A Commission Only Salesperson. The Holy Grail of Sales?

Let’s be honest, very few people who see themselves as a sales professional will take on a commission only sales position. Professionals from any walk of life have worked hard to develop the skills, networks and experience that make them good at what they do, and they expect to be compensated as such.

Would you ever consider paying commission only for other roles in your business such as your IT or accounting departments? Of course not! These are critical departments in your company and therefore deserve the best person for the job, with the skills and ability to get the job done right. Therefore, you need to see your sales department as just as important as IT or accounts. Why should they be the only department not valued enough to be paid a salary? Why would you want a less skilled or able person in such an important role in your company?

The quality of salespeople that are usually attracted to a commission only position will generally be lower, or those who have been unable to secure a salary paying role, and as a result will not have all the skills required to do the best job for you. Salespeople are more often than not the first contact point of your company and it could be more detrimental having less skilled people as the face of your company.

If you still believe that a commission only salesperson is the best option for your company, then you need to be prepared.

Commission only salespeople will require a significant amount of care and maintenance. The only situations where I have seen commission only salespeople be truly successful is where the salespeople are managed very strongly, by a hard-core sales manager, who is on the tools and kicking goals every single day, following a set-in stone sales process that can be easily repeated by someone with less skill. When you have a great manager with a proven track record in place, they can encourage and support the new commission only salespeople. They need to be leading by example - Do what I say AND do what I do!

Group interviews, a fun work environment and exciting sales meetings are the best way to create the hype needed to convince people to work for commission only. You will also need to have:

  • Replicable systems in place that show a clear path to making a sale,

  • Lots of social proof,

  • Overt sales prizes such as trips, gifts, trophies – not cash,

  • Clear advancement opportunities with exciting titles that raise the salespersons ego, and

  • A well thought out compensation plan with the right commission percentages.

You also need to be prepared to always be hiring. Many consider a commission only sales role to be a temporary position so you will need to be recruiting constantly to keep up with the turnover.

The first step before you hire anyone, or even undertake a marketing campaign, is for you to build the assets required to make it very clear how you expect the job to be done and how they can succeed in making sales. These assets include sales processes, scripts, presentation materials etc. You must be absolutely clear on sales strategy, tactics ….. everything. Clarity and focus will win the day!

When considering hiring salespeople of any kind you need to make sure you have:

 

  • A documented sales process,

  • Scripts for handling each step in the process,

  • Clear objection handling,

  • Marketing materials,

  • Visual aids for the presentation, and

  • A strong call to action at the end of the presentation.

All of the above is essential in showing that clear path to a sale. It also helps to shorten the sales cycle. Long sales cycles will kill commission only salespeople’s enthusiasm and they will leave.