The Top 3 Ways to Market Commercial Energy

Can you smell it? The inviting aroma of energy dollars in your pocket. It’s not just for the giants in the industry anymore. No, it’s out there for all of us for the taking. But that’s just it. We have to take it.

With hundreds of suppliers entering the game of deregulation, they have opened their arms to individuals who are willing to go out there and “sell energy”. You might say, “I am not a salesman.”

No problem!

As you will see, there are many different ways you can get your slice.

You will have to decide on one or a combination of the following ways you would like to market Energy. There are really only three basic methods of moving products, and in this case the product of energy.

This is an hourly-based rate. For each hour you work, you receive a wage. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Did you know that 90% of Americans are accustomed to linear income? In this pay structure it becomes very difficult to get ahead because your cost of living requires you to work a certain amount of hours. There are only so many hours in a day!

There are many opportunities to secure a position or job with an energy company. First of all, you would have to follow the same steps anyone else would when applying for the position. This will consist of resumes and interviews…and as always… you will have to sell yourself.

You will need to keep in mind that the 40 hour work week is just a memory to most people these days who are working anywhere from 60 – 80 hours a week just to make ends meet. Keep in mind that even if you are making a few hundred dollars an hour, like most lawyers, you are still capped. How does someone have time to spend with their family when they are gone from home that long? The sad truth is they don’t. Since you get paid based on how many hours you work, when you stop the money stops. For this reason linear based income, whether it is with an energy company or not, is limited.

There are many definitions of direct sales, and the definition is ever evolving. Some people define it as the act of selling products away from a retail location, where products or services are offered on a one- on- one basis and sold directly by the salesperson to the consumer. Others define it based on function or how the salesperson works it whether they are selling door to door, doing party plans, or selling online.

For our purposes, we will define direct sales as a way of selling where the representative is compensated solely for their personal sales. In some compensation models once the sale is complete, the salesperson must move on to the next person and potential sale in order to continue to make money.

The most advantageous type of direct sales is to be paid residually month after month as long as the customer stays on the product or service. When you think of residual, think of doing the work once and getting paid over and over again. This along with up front commissions it quite lucrative. Earning income from residuals and up front bonuses will solidify your business and keep it stable in the long run.  It also means that you will be more than likely to stay with your company instead of constantly looking for the next great deal.

Building a substantial income in energy through the direct sales model is a real, viable option, especially with commercial accounts. Commercial energy makes up 68% of the market. There are many businesses today with giant accounts that don’t understand deregulation or the choices available to them through other suppliers!

Many people, both professional and those with no real sales experience are already engaging in this model successfully. While representing an energy company, a good sales rep can educate and offer the business owner a free analysis on the options available to them and completely change their bottom line. Think of it! Do you know anyone who is interested in going out, “building a book of business” as we like to call it (this just means you are gathering and closing energy accounts), with gas and electric customers and getting paid month after month on those accounts? The result is a win-win for the sales rep and the business owner. The sales rep is making great money and the business owner is saving money. This money drops straight to the bottom line and can be utilized to increase profits, save and add additional jobs, or help employers grow the business. Business owners, especially these days, are open to listening to how they can save money. The opportunity to save with little or no effort from their utilities is very attractive.

As you will see in the coming chapters, the degree to which the direct sales rep has maximum success financially is based on many factors including the process of analyzing the customer bills and the handling of the process, along with the compensation plan that accompanies their effort.

Affiliate Marketing, is different from direct sales in that now you can build a team of people all marketing the same product or service and make money not only on your efforts but the efforts of others. This is called leverage. When you refer others, you can draw commissions from not only what you sell, but also on sales of your referrals or affiliate partners. This concept was best said by J. Paul Getty, who created one of the world’s greatest fortunes,

I would rather make 1 percent on the efforts of 100 people than 100 percent on my own efforts.

It takes hard work to get your business to the point where you can rely solely on your team’s efforts for 100 percent of your income. As a matter of fact in the beginning it might feel like you are the only one working day and night to get it “over the hump”. But be encouraged, the price may be high, but the reward far outweighs the cost. The good news is that today there is a business opportunity that allows you to use the power of leverage without having to quit your current job. You don’t even need a large team developed before you begin enjoying the key advantages. A team of any size will put you in a position to profit. This is the power of Affiliate Marketing.

Most business opportunities require hundreds of thousands of initial upfront investment and tens of thousands or more monthly overhead. Traditional business models typically take 3-5 years to recover its initial investment and to even reach its break point. Minimal initial start-up costs, long ongoing residuals and fast profitability are just a few reasons Affiliate Marketing is so attractive.

Also, when you consider how advertising has evolved in just the last 20 years, this model rises to the top. Print is becoming extinct and electronic media has been split into hundred of thousands of outlets leaving the business owner confused as to where his message would be most effective. Today, many companies employ Word-of-Mouth marketing tactics to build their customer base. The advantages of overcoming customer resistance and the ease of using social media on the Internet make Word-of-Mouth marketing an important tool for businesses desiring to grow while spending fewer marketing dollars. We all know that people do business with people they know, like, and trust. When a buyer is referred to a product, they tend to trust someone who gives them a referral because they assume the person was happy with the product or service.

This Word-of-Mouth model is now considered a legitimate way to do business and is being recognized and endorsed by many business leaders.

Watch the video below to see why so many people are becoming energy agents with BidPoint.