"Bowl Games of America" Sales Agent

http://tbe.taleo.net/NA7/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=WORLDSTRIDES&cws=1&rid=110

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Job Title: Performing Arts Sales Representative

West Valley City, Utah
WorldStrides Heritage Performance Mission: Enriching Students’ Lives Through Experiential Travel
Heritage Performance has openings for high energy, self-motivated sales professionals to recruit high school/middle school music or dance directors via phone throughout the United States to bring their students on our music festivals or bowl game half-time events. This is a base plus commission position with unlimited earning potential and excellent benefits.

Come be a part in enriching lives of students as they have the unforgettable opportunity to perform with their friends in exciting venues. Heritage Performance operates over 90 music festivals to thousands of high school and middle school music students per year. Bowl Games of America operates the half time shows for 8 college bowl games annually as well as various parades throughout the year. We have had over one million students travel with us since our inception in 1980. Come play a part in this exciting opportunity!

Success is contingent upon candidates who:
- Are highly motivated self starters
- Have a strong work ethic
- Are proficient with talking on the phone with educators and building relationships with them
- Are coachable and have a positive attitude
- Have proven sales experience
- 4-year college degree highly preferred
-Ability to travel during festival or bowl game season
- Working knowledge of the computer

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Although the sales representative is required to target his or her relationship marketing to the directors of dance and music programs at various high schools, it would be helpful for the seller to pitch the event participation to the students participating in those programs. Why? A director must keep his or her operating costs under budget, whereas program participants generally seek to enhance the scope of their audience. It becomes more difficult for a director to decline purchasing a slot in the bowl game half-time show, music festival, parade, etc. when the children of influential community members pester him or her about how the trip will be the credential to put them into contention for Ivy League schools. I’m sure that many parents also henpeck these directors to boost their children’s exposure.

Again, requiring vague “working knowledge of the computer” indicates the job poster knows little, if anything, about exactly which computer skills are necessary to use the hardware and software to perform duties. I imagine that a customer relations management (CRM) application of one type or another displays potential clients and how recently they were contacted with an offer. The most questionable KSA is possession of a baccalaureate degree: This accomplishment has virtually nothing to do with sales performance because only sales experience confers the knowledge and timing necessary to establish effective sales habits.

You don’t need college experience to use with great effect the familiar spiel, “Your child needs these expensive, time-consuming activities to get into a good college and not work food service the rest of his/her life.” The truth is that such an outcome might occur anyway, and so it’s better to focus on directly relevant occupational experience in case Johnny or Susie does not get into the conservatory or become hired by the philharmonic.

"Contain-A-Pet" Franchisee

http://madison.craigslist.org/bus/2852649124.html

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Job Title: Dog Fencing/Dog Training Business (Madison)

Date: 2012-02-29, 12:06PM CST
If you love man's best friend, enjoy helping people and would like to make a living in a business with great rewards and personal satisfaction, then a Contain-A-Pet dealership just might be for you. Unlike more expensive franchises that come with very high start up costs, Contain-A-Pet can be started and run from the comfort of your home with no need to lease commercial space.

Why Contain-A-Pet is such a Great Business
One of the most rewarding parts of being a Contain-A-Pet dealer is the joy of helping families and dogs find a way to live together in harmony. A contained dog is a happy and safe dog. Dog owners seek help for many reasons. In some cases they cannot find a way to keep their family member from wandering off, or get their dog to follow life-saving commands like "come". Imagine the satisfaction of knowing how many dogs will not be accidentally hit by cars or even taken by strangers after being properly trained by a Contain-A-Pet professional.

As a Contain-A-Pet dealer and certified dog trainer, you will be the answer to the prayers of dog owners in your area. Dog owners just cannot find a way to deal with them running off, barking, house breaking or other behavioral issues. Every year thousands of dogs unfortunately end up at local shelters because owners just cannot find a way solve their dogs' problems.

What kinds of people make great Contain-A-Pet Dealers?
- They Love dogs
- Have great communications skills
- Are highly motivated to build a successful business and are committed to success
- Enjoys solving clients problems
- Want a flexible schedule and freedom from the 9 to 5 grind
- No dog training experience required!
Even if you're a pure beginner in the pet industry our program is designed to fully train you in the Contain-A-Pet system. After you complete your training we will be there to help and support you every step of the way. Join the High-Demand Pet Industry!

Americans now spend over $30 billion a year on their pets. The demand for pet services is at its highest ever, thanks in part to television reality programs featuring people and their pets. People now know that their pet's behavior problems can often be solved with the help of a professional.
- There are approximately 68 million owned dogs in the United States.
- Four in ten (or 40 million) U.S. households own at least one dog.

•Most owners own one dog (63%).
- More than one-third (37%) of dog owners own more than one dog.

More Than Just a Fencing Business, a Dog Training Business as well
You receive a lot more than just learning how to effectively contain dogs; you learn how to make a living in the dog training business. There is a BIG difference. As a Contain-A-Pet Dealer you receive all the training protocols, business support and knowledge developed over the last 16yrs years (sic). In addition to becoming a Contain-A-Pet Dealer and a certified dog trainer the Contain-A-Pet dealer system includes branding, advertising and marketing help, sales training, add on products and more.

