MegaChess - Careers with MegaChess

Careers with MegaChess

We are looking for people who want to combine their passion for chess and the internet with what they do for a living.

We are currently expanding our sales organization, looking for experienced marketeers to telecommute, which means you can be anywhere you find a reliable internet connection. Based on what has worked for us, we have a peculiar way to bring people aboard.

First and foremost, we are interested in specialists, marketeers who wish to become the "chess person" within a market segment, not generalists who are happy to talk to anyone about chess. We are looking for marketeers experienced in the specialized market segment they choose, including the distribution channels that serve that segment.

If you were hoping for a place where you could just drop off your resume and hope for the best, ask yourself how well that has been working out.

We have a different approach.

Within your chosen specialty, we will expect you to perform all the sales and marketing services required to command a market segment. This includes market research, developing sales strategies, telemarketing, and closing sales, that is, a comprehensive, well-rounded sales & marketing person who can take charge and drive themself.

Because the work will be across the internet, we need marketeers with excellent written communication skills. Your sales prospects will usually be on the other end of email and the occasional phone call, so you can have a disability preventing you from making in-person sales calls, but you must be able to communicate clearly and effectively.

Q: Is this position open to an established salesrep?

A: A salesrep already selling synergistic products to a target market segment would be an ideal candidate.

Our application process requires you to research your chosen target market and to produce a short report defining that market and your marketing plan for that market. This takes the place of the face-to-face interview, and takes about as long. This is the way we determine your understanding of your chosen market segment and your ability to communicate. Count on an hour or so to research your chosen market segment and submit your application, but only 20 minutes for the telephone interview at the end of which we will make a hiring decision. That decision will be based mostly on your application. The good news is that everyone who applies our way gets a human from MegaChess to respond.

We offer a combination of a $10/hr hourly rate and a 10% sales commission. The hourly rate should be considered a bare-bones draw to help you get started. Most of your income should come from sales commissions, in fact, an inability to transition to significant sales commissions means we have a career mismatch. For a full-time marketeer, that should approach six figures per year, though we are happy to take on part-timers who can produce in proportion.

Q: Where did we get the $10/hr?

A: Basically, it's just a round number and simple to compute. What we do is assign sales & marketing tasks with a number of authorized hours for each task. We look at a 4-hour task as a $40 task. Since this is a teleworking job, we do not know nor care if that takes you 4 hours or 2 hours. If you take 8 hours because of an extended learning curve, you earn only $5/hr. If you complete the same task in an hour because of your experience and proficiency, you earn $40/hr — plus commission.

To proceed, please review our comprehensive specialty list to follow. This represents the market segment of existing MegaChess customers, but segments we have yet to develop with any outbound marketing. We can accept applications focused on only one specialization. We typically need only one person per specialty.

