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Any benefit of hiring local sell reps ?

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  1. #1

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    Any benefit of hiring local sell reps ?

    Hello Fellow Members,

    Wanted to get some advice from everyone. Started an HK trading company last year, hired our 1st employee this year (purchasing manager). Looking to hire a few sales representatives.

    Would there be any benefit of hiring local talent as opposed to outsourcing the sale representative, perhaps india, usa etc ?

    I'm also considering the intrinsic benefit of hiring local (maybe this would boost company morale? culture?). I would love to hear everyone's perspective especially those currently in the business.


  2. #2

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    Trading as in import / export and your company helps businesses overseas source products in bulk, does quality and import / export paper work and takes a few % on the deal for facilitating the transaction?

    Where are your clients?

    How would you as a small company manage sales reps who are overseas (take a scenario - they get a deal for a container of widgets, he works for you, but knows he can get a slightly better commission from another source... OR ... a year down the road, he knows you're sourcing from vendor A and goes directly to them and starts his own business).


  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    Trading as in import / export and your company helps businesses overseas source products in bulk, does quality and import / export paper work and takes a few % on the deal for facilitating the transaction?

    Where are your clients?

    How would you as a small company manage sales reps who are overseas (take a scenario - they get a deal for a container of widgets, he works for you, but knows he can get a slightly better commission from another source... OR ... a year down the road, he knows you're sourcing from vendor A and goes directly to them and starts his own business).
    Our clients are mostly in North America, Europe, Africa, and South America.

    Thank you for your post, however, it was a bit confusing. You mentioned "he can get a slightly better commission from another source" are you referring to the purchasing manager, or the sale representative? In either case, how would this differ if I was local business (native), as opposed to in a different country ? if the purchasing manager were double-dealing, this would happen regardless?

    As it relates to starting his own business (sales rep or purchasing manager). I would assume this happen often within the industry i.e employees leaving their host company to begin their own.. is there any way to circumvent this from happening? ( we could always cross reference the price). The purchasing manager is actually helping us source our manufacturers, however, just because he knows the product doesn't mean he knows the market. Our marketing is what will set us apart. We know our key market very well.

  4. #4

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    If your clients are in English speaking countries, get sales reps who speak English. You won't find many locals who speak English well (or if you do, they will be expensive as the are in demand). Outsourcing to Philippines or India makes sense in this context.

    East_coast likes this.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    If your clients are in English speaking countries, get sales reps who speak English. You won't find many locals who speak English well (or if you do, they will be expensive as the are in demand). Outsourcing to Philippines or India makes sense in this context.
    Thank you for your reply Katherine. This is exactly what I was wanting to do. However, do you have any comment on user "shri " post about the possibility of the purchasing manager taking commissions on our orders?

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by hkceo:
    Thank you for your reply Katherine. This is exactly what I was wanting to do. However, do you have any comment on user "shri " post about the possibility of the purchasing manager taking commissions on our orders?
    He was talking about subcontracted workers I think. If they are your own employees, that should not be an issue. If it is, find better employees!
    shri likes this.

  7. #7

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    It depends what you are trading. If you don't have a person on the ground, how are you going to get new clients and who will do the account servicing?

    You could consider outsourcing to a cheaper location to do phone calls, but it isn't always that easy. Those people are not the smartest and it could just piss off your clients. If there is a large market for your products, then this person could help you develop a database and get your name out there, provided you give them sufficient training.


  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by MandM!:
    It depends what you are trading. If you don't have a person on the ground, how are you going to get new clients and who will do the account servicing?

    You could consider outsourcing to a cheaper location to do phone calls, but it isn't always that easy. Those people are not the smartest and it could just piss off your clients. If there is a large market for your products, then this person could help you develop a database and get your name out there, provided you give them sufficient training.

    None of our clients will be from Asia. The majority of our clients are from English speaking countries. In that aspect, it would be a no-brainer to outsource and would give us a clear competitive advantage over our Chinese competitors.

  9. #9

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    go for other countries, locals are alright for local business but North America or Europe they don't pick up accent very well. Like people said before if they do speak good English they will be more expensive.


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Plutark:
    go for other countries, locals are alright for local business but North America or Europe they don't pick up accent very well. Like people said before if they do speak good English they will be more expensive.
    Sounds good! the majority of the staff will communicate directly through instant message, email so I don't believe the accent will be an issue but the dialect and structure would be. Feel free to comment so more, if may be beneficial to other members.

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