Salesmen Compensation

Kevin Westcott

Question ???????????????
What do you pay outside sales people? We are a Residential and Light Commercial HVAC Contractor. Sales last year were around 1.8 Million. I am ready to hire a salesmen to do consumer sales / Add-on Replacement and Residential New Construction. I want to lean toward commision with a small salary and standard benifits. Anyone have any suggestions???

Thanks, Kevin Westcott,
Family Heating & Cooling Co. Inc.
2852 D&M Drive
Gaylord Mi 49735
Ph. 989-732-8099
Fax 989-731-4753

Bill_14

Think about your needs.

Are you wanting someone to "go fishing" and have someone else "clean the fish"? Or are you wanting someone that can represent your company, estimate, sell and manage the work he obtains?

Sales folks aren't that great at technical details, unless they were brought up in the business. Generally speaking, detail guys (project manager types) don't want to try and sell.

You might want to check with your CPA, but I believe this potential employee must receive the same benefits the salaried employees receive.

To complicate matters more, there are people that are not going to be motivated by commission sales and will starve. In addition, there are "sales guys" that can really load you up with work...good and bad.

Therefore, compensation packages have to be geared to what type of employee you are seeking and what type of system you have in place to monitor the overall activities.

Bill Russell

Gary Fereday

compensation?

Any out-go of money is a "cost" to the business. That given,"Who, or how were your previous sales compensated for?". How much compensation was paid in the past? Were the "cards" of the business held so close that no compensation was paid? Did the owners of the business just remove the profit at the end of of the year? Can you pin down exactly how much each job cost to get,in the past? If these questions are able to be answered, then the "new salesman" should have a fair income. (salery, & or commission.) If not, then the old rule of a mechanic turned owner, is in effect. That rule states "Get trained in business management before it railroads you." A good mechanic is trained and that is not neccessarily anything to do with business management. I speak here from 45+years of being a mechanic (plumber). And Very close to the "management" of the businesses I worked for. 100% of the various contractors I worked for never had any business training. They railroaded themselves and all who worked for them. Not "on purpose", rather because they did not know "how to run a business". Everyone made money, a living. no one made exceptional money!
I have a son who ran a printing press for years. made a living at it. during that time he went to business management training, On-line at the University of Phoenix. Now he is a publisher! and has someone else print for him! He does not even own a press.
Boy Scouts of America says "Training!, training!, training!, is the way to find out how to mamage a boy (any) program."
You may try some good books at Books and More here on this site. But to learn how to compensate any employee, one must first know how to aquire the $$$ for that compensation. This is written for you, not against you! and for others who would be in the same boat. Be fair, be trained, be successful, and do not let the business railroad you because you were not trained! jmho bigugh