Shahzad Chagani runs operations for PE Power, a Houston, Texas-based provider of commercial tools and provides. The corporate collects leads on-line from worldwide B2B consumers and depends on its Columbia-based gross sales group to transform them into clients.
“Colombia is fairly Westernized,” Chagani instructed me. “We discover lots of college-educated expertise there.”
In our latest dialog, Chagani addressed his backend setup for 100,000 SKUs, the advantages of an offshore gross sales employees, and extra. All the audio of our dialogue is embedded beneath. The transcript is edited for size and readability.
Eric Bandholz: Inform us who you might be.
Shahzad Chagani: I’m the director of operations for PE Power in Houston, Texas. We promote industrial tools and provides. I’ve been operating 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, development, and different industrial makes use of. Our merchandise weigh as little as one ounce to 1000’s of kilos. We specialise in American-made gadgets. Now we have clients worldwide and our personal inside gross sales group to serve them.
We supply about 100,000 SKUs. We don’t white label or make the merchandise ourselves. We do lots of dropshipping with our suppliers. We primarily specialise in consumable merchandise for repeat orders, corresponding to filters and lubrication. That’s the place the very best margins are.
Now we have feeds from our suppliers that sync into our retailer, spec sheets, and stock particulars. Our web site drives lots of inquiries. Patrons go to the location after which request a quote.
The location makes use of WordPress and Shopify. It principally drives leads reasonably than direct purchases. Now we have a “request a quote” part on all product pages. We’ll obtain these leads and prepare customized pricing relying on the client.
We use DataFeedWatch for our stock management. There are a number of related information feed suppliers. We keep a single grasp stock file that connects to QuickBooks Enterprise, our ERP. At any time when a product is bought or lead occasions change, DataFeedWatch updates our system — even on Amazon, eBay, and Shopify — to let clients know.
Bandholz: Stroll us by means of your gross sales coaching for thus many merchandise.
Chagani: It comes all the way down to training and product data to reply meaningfully to quotes. It takes about 90 days to study our system. All leads come by means of Zendesk. Now we have our personal personalized buyer administration platform. It has all the value sheets, weights, every part. It additionally supplies allowable reductions relying on the portions and buyer sort.
Now we have seven inside gross sales members. Most work full-time and are primarily based in Colombia. I discover them utilizing LinkedIn Jobs. It’s good to return yearly and produce everybody collectively for coaching. It makes customer support so a lot better.
They’re all working remotely from totally different cities in Colombia. The group makes offers on the telephone, emails, and even WhatsApp. Our enterprise is world; we talk by any means mandatory.
Colombia is fairly Westernized. We discover lots of college-educated expertise there. Their English is superior. I make certain. It has a huge impact on our clients and distributors.
Our hiring course of is that this. We create a put up on LinkedIn Jobs for Colombia. We hyperlink from the put up to our web site to fill out an utility. If the applicant appears to be like certified, I’ll leap on a video name with that particular person.
Folks in Columbia and related nations simply need a chance.
Bandholz: How are they paid?
Chagani: They’re all hungry and money-driven. Now we have a fee construction. We use final yr’s month-to-month numbers divided by the variety of reps to make sure they hit our general aim.
The fee for every particular person is tier-based. Greater tiers earn the next fee. We pay a base of $7 to $8 per hour. I’ve reps hitting $2,000 to $6,000 per 30 days on prime of their base. They’re so good. Incomes $72,000 per yr in Colombia is phenomenal.
Bandholz: When have you learnt to rent a brand new gross sales rep?
Chagani: I take a look at the leads. If clients aren’t being cared for, I’ll discover extra expertise. I maintain the LinkedIn Jobs advert operating 24/7 at a $4 per day spend.
Bandholz: The place can individuals observe you or attain out?
Chagani: Our web site is PE-energy.com. I’m on LinkedIn and electronic mail.