Shahzad Chagani runs operations for PE Vitality, a Houston, Texas-based provider of commercial tools and provides. The corporate collects leads on-line from worldwide B2B patrons and depends on its Columbia-based gross sales workforce to transform them into prospects.
“Colombia is fairly Westernized,” Chagani informed me. “We discover a variety of college-educated expertise there.”
In our current dialog, Chagani addressed his backend setup for 100,000 SKUs, the advantages of an offshore gross sales workers, and extra. Your entire audio of our dialogue is embedded under. The transcript is edited for size and readability.
Eric Bandholz: Inform us who you’re.
Shahzad Chagani: I’m the director of operations for PE Vitality in Houston, Texas. We promote industrial tools and provides. I’ve been working the corporate for 10 years. About 80% of our income is B2B, with 15% by way of ecommerce.
We promote elements and tools for manufacturing, building, and different industrial makes use of. Our merchandise weigh as little as one ounce to hundreds of kilos. We focus on American-made gadgets. We’ve got prospects worldwide and our personal inside gross sales workforce to serve them.
We supply about 100,000 SKUs. We don’t white label or make the merchandise ourselves. We do a variety of dropshipping with our suppliers. We primarily focus on consumable merchandise for repeat orders, reminiscent of filters and lubrication. That’s the place the best margins are.
We’ve got feeds from our suppliers that sync into our retailer, spec sheets, and stock particulars. Our web site drives a variety of inquiries. Consumers go to the location after which request a quote.
The location makes use of WordPress and Shopify. It largely drives leads fairly than direct purchases. We’ve got a “request a quote” part on all product pages. We’ll obtain these leads and organize customized pricing relying on the client.
We use DataFeedWatch for our stock management. There are a number of comparable information feed suppliers. We keep a single grasp stock file that connects to QuickBooks Enterprise, our ERP. At any time when a product is offered or lead occasions change, DataFeedWatch updates our system — even on Amazon, eBay, and Shopify — to let prospects know.
Bandholz: Stroll us by means of your gross sales coaching for therefore many merchandise.
Chagani: It comes right down to training and product data to reply meaningfully to quotes. It takes about 90 days to be taught our system. All leads come by means of Zendesk. We’ve got our personal personalized buyer administration platform. It has all the worth sheets, weights, every thing. It additionally offers allowable reductions relying on the portions and buyer kind.
We’ve got seven inside gross sales members, all based mostly in Columbia. Most work full-time. I discover them utilizing LinkedIn Jobs. It’s good to return yearly and convey everybody collectively for coaching. It makes customer support so a lot better.
They’re all working remotely from completely different cities in Colombia. The workforce makes offers on the cellphone, emails, and even WhatsApp. Our enterprise is world; we talk by any means crucial.
Colombia is fairly Westernized. We discover a variety of college-educated expertise there. Their English is superior. I be sure. It has a big effect on our prospects and distributors.
Our hiring course of is that this. We create a submit on LinkedIn Jobs for Colombia. We hyperlink from the submit to our web site to fill out an utility. If the applicant appears to be like certified, I’ll bounce on a video name with that individual.
Individuals in Columbia and comparable nations simply need a chance.
Bandholz: How are they paid?
Chagani: They’re all hungry and money-driven. We’ve got a fee construction. We use final yr’s month-to-month numbers divided by the variety of reps to make sure they hit our total aim.
The fee for every individual is tier-based. Greater tiers earn a better fee. We pay a base of $7 to $8 per hour. I’ve reps hitting $2,000 to $6,000 per thirty days on high of their base. They’re so good. Incomes $72,000 per yr in Colombia is phenomenal.
Bandholz: When are you aware to rent a brand new gross sales rep?
Chagani: I have a look at the leads. If prospects aren’t being cared for, I’ll discover extra expertise. I maintain the LinkedIn Jobs advert working 24/7 at a $4 per day spend.
Bandholz: The place can individuals comply with you or attain out?
Chagani: Our web site is PE-energy.com. I’m on LinkedIn and electronic mail.
