de pekel zitten
Posted: 7 October 2006 at 23:59:44
Iodynamics is, for a lack of better words, in a pickle.
A few weeks ago, we finally found our technical salesperson whom we had been searching for since May. We found a gentleman who had substantial experience in technical sales and, while not that knowledgable about open source software and Linux, knew enough about the kinds of I.T. problems companies face in today's world he could sell our products and services after taking some time to become familiar with our edge over traditional (AKA "Microsoft") approaches to problems.
We found out a couple days ago that our new salesman is quitting. Apparently, a company he'd been courting long before we talked to him, offered him an opportunity he couldn't turn away from.
I understand his decision and wish the guy the best, but it really does put us in a pickle.
Up until now, Iodynamics has managed to grow (quite well) without any dedicated sales personnel. Most of our business has come through word-of-mouth and referrals and such business contacts seem to remain loyal.
We decided in order to take our company to "the next level," we would need to start doing serious sales and marketing. Our first step was hiring a salesperson who would work with Chadd, Mike, and Dave (the partners with marketing background) to develop a sales and marketing thrust that would generate more business.
We realized in order to do this, we'd need some capital to fund our marketing efforts and pay a salesperson while they got up to speed and started making commissions. To accomplish this, we set up some business financing.
Once our salesperson was hired, we started dipping into that financing. Now we've got a balance on that debt and nothing to show for it. It's depressing and it kind of sours me on the whole idea of a hiring another sales person.