first interview you should take 30-60 minutes. At the agreed time you call the closer.

First interview for cooperation with a closer

In the first conversation you should clarify the following topics:

  • Is there a mutual sympathy and interest in cooperation?
  • Are the products that you offer interesting for the closer? Usually, closers focus on certain niches in which they have the greatest interest and in which they already know a lot about the challenges of potential customers. So the question here is whether your products fit into the portfolio of the closer.
  • What exactly do you need the closer for? With which data or which leads (prospect data) will the closer work? Will the leads be pre-qualified or does the closer has to qualify them first in a setting call? Good closers prefer well pre-qualified “warm” leads of people who have a strong interest in your products.
  • From where will the closer work? Remote or at your office? Most closers prefer to work remote.
  • Which prices do your products have? Most closers demand a minimum product price of like 2,000 €. The better the closer, the higher the minimum price.
  • Which commission do you pay your closer per transaction? Again, the better the closer, the higher the commission they can demand. As a rule, the agreed commission rates are between 10 % and 20 % of the product price.
  • How many leads per week can you deliver? The closer you are talking to, has certain capacities. You should clarify how many leads you can and want to deliver and how much time he or she wants to provide to you and your business.
  • Will you provide a sales script for the sales calls? If not, the closer has to write one himself / herself.
  • How do you sell your products? Do you sell against invoice or do you use a payment and billing platform like Digistore24, Elopage or Copecart.
  • How do you pay the closer? And when? Does the closer automatically receive a commission when selling the products via a payment platform or does he/she have to invoice you and you transfer the money manually.
  • Will there be an onboarding training for the closers?
  • For which period of time are you considering a collaboration? For an indefinite time or for a limited period of time? This is also important for both sides, so that both can plan accordingly.
  • When should the collaboration start? Here it is recommended that you announce leads for a specific calendar week. You should then keep this promise or inform your closer early enough that the collaboration will be postponed.
  • When do both sides decide whether they want to work together? You as well as the closer might want to think about the conversation and only then make a final decision about the cooperation. Agree on a date until both parties have made up their mind.

Further exchange of information in the second call

If you and the closer have come to the conclusion that you want to work together, at least one more meeting is necessary to clarify further details and exchange information. In addition to the points listed above, the following will then be the main issues:

  • Which information does the closer still need to be able to do sales talks? Every sales specialist needs some information about your company, your product and possibly your person – if you work as a personal coach e.g.. Discuss how you provide this information.
  • Is there a funnel (process for generating customer inquiries) from which the leads are being generated? If so, show the closer the essential funnel elements or give him/her the opportunity to go through the funnel him/herself. That way the closer knows what information the prospects receive in the funnel and how the funnel is psychologically structured. This is important so that the closer can follow on from it.
  • Is there a partner or affiliate program, which the closer can use to get paid his or her commission directly? If so, please provide him/her with all relevant information about and access to it.
  • Do you plan to pay different commissions for different product groups and variants? If so, communicate this. We recommend to pay at least 15% commission. If you want to motivate your closers positively, pay them 20 %. Then you have the best chance of making it a rewarding collaboration for you and your company.
  • How do you inform the closer about booked sales calls? Will the closer get access to the list of booked appojntments? How will the leads be distributed among the closers if you hire more than one? The entire process should be clear for everyone. You don’t want to run in a situation where the prospect is waiting for your call and no one calls.
  • If you sell via video calls: Which software do you use?
  • If you sell via video calls: What type of clothes is the closer supposed to wear?
  • When do you start? You should also discuss this question again clearly and distinctly.
  • All clear? Then wish you a good cooperation and do everything to make it as fruitful as possible for both sides. The better you work together, the better the results will be and the more joy you both will have in this cooperation.

Do you have further questions or suggestions? Then please let us know in the comments. We are happy to include further important points in this process description if you think we have forgotten something important.

Now we wish you good conversations and many great cooperations with the best closers in the world!

Many greetings
Your closerfinden.de team