# Salesman Commission pay plan



## dcannon30 (Apr 12, 2011)

I'm in the Southeastern area of the country and would like input about the best way to pay salesmen on straight commission.


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## aac_cos (Apr 24, 2011)

*salesmen on straight commission*

What do you want to know?




dcannon30 said:


> I'm in the Southeastern area of the country and would like input about the best way to pay salesmen on straight commission.


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## vtroofing (Sep 27, 2009)

I'd sell for Percentage of Contract face value. 
10% lead provided, 12.5% self generated.

or: 
Fixed number signed Contract. 
$300 minimum basic roof with lead provided
$500 minimum basic roof self generated. 

Meeting of the "minds" (Insurance Adjusters) is worth more, depending on the amount of time involved. 

Who is Project Managing? ie: complete material take off, day one walk around with crew, amount of days to show face during job, collecting payments, submitting Warranty. 

Can the Company in question complete 3-5 jobs a week? 

Who pays fuel?


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

http://hangupthebelt.com/2011/how-to-pay-a-salesman/ read my opinions on the matter. I lay out 2 or 3 ways of compensating a sales rep and the pros and cons of each. 

Later down the page read some dialog with myself and Dave as I further discuss why it's a bad thing to use any sort of one size fits all solution. What works for me and my area may not work for you and your area.


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## Aaron (Sep 26, 2011)

Well, dcannon30, were you able to come up with a system that works for you and your sales staffer?

You really have to find the right person for straight commission. It's nice for you, because you only pay when they sell. Still, there are labor rules that seem to suggest that if someone is your employee, they have to be compensated AT LEAST minumum wage for the hours they work ... even if you have a straight commission set-up.

Draw against commission is generally the fix for that problem, but then you're shelling out regardless of whether they sell or not, though you can set up monthly targets for continuation of the draw and employment.

The guys that are really successful straight commission sellers probably aren't necessarily looking to switch gigs, either.

Another good question to ask yourself is if you have the sales system infrastructure to allow someone to be successful selling for your company.

Ultimately, you're going to have to share some of the risk with the salesperson. The sort of people who will take on ALL of the risk for the hope of high compensation are the sort of people who start companies, not work for them.


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