have ever been a sales person?

Ehh heee! I've always wondered about this balance. One of the best sales people I know preferred 0% retainer and a good percentage of the entire business he brought to the company.

But many upstarting sales people need an amount to move to and fro. And they need the product marketed well. And the company needs to have a known corporate profile. Then they need the product to be an easy sell... or is it sell itself?


On a Sunday I stopped outside OilLibya Westlands, and this lady was selling registrations/products for a Cancer event - she had gusto! She made her pitch to me but I declined - wasn't interested really. But as the hours wore on, without even a sale, I saw her begin to falter...

I approached her again, and said I'd take a shirt. She said I was the first buyer of the day and this was the hardest job she'd ever had. I asked why she took it, she mused "Do you know how hard it is to get a job?"

In time I've come to wonder whether this is the most/2nd most important job in an organization? That is why the top brass engage in it...

any employer, in order to offer the best service must feel to be part of the firm or company. this is actually not the case in organisations that insist more oon commission because they are just interested in the returns and not the welfare of the people working for it. this explains why the 'sellers' take off when they get any other opprtunity.

Thank you all for your very insightful feedback. Just another thought/query:

Norm Brodsky in his book "The Knack" asserts that commissions tend to isolate sales people from the rest of the organisation.
It makes them feel as though the client is theirs and not the organisations.

Commissions can also tempt sales people to over-promise prospective clients even if they know that the product/service will not deliver all that they promise. Reason being that all they are interested in is to have the client sign up

His recommendation is that sales people should be on a salary only! That way, they become better team players. If you get a really excellent sales person who insist on a commission, offer him one then over time "buy" out his commissions buy offering a higher salary that is guaranteed meaning that whenever he is out of work eg. sick leave he will still earn what he would have earned working.

What say you?

This is very good info! Ehe...