Commission only Sales people?

M

magnustrading

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with dealing with them in terms of contract, is 20% enough or too much comms on my products? ,expenses paid to them by company? Because if they sold a website, it would net them 100 in pocket, I think thats a good deal

I'll let you in a brief of what I was doing, I was attempting to recruit a number of sales people on comms only contracts, I did get like 78 CVs for the posts however most of them to be honest were crap and it wasn't worth sending out the paper or wasting stamps on them.

So then I rethought the idea, what I've been doing since I've a small time renegade pirate operation sort of fare is been merely working in London., trail and error only been n business for a shot period of time. What I wanted to eventaully was revise the model, in reality I was not going to send any help to those comms only agents which in hindsight was folly because most to be fair were low quality cannon fooder would of been a numbers game with them, so I decided to wait.

The end plan was to focus on large cities, have appointments set for them, lets say a decent appointment setter could get at least 1 appointment per day in that area, then it would be much more worth while, rather then leaving them to their own devices. Then there's the trust issue and even possible mess up when meeting clients, I don't have too much confidence in people.

Is this viable plan or too complicated to get to work? In the ideal world?
 

Psl

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IMO and some experience the only successful commission only sales guys are sharks, they scam sales and lie to potential clients. You need to offer some sort of basic wage to attract a winner. If you can't then you need to save more.


That has to be the biggest load of BS I have ever read but then it is just your opinion. Your website on the other hand is awesome.
 
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RadiusBPO

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That has to be the biggest load of BS I have ever read but then it is just your opinion. Your website on the other hand is awesome.

I may just be unqualified to find a good guy or too impatient. But I've either had no sales or people who have been made stupid promises.

PS thanks for the comment - It cost £20 from themeforrest :D
 
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Psl

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I was wondering if anyone had any experience with dealing with them in terms of contract, is 20% enough or too much comms on my products? ,expenses paid to them by company? Because if they sold a website, it would net them 100 in pocket, I think thats a good deal

I'll let you in a brief of what I was doing, I was attempting to recruit a number of sales people on comms only contracts, I did get like 78 CVs for the posts however most of them to be honest were crap and it wasn't worth sending out the paper or wasting stamps on them.

So then I rethought the idea, what I've been doing since I've a small time renegade pirate operation sort of fare is been merely working in London., trail and error only been n business for a shot period of time. What I wanted to eventaully was revise the model, in reality I was not going to send any help to those comms only agents which in hindsight was folly because most to be fair were low quality cannon fooder would of been a numbers game with them, so I decided to wait.

The end plan was to focus on large cities, have appointments set for them, lets say a decent appointment setter could get at least 1 appointment per day in that area, then it would be much more worth while, rather then leaving them to their own devices. Then there's the trust issue and even possible mess up when meeting clients, I don't have too much confidence in people.

Is this viable plan or too complicated to get to work? In the ideal world?

£100 per deal - not worth it even with expenses paid. Get a PAYE slave sales person and all the c**p that comes with them or up your commission by at least 100%.
 
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firstmarket

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I may just be unqualified to find a good guy or too impatient. But I've either had no sales or people who have been made stupid promises.

PS thanks for the comment - It cost £20 from themeforrest :D

It's rare you'll find a seo or web design company that runs a successful team of sales agents. It's one of those industries that doesn't lend itself to the model.
 
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Psl

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I may just be unqualified to find a good guy or too impatient. But I've either had no sales or people who have been made stupid promises.

PS thanks for the comment - It cost £20 from themeforrest :D

£20 :eek:
Running commission only sales peeps is hard work and yes some do come out with some BS but it has they are trained and what product knowledge they are given and already have that is the key.

I have had commission only sales peeps tell me that they don't need any training and they have failed miserably thereafter.:)
 
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I need to get some old school timeshare salesmen in

They wouldn't get out of bed for less than 3 k per deal

As someone who is strongly involved with Web site sales you will NEVER find a good salesman who will work for £100 per completed sale. If you were selling a site for £10k with a commision of £2k, plus a reccuring 20% monthly commision on SEO then you'd be in the ball park.
 
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M

magnustrading

They wouldn't get out of bed for less than 3 k per deal

As someone who is strongly involved with Web site sales you will NEVER find a good salesman who will work for £100 per completed sale. If you were selling a site for £10k with a commision of £2k, plus a reccuring 20% monthly commision on SEO then you'd be in the ball park.

well that was just for a basic website, 20% of a e-comms website is going a load more, it's 20% of whatever they sell :D

But I think your right, you got a pay to get the best sometimes. I'll need to study that in further detail, have to make it worth while enough to get some good sales men in. Will have to go with the cannon fodder Cobra group approach.

