Introduction
in short, this really goes down to how your company’s designed period. If you think about the design of your company, typically an SEP means that you have one person in your company who is an appointment setter. There is another person who is more of the face-to-face salesperson.
B2B
When you think of business-to-business sales, the business model has changed significantly in the past two years, many companies that used to do only face-to-face selling out in the field have been able to change their model to where a significant portion of the sales process actually takes place in house.
Software, for example, has been sold on an SEP model for years. Very infrequently will software sales people leave an office for a face-to-face meeting, especially if the deal size is very small, say less than $5,000 annually.
Non-Profits
As far as nonprofit businesses are concern, I think nonprofit businesses would benefit tremendously by having an SEP program inside their company. If they have a large database of donors or need to develop a large database of prospective donors, an SEP program would be fantastic for this. The SEP program identifies high potential donors. Then the nonprofit can send a person out to have a face-to-face meeting with the donors.
B2C
I think SEPs will work quite well in certain industries. If you think about lawn care or routine maintenance, for example, these are great examples of business to consumer companies that would benefit. Of course, loans, mortgages and refinancing companies are well-established in this space.
Where an SEP Won’t Work
Where I don’t think it would work very well are going to be B2C companies that cater more to impulse purchases where there is not a whole lot of nurturing or even brand awareness before a purchase is made.
In Closing
In business to business sales business, to consumer sales, or you’re a nonprofit, I think an SEP program would be an excellent place for you to start and restructure your company.