Sales Training Manual
Copy for sales rep manual for EUA NOVA fluorescent lighting
products, written by Richard Stewart
EUA NOVA
AND YOUWhen you sell EUA NOVA energy efficient fluorescent lighting
products, you help your customers and yourself. NOVA products
maximize both light output and energy savings in new construction,
renovation and retrofit. NOVA support programs help you win
more deals. By selling NOVA, you look good to your customers—
and you earn more.
This EUA NOVA Resource Manual is about YOU. It shows how
you can profit by representing NOVA in your market area. Our
reputation as a leader in reflector technology and our experience in
designing and manufacturing products for retrofit help you compete
in this growing market and get your share of retrofit profits. Our
Energy Conservation Series and INNOVATION! Architectural
Series give you new high-performance fluorescent lighting products
to help you capture a bigger slice of the $4 billion U.S. Commercial
and Industrial Lighting Fixture Market.
As a member of the NOVA network of independent representatives,
you join a nationwide team of lighting professionals who have fast
access to our factory sales, customer support, training, engineering
and manufacturing staffs. Our five U.S. sales regions are headed by
experienced sales managers, who have one primary job: provide you
with the selling tools, sales support and training in NOVA products
and programs you need to boost your earnings while helping us build
market share.
Our talent for bringing together the right people and the right
products has put us on the path to lighting industry leadership. Your
reputation as a lighting sales professional who can effectively represent
NOVA to architects, lighting designers, electrical engineers, specifiers
and distributors is what attracted us to you. We know a good thing
when we see one. Nova has been in the lighting business since 1975.
We are a division of EUA Cogenex (an accredited energy service
company) in the Eastern Utilities Associates family of companies.
This Resource Manual can help you organize the new product
bulletins and other information we send you. The binder will serve
as an easy NOVA reference. Section dividers contain information on:
Compensation--Read all about our aggressive commissioning levels,
bonus and incentive programs that make you more money--and our
no-waiting policy that pays you quicker. You earn more money on
every NOVA sale.
Hot Leads--Our hot sales leads sizzle. They're worth 10 times more
than the typical leads you get from other manufacturers. Why? We
spend time and money qualifying prospects so you don't have to. You
do the selling.
Spec Protector--Our designers thrive on innovations and
enhancements that set NOVA products apart from the competition.
These are things that can hold a spec when written into bid proposals.
You win more deals.
Customized Solutions--We started out in retrofit, so we had to learn
how to customize products to meet customer needs. Our flexibility here
is one of our greatest strengths. You can count on us to turn custom
work around fast.
Sales Training--Our national trainer comes to your doorstep to
demonstrate our features and benefits--and show you how to turn them
into competitive advantages that deliver more sales.
Customer Support--Our dedicated sales administration team and
other headquarters staff and managers are on call to provide any
information you need, quickly and efficiently. Our website makes
information available 24 hours a day.
You'll find more information on these topics on the reverse side
of the binder divider pages--details on how EUA NOVA products,
programs and policies can help make both you and us more successful.
Welcome to TEAM NOVA!
(compensation)
EARN MORE WITH NOVA
You can make more money selling EUA NOVA products than you can
selling most of the other lines that you represent. We know because
we've studied our competition carefully and, simply put, we've gone
them one better. Our commission levels, bonus programs and cash
incentives are set higher to reward good work with good pay.Our compensation program is one of the best in the industry. Our
aggressive commission plan offers higher percentages than most of our
competitors, based on competitive markdowns off list price. Plus, you
earn an additional 80% of every dollar that goes over our commission
cap in industry-leading overage plan. Bonuses and special cash incentive
programs, based on sales performance, help boost your earnings higher.
And for new reps, our EUA NOVA Quick-Start Program offers even
more income potential. Here's a run-down on how you can make your
NOVA connection pay off.
Commission Plan--Similar in structure to those of most other
manufacturers, our plan allows you to price NOVA products
competitively, yet still maintain a good level of commission. Based on
mark downs off list price, commissions are set at 5%, 7.5% and 10%
levels. We price our products aggressively and set markdowns so that
most NOVA reps have no trouble earning at the 7.5% and 10%
commission level on most sales.
Quick-Start Program--As an added incentive for new reps to hit the
road running, we offer an additional 5% bonus commission on all sales
at the 10% level made within 90 days of completing the initial NOVA
training. That's a total of 15% commission on all qualifying sales. Plus,
you still get earn any earnings from the overage plan.
Overage Plan--Where most other companies offer a 50%-50% or
60%-40% split of gross profits for any overage , our plan is 80%-20%.
You get 80% of the gross profit on everything you sell above the 10%
commission level. And since our pricing is very competitive, you have
an excellent chance of picking up those extra earnings on every sale
of EUA NOVA products.
Bonuses & Incentives--You'll have the opportunity to earn annual
and quarterly bonus for outstanding sales performance. Your Regional
Sales Manager will keep you informed about them and other sales
incentive programs we are running. In popular Spin-to-Win type
programs, every qualifying sale gives you a chance to spin a wheel and
win cash and prizes. Similar programs add fun and a competitive spirit
for TEAM NOVA lighting sales professionals.
Fast Payment--Most companies pay commissions after they get paid.
