Before starting with the selection of agents, we recommend spending some time to compose a certain document. For instance, you can reflect the list of activities or complementary products of yours. With this in mind you will be able to find the most appropriate profiles. And then the searches for information will be more concrete.

What are the sources to find sales agents?

We make a list of the most common sources, in order of success ratio:

– International fairs of the sector. Through the list of exhibitors of the fairs you can find companies that manufacture complementary products or services. Through them, you can find the commercial networks that they have in each of the markets of your interest.

– Professional social networks. Such as LinkedIn, Viadeo (strong presence in France) or Xing (Strong presence in Germany) through which one can get a professional network in your sector. In addition to using them to locate the most relevant commercial agents, you can use them for publicity and to position yourself as experts or specialists through high quality content of interest

– Purchase database. There are companies that are dedicated to the sale of databases of commercial agents, repertoires by sector and activity. The biggest drawback is that in most cases theses databases are not up to date. It´s also possible that you find people in this databases that are retired, have changed their profession or who are currently commercial employees of a company.

– Study of competition. Following the competitors (consulting companies) helps in two ways. You learn which agent has a peer portfolio, which no longer works for the competition and which could be qualified for the product or service of your company.

– Associations of commercial agents and federations. Allow to put advertisements that are published among their associates to find appropriate profiles. Usually this method has a low response rate.

– The free search in Google. If you look for networks of companies in the consulting area, you may find company lists with international coverage area, which could help.

Other related information:

Aspects to consider for the selection of the sales agent

The sales agents meeting in Paris between Spanish metallurgical companies and French agents is coming to the end

B2B meetings between Spanish companies and French sales agents

The sales agent is a key figure especially for those companies that offer a customized product / service. They need a good agent who knows how to identify opportunities and knows the clientele of their geographical area/ sector. Before starting with the selection of agents, we recommend spending some time to write a document where you reflect the list of activities or complementary products of your company to be able to find the most appropriate profiles.

What are the key aspects when selecting a sales agent?

There are certain key issues. Even though they are not definitive and may vary depending on the type of product. Also time of the export project or the need for market penetration are influencers. Thus we will show you the most important ones:

– Age: Young agents are dynamic and maintain a very proactive attitude. On the contrary, they may lack a deep knowledge of the market. On the other side, those whose age is close to retirement have extensive experience. Moreover, they have many contacts resulting from years of presence in the sector. With a simple call you can get quotes and open commercial doors. There is no recommended age and it will depend on the speed of market penetration that you want or need.

– Experience: Some agents have been sales agents throughout their professional career. Others may come from industry businesses, commercial sector etc. Some agents have made their professional career in the same sector, while others have been changing their course.

– Percentage of commission: It is important to know the different percentages of commissions for the various sectors. This is important to be able to negotiate adequately. In the industry we usually speak of a compensation of 3% to 8%.  For interior products, for example, 10% to 15% (France, Spain).

– Portfolio of representation: It is important to know the existing portfolio in order to filter out the complementarity with the one from the company.

– Billing: It is important to know the level of billing (global or in commissions) to determine the value of the candidate you are interviewing. We often find sales agents that bill more than one national SME. This will also determine the interest that our portfolio may arouse, depending on the amount that can be invoiced with it.

– Geographic coverage area: No sales agent can adequately cover an entire country of large dimensions, such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy or the UK. It is advisable to limit the coverage area in addition to doing it by sectors.

– Typology of clientele: It is convenient to ask him about the type of client he worked with. The cadence of his routes and number of active clients that he has at the present time are also interesting.

– References: It is important that you can call any of the clients of the agent to request references and evaluate the degree of moral and professional integrity of the candidate.

– Structure: Some agents work completely alone while others associate with colleagues by creating representative agencies. The most common is to find agent who use back office or telephone support to their commercial prospecting.

– Languages: Although it is not a key aspect, it is always interesting to know what languages the candidate speaks if he has to interact with a neighboring market.

– Training: If the product / service is very technical it is important to know if the agent had a proper training and is qualified to work with it.