Many people dream of owning their own pet businesses and doing something they love, but very few actually take the step to make it happen. If you are ready to stop dreaming, and start working to achieve this goal, we invite you to contact us for more information today. Visit containapet.org dealer section or call 1-800-777-3647.

Compensation: its (sic) up to you

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Although writing error-free ad copy is not a requisite for running a profitable dog training business, it certainly helps: How many readers would seriously consider becoming a first-time customer of a stranger who doesn’t bother to triple-check for such rudimentary errors as repeating words such as “yrs (spoken as ‘years’) years” and improper omission of a comma in a contraction in the phrase “it’s up to you,” in which the job poster improperly substituted the possessive form “its.” Did the job poster run this ad copy to marketing before going live? If so, then the marketing department should spend more time researching proper English punctuation and grammar.

The amount of hype in a “business opportunity” ad is directly proportionate to the risk entailed. The phrase “high-demand pet industry” has a dual meaning: Many pet owners err on the side of over-indulgence when purchasing supplies and amenities for their pets, but the pet services industry is so saturated that it takes tireless “high (effort) demand” networking to distinguish a given business from other pet service providers.

While around 40% of households in a given U.S. municipality are potentially immediate customers of a dog training service due to ownership of one or more dogs, many owners believe they have adequately trained their dogs. Someone who tries to convince them otherwise may be perceived as arrogant and pushy, and so most customers will be those who readily confess to insufficient training prowess.

Consider those dog owners who are already loyal to a trainer before you opened shop, and the likely market for your newly available dog training service is optimistically 20% of households. Before responding to this ad, ask whether your community has enough middle- and upper-class residents to support one more dog training service than the ones already listed in the phone book. You have to pay for start-up costs such as training, a basic inventory, and a business permit, so don’t quit your current job too soon. You could open a line of credit, but the interest will further reduce your potential profits.

Business maintenance costs are usually between $500 to $1,000 monthly due to commercial property rental, insurance, and utilities. Although the ad states, “Contain-A-Pet can be started and run from the comfort of your home with no need to lease commercial space,” many municipalities forbid residential properties to host walk-in businesses or other offline commercial activities requiring a business permit. Determining the code and permit requirements of your municipality is a must before opening any business so that you know whether the individual capital requirements of the business align with or exceed the legal requirements of your intended locale(s).

With all that in consideration, the “Contain-A-Pet” home page states that its business is “virtual(ly a) risk-free business to the motivated.” Really? What if a dog falls ill during a training lesson or if the good fence you installed falls onto and crushes the client’s flower bed? Such factors necessitate liability insurance which goes beyond simple premises insurance. Most business permits are contingent upon proof of such insurance.

Even shoe-shining services are not risk-free businesses despite having simpler operating models and lower overhead costs. To say that any business is “risk-free,” whether or not a qualifier such as “virtually” is applied, misleads at best and potentially violates the federal “truth in advertising” laws and regulations as enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.

Anonymous Firm Wants You to Shill to Your Friends & Family

http://madison.craigslist.org/csr/2830276388.html

"Telemarketers Needed (East Madison)

Date: 2012-02-01, 8:17PM CST

TOP Impact Marketing is now hiring energetic, outgoing individuals at our new Madison east location. Qualified individuals are motivated and able to generate leads through prospecting and cold calling. Must be able to perform 60 to 100 calls per week and rapidly begin to schedule appointments for our agents. People and sales skills are the most essential. Pay based on experience and or results. Please contact to set up an interview. Compensation: TBD"

Red flags: The product does not sell itself. If people aren’t banging down your door to buy your product or service, then you need a sales team which “builds relationships” with people to convince them that they need to buy something, and not just from anyone but from you. This is called “relationship marketing” and generally relies upon a large existing network of friends, family, and their friends in order to persuade a sale: They really don’t want it, or else they would come to you, but they’ll buy it primarily because you’re the one selling it and they trust you / want to make you happy.

What if your social network is small? Make a lot of acquaintances as quickly as you can. Because the friends you make are supposed to be your customers, you better have more in common with them than a love of whatever you’re selling (which the ad does not specify). This underscores the value of selling to family and lifelong friends: They’ll be most likely to understand that you consider them to be more than just a commission ripe for exploitation. Less thoroughly acquainted individuals might take offense that their latest acquaintance is trying to get them to upgrade their insurance coverage. Wallflowers and book worms need not apply!

The compensation is “to be determined.” This means that it might be 100% commission, or minimum wage without commission, or some combination thereof. The typical arrangement with small firms is to pay a wage during training but then take the new hire’s first $1,000 or so in commission to recoup the “training advance.” I suppose small businesses have to do this more often than national corporations because they have fewer revenue streams to pad temporary losses: Even with the initial wage repayment model, losses are high when salespeople quit before earning enough commission to repay their training wages. I believe most companies with this arrangement have a contractual clause stating that the employer may pursue civil relief against absconding trainees, as technically the wages paid during that period are unpaid debt until enough commission is earned.