Airports: Airports have purchased MegaChess sets, primarily the soft plastic ones. We understand delayed flights mean they need to provide cheap entertainment using products without a potential to be turned into a weapons.
Apartments & Condominiums: Our Word for Apartment & Condominium Managers page presents some of the benefits of a large chess set for managers of multi-tenant apartments and condominiums.
Blankets: A children's bedding distribution network exists into which we should present the only known blanket forming a giant chessboard.
Bookends: A high-end bookend distribution network exists into which we should present the only known bookend formed from chess pieces. Consider how many chess books are sold.
Brochure Holders: A high-end brochure holder distribution network exists into which we should present the only known brochure holder formed from chess pieces.
Business Card Holders: A high-end business card holder distribution network exists into which we should present the only known business card holder formed from chess pieces.
Cafes: Cafes looking to build a resident customer base, as opposed to the ones processing customers through, buy the smaller teak MegaChess sets as a way to encourage visitation and to resell them.
Campgrounds: Our Word for Campground Managers page presents some of the benefits of a large chess set for managers of public and private campgrounds, including franchises.
Casinos: Casinos have a gaming theme and buy MegaChess pieces for decorations.
Chess Clubs: Our Word for Chess Clubs page presents some of the benefits of a large chess set for managers of chess clubs, along with some initiatives we have to support them, particularly those that put on tournaments.
Colleges & Universities — Hired —: Our Schools page presents some of the benefits of a MegaChess set to the K-12 public and private schools, one of our largest markets. We need to expand that to colleges and universities.
Construction Materials: A construction materials distribution network exists where building contractors can find the prefab products they need. To that market, we need to present our Mega Deco product line.
Costumes & Hats: A costume distribution network exists into which we should present the only known chess hats and tunics.
Cruise Ships: Cruise ship lines buy large chess sets as part of their guest recreation assets.
eBay: eBay and the other online auctions present an opportunity to sell MegaChess products, but our resale arrangements would make it awkward to sell there directly. Preferred would be to develop a marketeer selling there under their own name. This opening is different from the others listed here.
Furniture Tables: A furniture distribution network exists into which we should present our glass chess tables.
Gag Gifts: A gag gift distribution network exists into which we should present the only known beer chess set.
Game Retailers: We have a well developed reseller program but have yet to mount a serious marketing campaign to the US game retailers.
Golf Courses: Golf courses in inclement climates suffer from canceled tee times and buy MegaChess sets to give patrons a reason to grumble less.
Home Decorators: Our Word for Home Decorators page presents some of the benefits of a large chess piece for home decoration. We have a need for a marketeer to present that to home decorating businesses (not individual home decorators).
Homeowner Associations: Much like apartment managers and resort operators, homeowner associations buy MegaChess sets for their joint recreational facilities.
Hotels & Motels: Our Word for Hotel & Resort Managers page presents some of the benefits of a large chess set for hotels and resorts. This opening focuses on roadside motels and hotels for travelers.
Lamps: Several customers have bought MegaChess pieces, drilled them to insert lamp hardware, and made decorative table lamps. A distribution network exists into which we should present the only known blanks for making chess lamps.
Landscape Contractors: Our Word for Contractors page presents some of the benefits of a large chess set for building contractors in general and landscape contractors in particular. When landscape contractors propose to enhance property, they need a way to stand out from among all the proposals.
Libraries: Struggling for relevance in the internet age, libraries buy MegaChess sets as part of their community outreach programs, because of the association of chess to intelligence and learning, and to support their children's rooms.
Military — Hired —: All military bases have a recreation facility, sometimes many of them. These are the places that need a MegaChess set.
Party and Event Planners: Our Word for Party/Event Planners page presents some of the benefits of a large chess set for the people and organizations who plan parties and events like corporate meetings, product rollouts, sales conferences, etc. This also addresses the businesses renting party equipment for such events.
Photo Props: Our Word for Photographers and Prop Managers page presents some of the benefits of a large chess pieces as props for professional photographers. This covers the agencies and rental companies supplying those props.
Physical Therapy: Physical therapists face the ongoing problem of encouraging the partially mobile to get out of their wheelchair and exercise. They buy the plastic MegaChess sets to encourage that.
Plaster Figures: An art community exists around the painting of plaster figures and forms of all kinds, and MegaChess provides the only complete line of plaster chess piece blanks for this purpose. This opening covers the retailers, supply houses, and distributors servicing such artists.
Posters: A poster distribution network exists into which we should present our chess posters.
Prisons: The nation's prisons, whether municipal, county, state, or federal, have programs to direct inmates toward wholesome recreational opportunities. MegaChess presents several benefits to be part of such programs, including the harmless nature of our soft plastic chess pieces.
Public Parks & Recreation Departments: Our Word for Parks & Recreation Dept Managers page presents some of the benefits of a large chess set for the park and recreation departments of government agencies, whether municipal, county, state, or federal.
Resorts: Our Word for Hotel & Resort Managers page presents some of the benefits of a large chess set for hotels and resorts. This opening deals with resorts that are a destination, not just a roadside hotel or motel.
Schools: One of our largest markets, our Schools page presents some of the benefits to public and private schools of a MegaChess set. This covers the K-12 community.
Shopping Malls: Our Word for Shopping Malls page presents some of the benefits to a shopping mall of displaying a MegaChess set to increase shopping traffic.
Tikis: A tiki distribution network exists, along with its island culture, into which we should present our chess tikis
Topiaries: Garden topiaries exist for almost all forms, and MegaChess provides the only complete line of chess topiaries. The topiary community purchases topiaries through gardening channels such as nurseries which do not yet have MegaChess participation.
Toy Stores: We have a well developed reseller program but have yet to mount a serious marketing campaign to the US toy stores.
Trophy & Award Makers: Our Word for Trophy & Award Makers page presents some of the benefits to a retailer making trophies and awards to use MegaChess pieces as part of the trophies and or awards they produce. This opening includes the distribution channel they buy through.
Tile & Marble Contractors: Our Word for Contractors page presents some of the benefits of a large chess set for building contractors in general and tile & marble contractors in particular. The ideal applicant would come with a hands-on understanding of how the business of tile & marble contracting works and be an experienced member of this community.
Other: We are open to other market segments. All you need do when you fill in your application is to define that market segment as a specialty showing its potential and your understanding of it.

Our preference is that you use the above forms instead of email or phone.

Specialties marked with a star are our "Top 10". Those have particularly high market potential, but our hiring evaluation criteria for those is also high.