kebertt
Junior Member
- Aug 17, 2011
- 134
- 38
I've been in the process of creating a local cell phone recycling business. As of lately I've been scouring the classifieds finding individuals who are willing to sell their phones for a good deal. My next step is to reach a whole new target market - the audience that doesn't know how much their old, broken, or damaged cell phones are worth, or aren't motivated to sell them. I plan on advertising through Facebook, and am considering radio advertisements. I will also be running deals and coupons to encourage the trade-ins. But I'm stumped.
I want to hire an employee, which means I will be transforming my business idea into an LLC, but I don't know how to automate some aspects of the business.
What I have considered is getting an employee to work out of an office to manage inquiries about trade-ins, and set up meeting times. This employee will handle all Facebook messages, text messages, phone calls, emails, and other small tasks that need to be done from everyday business. They will be trained on how to figure out what prices we can purchase cell phones at and will be paid hourly + % commission of a sale. Along with this, they will also meet with customers to purchase their phones.
What I am having trouble with is understanding how the public will respond to going out of their way to get cash for their phones vs. having my company come to them to purchase them. Do you think this is a good way to handle my employee? Should I even bother getting an office, and just have them work from home? I like the idea of having a physical location, but I think that in most cases it would be more ideal to meet clients rather than giving them my office location, especially because it would be a shared office and difficult to find. One thing I am worried about is having my employee purchase phones for themselves through my marketing. I don't want them to profit through my hard work. Is there any contracts I can have written up in order to prevent this?
Just looking for your insight, I know a lot of you are good at scaling and automating even the most difficult tasks. Once I have the devices in my hand I know where I am going to sell them, it's just the task of receiving them that I am having trouble figuring out.
I want to hire an employee, which means I will be transforming my business idea into an LLC, but I don't know how to automate some aspects of the business.
What I have considered is getting an employee to work out of an office to manage inquiries about trade-ins, and set up meeting times. This employee will handle all Facebook messages, text messages, phone calls, emails, and other small tasks that need to be done from everyday business. They will be trained on how to figure out what prices we can purchase cell phones at and will be paid hourly + % commission of a sale. Along with this, they will also meet with customers to purchase their phones.
What I am having trouble with is understanding how the public will respond to going out of their way to get cash for their phones vs. having my company come to them to purchase them. Do you think this is a good way to handle my employee? Should I even bother getting an office, and just have them work from home? I like the idea of having a physical location, but I think that in most cases it would be more ideal to meet clients rather than giving them my office location, especially because it would be a shared office and difficult to find. One thing I am worried about is having my employee purchase phones for themselves through my marketing. I don't want them to profit through my hard work. Is there any contracts I can have written up in order to prevent this?
Just looking for your insight, I know a lot of you are good at scaling and automating even the most difficult tasks. Once I have the devices in my hand I know where I am going to sell them, it's just the task of receiving them that I am having trouble figuring out.
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