Have you gone back to the businesses you've sold to to see how much traffic or actual $ sales have been brought in by your service? If there is a measurable and verifiable ROI for them, you have a powerful lever moving into new markets. Those testimonials would be priceless.
What I would think about is recruiting commission-only sales persons in new markets rather than trying to go manage them yourselves. Likely, you'd use other college students. Start with another local school so you can jump in if necessary. Write up a 'how-to' guide with marketing materials for the prospects, and then look for self-starters who will go do the selling on commission only. Do some training. If they are empowered with testimonials from businesses who have seen a real return, they will find it as easy to sell as you did.
So the question is: can a single sales rep, likely a college student themselves, make enough money selling ads for you that it would be worth their while?
The goal is to get cash coming in without having to spend any to get it started.
What I would think about is recruiting commission-only sales persons in new markets rather than trying to go manage them yourselves. Likely, you'd use other college students. Start with another local school so you can jump in if necessary. Write up a 'how-to' guide with marketing materials for the prospects, and then look for self-starters who will go do the selling on commission only. Do some training. If they are empowered with testimonials from businesses who have seen a real return, they will find it as easy to sell as you did.
So the question is: can a single sales rep, likely a college student themselves, make enough money selling ads for you that it would be worth their while?
The goal is to get cash coming in without having to spend any to get it started.