Hi...im a newbie and need some help

[Damints]

Hi...i started a manufacturing business about 2 years ago.i manufacture candy. I was running a one man operations.never really had any and stil dont have any structures in place.but now after 2 years id like to change that.i teally hope somebody can help me.

Since it started becoming too much for me i decided to employ a sales rep. His only working for a week now.

1. How do i motivate him to increase sales.
2. How do i keep track of whatever he does.... like how many customers his seen... how does he spend the day....he uses his own personal car and i cover his fuel.he works for a basic plus commission. How do i keep track of his business mileage since i am paying the fuel. How do i know his using the fuel money for business only...
3.i really dont have an accounting background but from what i see i have made some money in my business. But now how do i structure things together.basically keeping track of finances.
4.since it is a manufacturing business how do i work the yield and keep track of inventory of raw materials and finished goods. Dont really have a budget now to invest in a manufacturing software
How do i keep track of it all manually.

Sorry for such a long post but really gope someone can help and probably il have plenty more questions in the future.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hope you wil help. Any help whatsoever.

[vangogh]

Welcome to the forum Damints. I'll do my best to help answer your questions.

1. Sales people often work for a percentage of the sales they make. You could offer a regular salary + a percentage of each sale or just the percentage of sales. That way the more he sales, the more money he makes. Reading your second question I see you do offer a commission on sales. If your employee isn't motivated to sell more when he earns a commission, you might need to find another sales person.

2. I doubt it's worth tracking every minute of his day, but you can certainly have him submit mileage logs and even a record of which customers he sees. On occasion you could call one of the customers and see if your sales person has visited like he says he has. At some point you just have to trust him and if you don't then it's time to find a different sales person.

3. I don't know enough about your business to know how to structure your finances. Why not hire an accountant to help you get things set up. If that will cost too much there's a lot of information online about accounting and finances. I would think there are courses online to show you the basics. Hopefully someone will post behind me with better information and details.

4. I'm probably not the best person to answer this question. Again, I don't know your business well enough. I would probably start by writing down everything you want to seep track of and seeing how much raw materials you have. Then check it daily or weekly or however often is necessary to keep track of what you still have on hand. I'd also keep a record of how many finished goods you've created.

Hopefully something in there helps.

[HomeBusinessMan]

1) Do a little research to motive sales people, but they usually respond really well to incentives. If they meet a sales goal, give them a bonus or reward.
2) Have him keep a log of his time and who he talked to. Have a meeting once a week to discuss any good or bad things and what else he may need to succeed. Show your appreciation for any sales.
3) Take a look at QuickBooks. I know that have a part in there for manufactures where job costs can be tracked. You don't need to get to complicated, just know where it's going.
4) QuickBooks can also help you with budgets.

I know you'll succeed with your written goals.

[turboguy]

If he is legally an employee you could ask for weekly reports of the calls and sales he has made. I would suggest a salary plus a commission as compensation. There is something about a direct reward for results that can really help motive a salesperson much more than a fixed amount.

You really need a good accounting program. You need to be able to track where you are and where you are going. If you don't know where you are and where you are going you are "lost" just as you would be in a woods if you didn't know where you are and where you are going.

[Fulcrum]

1) Everyone else covered this quite well.

2) Have the salesperson fill out reports and go over them with him weekly. If there's a weak spot, work with him to strengthen it. Give him time. It's hard to judge sales after just one week. Your other option would be to have him make the product while you are on the road selling.

3) Get yourself an accountant. This will pay for itself in the reduced stress alone.

4) The ever challenging part of batch production. Take your recipe and figure out the fixed costs (ingredients and labor) on a per batch basis. Determine how many batches you can make in 1 day/1 week/1 month. The yield will be directly related to your throughput. Keep a clipboard in your mixing area and write down your ingredient consumption and a 2nd clipboard in the packing area to record final product. Transfer to either Quickbooks or a spreadsheet for ongoing tracking.