I am looking into becoming an ADT sales person. I hear they have two separate divisions, one the residential and the other, small business. Can anyone tell me if the promises I have been told are true, or is it all bull? I hear 45,000 your first year is realistic. Is this true? Are leads provided? Any help with my decision would be a great help. Thank you!
Is this an ADT corporate SSO, or an "authorized dealer"?
This would be working directly for ADT though one of it's field offices that services a specific teritory and market. I am leaning towards the residential market, but I am open to any suggestions.
ADT has several sales divisions including residential, small business, core commercial, national retail accounts, national commercial/ industrial accounts, and federal systems.
Residential and small biz are high volume sales jobs with commission-only compensation plans. Your income depends on your results. I know resi salespeople who make 100K a year. However $40K or $50K a year is realistic for someone that is making quota. Most salespeople in these divisions don't make it and turnover tends to be high. ADT provides a decent stream of leads. However, successful salespeople generate their own leads.
The core commerical sales department is the first level B2B sales position usually requiring a college degree and/or previous professional sales experience. These reps sell to locally based midsize to large businesses in most any industry. A good percentage of the sales in this division come from non-alarm technologies such as access control and video systems.
ADT's national accounts and federal system sales divisons employee account managers with prior experience in big ticket B2B sales and/or management experience in the industry they are selling to. A very high percentage of ADT's revenue comes from these national account and government contracts.
J., Thanks very much for the insight. I have a degree and B to B sales experience. I wonder if it's too late to start asking about the core business group, or might I make a move after 6 months of small business sales. Is there a career track, or are you lucky to survive 6 months in the small business sales group? I don't mind putting in a 10 hour day consistently, a 12 hour day when necessary provided I can make a decent living. Thanks very much for your help.. much appreciated.
ADT Corporate Sales and Service Offices have one sales force divided into several Categories and sub-categories:
Residential Regular Sales Resi Resale
-Some SSO's pass these "Resi" sales to an "authorized dealer" to install
Core Commercial Sales Core Commercial Resale National Accounts
Small Business Sales Small Business Resale
Usually, Small Business and Core Commercial are installed by local SSO personnel- in our SSO, they are IBEW union installers & svc. techs. Some small business accounts are done by "high volume" installers who get paid piecework and rush through it. Small Business has a much higher customer turnover than Core Commercial.
Our SSO turned over all resi stuff to our in-house "dealer" company who installed those. They are good folks, but like all subs, they get paid by volume, so quality is not as good as the Com'l union techs. Resi customer turnover is also very high. Residential sales works lots of evening and Saturdays. A good resi or resi resale rep can make 60-80k, but you will be working A LOT.
Core Commercial has less turnover, bigger income potential, and is very difficult to learn well. Core Commercial Resale is the easiest job in the building (IMO), but income is limited by the amount of accounts available to reconnect. If your SSO has just gotten started with CC Resale, it can be very lucrative in the short term. Long-term, expect to make $45-50k/yr if you work smart, and upsell well. Although CC Resale is easy, knowing the CC systems takes time and patience. There's a lot to learn with Com'l, but the payoff is worth it. The hours are better, too, since large businesses are usually 9-5 M-F.
Our reps made about $45k/yr at quota, but some reps made more, especially if they were very knowledgable and good salespeople. We had a few- mostly Core Commercial Reps- who made $80k/yr or more. We had a high turnover- less than half of salespeople hired could make quota within a year. The successful ones tend to feed each other leads- networking within the company is very important. For instance, our highest producing Core Com'l person traded leads with 2 or 3 Small Business reps. The company provides a few leads, but
90% of your sales will come from producing your own- you can't make it on company leads alone.
I can't tell you if you'd be successful as a small biz rep. To me the core commerical position is the entry level professional B2B sales position within the company for someone with the right credentials. It offers a base salary and a fairly well defined career path into national account sales or into management. Successful commercial reps are able to communicate with prospects to define potential risks and then match products and services to address these risks. The systems can be fairly complex, so an ability to understand and apply technogical concepts is helpful.
ADT uses monster.com to post sales positions. Here's the description for the Core Commercal Sales Rep job:
As a Commercial Sales Representative, you will be expected to create new market share and penetrate territories. You will be responsible for promoting and selling ADT services and technology in a territory management strategy, leveraging relationships and closing new business for ADT. You will also secure profitable package sales and upgrades to new ADT Commercial customers and a large existing customer base, while maximizing customer satisfaction and retention by initiating post installation follow-ups.
ADT is seeking an ambitious results oriented individual with a proven sales record and an entrepreneurial spirit. Candidates must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills with a ?do whatever it takes? approach. This role requires you to use a consultative sales approach to help determine solutions for commercial customers.
QUALIFICATIONS
- 2-5 years of B2B sales experience
- HS Diploma or GED required; Bachelors degree preferred
- Valid drivers license with clean driving record
- Ability to work a full time schedule
- Available to local travel, nights and weekends to accommodate the customer?s agenda
ADT offers a unique, fast-paced environment that not only fosters individual growth, but it also recognizes results and pays for them. ADT employees enjoy a variety of benefits:
- Flexible hours
- Opportunity for leads
- Trips and rewards
- Medical/dental insurance
- 401(k) and employee stock purchase plans
- Tuition reimbursement
- Car allowance
- Base Salary plus Commission Compensation (where applicable)
- And much more!
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