Got to be more realistic, the old saying peanuts/monkeys :D
 
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captaincloser

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IMO and some experience the only successful commission only sales guys are sharks, they scam sales and lie to potential clients. You need to offer some sort of basic wage to attract a winner. If you can't then you need to save more.

So much for your 'experience' then. Get out more would be my advice.

Offer a basic and get loads of losers more like who will tailor their lifestyle to the 'basic'.

A 'winner '. Please define winner when it comes to sales.
 
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RadiusBPO

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So much for your 'experience' then. Get out more would be my advice.

Offer a basic and get loads of losers more like who will tailor their lifestyle to the 'basic'.

A 'winner '. Please define winner when it comes to sales.

How would getting out help anything? And get out of what?

Most of the good sales guys I've talked to get a nice basic + very good commission.

Winner = someone who closes a lot of deals. Not that hard to workout to be fair.. So do you have anything other than trolling to contribute to this thread?
 
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captaincloser

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How would getting out help anything? And get out of what?

Most of the good sales guys I've talked to get a nice basic + very good commission.

Winner = someone who closes a lot of deals. Not that hard to workout to be fair.. So do you have anything other than trolling to contribute to this thread?

So sorry, didnt realise first time round you were one of the SEO experts on YKBF.


I have been in commission only sales all my life, am not a conman and stongly resent the inference in your posts. I have made a fabulous income, traveled widely with work have a ton of friends in sales and laugh, yes laugh at posts and attitudes like yours.

Commission only salespeople do not have any requirement to justify anything to SEO experts, trust me on that one.

As for trolling..well, well, ....If you can only get kicks from abusing people on UKBF then you are clearly not getting out enough
 
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RadiusBPO

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So sorry, didnt realise first time round you were one of the SEO experts on YKBF.


I have been in commission only sales all my life, am not a conman and stongly resent the inference in your posts. I have made a fabulous income, traveled widely with work have a ton of friends in sales and laugh, yes laugh at posts and attitudes like yours.

Commission only salespeople do not have any requirement to justify anything to SEO experts, trust me on that one.

As for trolling..well, well, ....If you can only get kicks from abusing people on UKBF then you are clearly not getting out enough

Yep one of them.

IF you're successful then good but you're one of the few IMO and experience.

And when did I ask you to justify yourself?? I didn't. But if I was hiring someone of course they should justify themselves. What's your problem with SEO experts?

I didn't abuse anyone on here, you're the one abusing me and it's unfounded.
 
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firstmarket

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I've read a number of posts regarding commission sales during my brief time as a member on these forums. I have to say there does seem to be a tendency from SEO and Web Designers to dismiss commission only sales as chancers or cowboys. However, at the same time judging by the number of posts from companies in the same sector requesting them it is obviously a highly sought after requirement. I suspect they've come across these cowboys because they have tried to use commission sales as a substitute or cheaper alternative to PAYE.

As I said previously it's very rare that Web Design and SEO lends itself to this kind of sales usually because of the low transaction value in a highly competitive arena. I often see rates of £100.00 per sale being waved about for Web Design. These figures are not going to attract motivated sales people. Rather, people that are looking for a cushy PAYE role but have been deemed unsuitable.

There are some excellent commission sales agents out there but in order to find them they need to be rewarded accordingly. They are not a quick fix for companies that cannot afford to fund a sales team.

And finally, if you do come across them it will be your company that is being interviewed by the sales person to determine if you're suitable and not the other way round
 
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captaincloser

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IMO and some experience the only successful commission only sales guys are sharks, they scam sales and lie to potential clients.

Erm...abuse ?? Try the above for size.

I am a successful commission only sales guy, I am not in any minority, have two files of testimonials and resent, though expect, stuff like this on UKBF.

Fortunately my bank balance has allowed me to overlook the bad press.:)
 
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captaincloser

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I've read a number of posts regarding commission sales during my brief time as a member on these forums. I have to say there does seem to be a tendency from SEO and Web Designers to dismiss commission only sales as chancers or cowboys. However, at the same time judging by the number of posts from companies in the same sector requesting them it is obviously a highly sought after requirement.


There are some excellent commission sales agents out there but in order to find them they need to be rewarded accordingly. They are not a quick fix for companies that cannot afford to fund a sales team.

And finally, if you do come across them it will be your company that is being interviewed by the sales person to determine if you're suitable and not the other way round

This is an excellent and post and sums it up for me with regard to SEO companies. Always the first on here to knock comm only and yet the highest category of poster in PPH and other sites looking for comm only salesmen.