That serves to turn the rep into a collection agent. We don't do that. No
waiting 60 or 90 days for your money from NOVA. We value the
relationship we have with you and our other independent reps. That's
why we are committed to paying you in a timely manner, typically 30
days after we ship and bill the order.
In this Resource Manual, you'll find other EUA NOVA programs
designed to help you earn more money by providing an advantage over
the competition. These include our Project Financing Program (backed
by our parent EUA Cogenex) which provides financing even for projects
with minimal Nova product content. See more on this valuable program
in the Customer Support section.(compensation sidebar)
COMPARE THE EARNINGS
Bob J., a new EUA NOVA representative in Chicago, called on a
customer who needed more light output in an office building--without
spending a lot of money. Bob proposed our Easy-Fit System, a
standardized reflector kit designed to provide high performance in an
easy-to-install, economical retrofit. The package included 300 reflector
kits, which Bob priced at $10,000 ($500 above the 10% commission
cap, which qualified for 80% overage). Since the sale was within 90
days of his initial NOVA training, it qualified for the Quick-Start 5%
bonus on top of the standard 10% commission.He could have sold another manufacturer's reflector retrofit package
for this project. But the competitor's comparable product is priced
higher than the Easy-Fit System. To bring the price in around
$10,000, Bob would have had to take a significant markdown off
list. That would put the deal at the lowest commission level, which in
this case was 4% (compared with NOVA's lowest level of 5%). There
would be no overage to split with the manufacturer, either.The decision on which product to offer was easy. Earnings for both
are shown here:NOVA Easy-Fit System
Selling Price of $10,000Commission @ 10% of $9,500 (cap) 950
Quick-Start Bonus @ 5% of $9,500 475
Overage @ 80% of $500 400
___
Total earnings from NOVA package: $1825
Competitor's Retrofit Kit
Selling Price of $10,000Commission @ 4% of $10,000 $400
Total earnings from Competitor's package $400
Even without the Quick-Start bonus or the overage split, Bob still made
more than double by selling the NOVA product than he would have
selling the competition's.
HOT LEADS THAT SIZZLE
You can be sure every hot lead we send you has a good chance of making
money. That's because we screen and qualify everybody whose name
comes through our marketing department to determine who-what-where-
why-when and how much. We rate every lead--hot to cool--then pass all
the information on to you.Are you leery of so-called hot leads? Most independent reps rate the
majority of sales leads coming across their desks as worthless to nearly
worthless. Manufacturers pass on the names of people requesting literature
and call them leads. No attempt is made to qualify anybody beyond
requesting basic information on a form. As a result, the leads are about as
productive as cold-calling out of the phone book--not the best use of a
busy sales professional's time.
At EUA NOVA, our marketing department takes a more strategic
approach to lead generation. Before we ask you to spend time making sales
calls on our leads, we make sure they have some serious potential. So WE
follow up first. We call each potential prospect and ask a series of questions,
weighted to help us rate the responses. Any information that helps qualify
the person as a good prospect makes the lead more valuable.
In qualifying leads, our researchers work from a computerized customer
profile and entering responses to a multi-level questionnaire into our
Maximizer Sales Automation System. Level I information includes the
basics: name, address, phone number, type of prospect--archtect, engineer,
electrical distributor, contractor, specifier. Level II questions relate to the
type of products sold, territory covered, NOVA products and programs of
interest.
Level III asks about the company size, scope of projects, average size
of job and lighting portion, responsibility of the person being interviewed.
Level IV questions focus on a particular project of the prospect, asking for
details on the installation, lighting needed and other information that can put
you in a better position when you call on the prospect. The key is getting
as much detailed information about the prospect as we can--in much the
same way as you do when qualifying a hot prospect.
After the interview, the information is processed and the lead is rated
to indicates how likely the prospect is to buy NOVA products in a given
time frame. A personalized letter is sent along with literature, and the lead
information goes out to you and to your regional sales manager. Six months
later we'll run all hot leads against our closed-client list to track the ratio of
success.
We design our advertising to solicit direct response from prospects.
Special offers and incentives are include to encourage people to contact us
so we can add them to our database and attempt to qualify them as
prospects. Targeted mailings are sent periodically to the list (including
previous customers) to create awareness and generate interest in NOVA
products and more leads. The next hot lead you get from us might just
make your day--in a big way.(sidebar)
OUR HOT LEADS VS. THEIRS
Let's compare the value of a hot lead from EUA NOVA to one that comes
from a competing manufacturer. Using an average $10,000 order as a basis,
and the lowest commission level as a guide, we can calculate your income
on the sale. From NOVA, at 5%, you'll get a $500 commission; from the
competitor, typically at 4%, you'll get $400. But the comparison doesn't
end here. Read on.
With our qualified leads, we find that a rep can expect 10 sales out of
100 NOVA leads, on average, making each one worth about $50. But with
the unqualified leads that typically come in from manufacturers, a rep is
lucky to get one sale out of 100 leads. That makes each one worth about
$4 or less. The NOVA lead is worth at least 10 times more to you than the
typical leads you receive.NOVA LEAD
Commission on $10,000 @ 5%: $500
Payoff Leads (out of 100): 10Value of NOVA lead: $50
COMPETITOR'S LEAD
Commission on $10,000 @ 5%: $400
Payoff Leads (out of 100): 1Value of competitor's lead: $4
Copyright © 1998-2008 Stewart & Associates Communication Arts. All rights reserved.
