Many jobbers are very happy and have built profitable businesses remaining small as wagon jobbers.
It is a very liberating position to be in when you can set your own hours (to a point) and don't have the added pressure of making payroll.
Not to mention the tax liberties and advantages one can use.
But what about growth? If you want to grow your business -- really grow your business -- you need more bodies.
You can't do everything yourself.
Now, there are a lot of jobbers who have previously worked in large companies, either in leadership roles or under lousy bosses and they may just not want to deal with employees and the headaches they bring -- I can certainly respect that.
However, if you want to grow your territory, it's a must.
So, what type of employee should I hire? This is an easy one.
A delivery driver -- and here's why...
When you're a wagon jobber, your core position is that of salesman, working you way from stop to stop selling your goods with a repeatable pattern: 1) go in and take the order 2) present new items 3) go out to the parking lot and fill the order 4) complete the invoice 5) go in and check in the products with the store clerk 6) merchandise the products,if applicable 7) leave to go to your next account.
This 7 step process takes time -- time you could be spending opening other accounts.
By employing one delivery driver, and yes they must be trustworthy, you're only required to complete 2 of the above mentioned tasks before leaving for another account.
My personal experience has shown acting as a wagon jobber I was able to service, on average, about 10 stores per day.
However, once I hired a delivery driver, I was able to service about 15 stores per day.
Your time is freed up to the point of allowing for much more growth -- that's 1/3 more business.