There are 2 types of comm only salespeople. They are the best in sales and the worst The best cannot be bothered with 'basics' , salaries etc because the proof is in the pudding and if you are selling something good then go the whole hog and take all the risks. Then there are the worst salesmen..who are also comm only...because they cannot get a paid job and also because they are attracted to the bottom of the can employers who cannot afford a traditional sales team and want mugs to take their risks for them. These are never, never, never, commission only opportunities.

Going comm only is actually the CHOICE of the salesperson NOT the company. Firstmarket is 100% correct. I have never allowed anyone to interview me for comm only work. I interview them..any truck and I am off-every time

80% of the time we both win because I am very good at recruiting my work..:).
 
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RadiusBPO

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Clarification here, my offer was 1st months payment on any SEO work picked up, this means £250min normally around £500. Also tried smaller packages which we thought would be easier to sell at £99pm so the sales guy would get £99min. But like you say SEO and Webdesign (I don't do design) is probably the main category of company looking for comm only and from what you have said I was right in my opinion that they are normally sharks. Thanks for that.

Another thing, if someone is hiring you to represent their company you of course are being interviewed but they are probably better at stroking your ego than I am.
 
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captaincloser

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Another thing, if someone is hiring you to represent their company you of course are being interviewed but they are probably better at stroking your ego than I am.
Showing not only knicker elastic here ! If you hire comm only people you are hiring agents not employees so as with the rest of your posts in this thread - you are almost totally inaccurarate in what you say
:)
 
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RadiusBPO

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Showing not only knicker elastic here ! If you hire comm only people you are hiring agents not employees so as with the rest of your posts in this thread - you are almost totally inaccurarate in what you say
:)

You still haven't provided any meaningful info here yet other than SEO and Web Design doesn't work on comm only.....
 
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Montaigne

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IMO and some experience the only successful commission only sales guys are sharks, they scam sales and lie to potential clients. You need to offer some sort of basic wage to attract a winner. If you can't then you need to save more.
LOL I love that we get this criticism from someone who does SEO ROFLMAO.

I'm another commission only sales rep' but rather than represent one firm I act as a sales broker for many firms, find the work then match it to the right company. In my industry there are "NO" commission only sales rep's.

Therefore if I have a firm approach me to provide them with sales their prices have to be right, they have to have the right qualifications and the right type of service before I will agree to provide them with work and because I work with a number of firms when I agree to work with a firm I don't guarantee any sales at all.

If a firm messes me around I stop using them. There are hundreds of firms in my industry who want to use a commission only sales rep' but only one firm doing commission only sales. it's easy for me to find another firm but not easy for a firm that messes me around to find another commission only sales rep'.

Commission only has to be worthwhile. I sold a trial job this month that made me £450 and £4500 for the firm I provided the work to. If the trial is successful the contract I win nets me £4500 and the firm £45,000 with repair work to be quoted for on top of that £45,000.
 
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captaincloser

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Dan, I will be the first to admit that good commission only sales rep's are quite rare but there are a lot of awesome sales people out there that will work for a salary. Does it have to be commission only?

Agreed.My own experience based on many years selling comm only is as follows. Most work advertised as comm only is mad or bad or both.

How do I get comm only work ? I see work advertised as a job and then weigh it up. Say its an exhibition...they want to pay £x plus £y as comm. If I gauge its going to be a winner I will offer to do the work with no £x and a big £Y which tends to turn people on and everyone is happy. This works on many projects but should not be done for long term 'employment'.

I am not unique and comm only salespeople are around but typically not drawn to the comm only 'employer' who is invariably underfunded and just does NOT get it that comm only means the salesperson is taking his risks for him. Or they do 'get it' but just bluster there way through life

As I say almost all comm only deals advertised as such suck. Everyone should know that. Different of course if the advertiser clearly states they are looking foir agents.
 
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W

Worldview_Dan

this is great feedback - and so relevant to us as freelance sales is a new area for us.

However, rightly or wrongly (probably the latter) this is a new venture for us and wanted to limit our financial risk by rewarding on receipt of order rather than direct PAYE, not to mention the risk to the employee having to find a new job a few months in if things don't work out.

I'm sure the above doesn't help our case and probably is not deemed acceptable by freelance sales people, but it's honest if nothing else.

We also don't mind the freelance sales person earning as much commission as possible because this means our business is working and generating profit.

I'm not sure where i'm going with this other than being clear on our thoughts - maybe someone could offer some guidance as where this thought process falls down if it indeed does ?

thanks
 
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