Sales Person

[marcy]

Hi Everone i am just wondering if commision based work was still appealing to sale people?

[silklink]

I can't imagine why in this climate.

[Hedgebetter]

if you find anyone! Door to door, utilities.

[KateCB]

I think we may see a return to the old self-employed agent' type salesperson; one salesperson selling for several clients on commission - combined commission makes for a decent salary.

Employers are finding it hard to employ at even minimum wage at the moment, let alone fund a car, mobile, laptop and benefits, so I for one would consider somone selling for me 1 - 2 days a week on a commission basis - if the salesperson was good at what they did, 2 days for me, 2 days for someone else and a day for a third employer would hopefully solve their employment problem and three employers sales person problem!

[Business_No1]

I think commision is a very good driving force for someone to do Well. Most professional sales people will only work for Commision on top of a basic salary. Especially in the current climate as a few people have stated.

For

[marcy]

I also think that commision with the added basic wage is a good thing, but still can not find any one.
Will keep looking so if you are out there let us know?

cheers

[Esk247]

don't think i'd be any good at door to door sales...i have a face like alan sugar! it scares people and i never smile.

but yes...basic wage plus a top up with commission is the way to go! its just finding decent sales people..i mean..there are lots of people looking for work right now but i bet alot of them couldn't sell toffee and you'd be wasting your time and money.

[SmilePrint]

Hi Marcy,

It can be, in the absence of any more secure, or apparently, secure offer.

Comission only sales is a tricky one, as an employer/ business owner, I want to pay on results. Only results.

Unfortunately I've had too many timewasters, loafers, waifs and strays in my time to ever want to give anyone , who is not in my direct vision, a basic wage.

If someone isn't motivated to be with a customer at 9.00am to sell, then I don't want to be paying them to lie in, drink coffee and get into their car for 10.30. I'd be better served paying myself to do that!! Unfortunately I'm too busy earning cash (or trying to) to be so laid back.

Its the only model that works for any small business, unless you have grandad's inheritance to see you through 5 dud salesmen before you find the gem.

This route finds the gem fairly quickly.

Perform first, pay later.

If the role is selling a basic business commodity which is largely statistically predictable based on activity then comission only all the way. If the product is small ticket items with a success rate of 1 in 10, then no, no one is going to take you up.

So,


it suits the business
it suits the rep if its a sellable product that will reward on activity
its non starter if it is low profit and asks unrealistic volume or if its high ticket and needs a long term relational approach to the sale.

Hope that helps.

Certainly helped me!!

[stevon]

Be very, very careful about who you hire. Set their conditions very, very tightly.

[marcy]

Thank you for that reply, really sounds like good advice. I am sure it will help me too.
Marcy

[Bondy_UK]

I also think that commision with the added basic wage is a good thing, but still can not find any one.
Will keep looking so if you are out there let us know?

cheers

I am actually quite surprised you cant find anyone if you are offering a basic + commission. What basic are you offering?
In my experience (and tbh it must have been 4 years now since I left sales) I wouldn't look at anything below about £16k basic and very good commission (at least match that again on average sales) with company car, mobile, etc or £20k-£25k without.

If they didn't offer this, in my eyes, they weren't serious about keep a long-term salesperson because 8 months down the line I would be looking for a better sales job.

You must be honest about expected targets (therefore OTE) and clear on the commission structure. That way the salesperson knows where they stand. For example, in one job hitting 25 sales a day was pretty easy, yet another it was hard to hit 10 a week. However, that 10 a week still earnt me more commission.


Door-to-Door has been mentioned here, but you haven't actually said what type of sales it is you are looking for. Having a quick look at your site, are you looking for someone to drop in (cold call) to schools to sell them, or are you actually looking for someone to sell them door-to-door?

Without being harsh, I can tell you now that nobody will sell those door-to-door. The reason being you are selling a set (book, toy & plan) for £8.99, which leads me to believe that after your business costs you will probably only pay £1 comission each.
On that basis, I would immediately look at that and say in order for me to make any decent amount of money, I would have to sell 3000 of them a month, which means 150 a day!
No offence, but I really dont think its possible with that product for one person. Even if you paid £2 each, thats 75 a day. Now this is my opinion, but with your average door-to-door salesperson, realistically you are probably only looking at 3 sales a day for those products.

On the other hand, if you are selling to schools, do they typically order a large quantity? how much is the average commission on those sales?

[telemax]

I've worked commision only before, it worked out very well because the commision was so high, and it was on a good, high value product. However if you are paying someone 50 - 100 pounds per sale, it's not enough to motivate a salesperson.

[MH1]

I've worked commision only before, it worked out very well because the commision was so high, and it was on a good, high value product. However if you are paying someone 50 - 100 pounds per sale, it's not enough to motivate a salesperson.

I used to run large door to door sales teams, up to 300 at a time, and never paid more than £15 per sale. My "average" sales guys were earning £35k per year, so as mentioned before, the amount is down to several factors.

The product or service has to be able to bear the cost, the amount has to be a sensible figure, by the same token you should not pay so much that targets can be hit without some hard work involved, otherwise too many people work for a day or two and then stop.

My biggets problem was finding people who wanted and needed to earn large amounts, when someone has been earning £200 a week in a factory for 40hr weeks, and suddenly they can earn this amount in a day, it becomes a problem to get them to work 4-6 days a week.

The real hard workers, or the greedy types for a better word, are as rare as hens teeth. In my 300 odd team I had a hardcore five man team, who week in week out always came top in the sales figures, my best guy came top every week, even when he was away on two weeks holiday. He earnt £65k PA.

[marcy]

Hi,
Lots to think about and yes you are right the commision looks very weak when you break it down like that but £1 would not be a realistic offer to any working person. However, schools do buy in bulk and the commision is very good, especially since they also have a wage to, anyway problem solved now found someone really good background, and will be working alongside me. but thank you for posting your thread.

Thanks

[SmilePrint]

Glad to hear that

Good luck.

Brendan

[Deliberator]

2 sides to sales imo;

Basic plus............can get you the plodder who will do as much as they need to do to pay their bills / live how they want / reach targets etc..., but harder to find someone who will always push push push. You can however find very high quality personnel this route, who ensure lasting relationships with the client, long term business and a very good reputation for your company.

Comm only..........can get you the animal who makes a lot of money for you in the short to medium term, but you need to reign in in terms of quality, reputation for your company etc.... There is however the person who finds comm only works well for themselves and they produce consistently whilst alos keeping up the reputation side too.

I personally believe that the service or product to be sold should determine the salary structure, not the other way around.