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Using commission-only sales
- Thread starter mikeinpdx
- Start date
Rick
Certified Enneadecagon Designer
I have worked at shops, and worked with sales people as a designer and starting some sales for a company I freelance for.
Every commission only salesman was at the very least supplied a cell phone (or the expenses were covered) and gas/travel
Is your salesman going to manage the job? or just bring in the customer?
What's the percentage?
What do you gross a year?
How much can your shop produce?
What type of signs do you manufacture?
If your shop is producing 1.5 million, and the salesman brings in another 500k, it can be worth it for a commission only salesman.
If you are doing 300k a year... how will a salesman make any money, if your shop can only handle another 200-300k?
Another thing is, if you can make and install large architectural sign projects, then it might be easy for a commission only salesman if he can land a 200-500k project. Selling onsey twosey wraps and a couple of hundred bucks a pop is going to get them nowhere.
1) How did you find them?
Usually lured them from successful shops.
2) How did you help them be successful?
Make sure they have all the marketing materials they need, and sales/client list or database and service their clients right.
3) Were there products you found them to be most effective in selling?
Website, marketing materials, once the job is handed over to the project manager, responsive communication
Every commission only salesman was at the very least supplied a cell phone (or the expenses were covered) and gas/travel
Is your salesman going to manage the job? or just bring in the customer?
What's the percentage?
What do you gross a year?
How much can your shop produce?
What type of signs do you manufacture?
If your shop is producing 1.5 million, and the salesman brings in another 500k, it can be worth it for a commission only salesman.
If you are doing 300k a year... how will a salesman make any money, if your shop can only handle another 200-300k?
Another thing is, if you can make and install large architectural sign projects, then it might be easy for a commission only salesman if he can land a 200-500k project. Selling onsey twosey wraps and a couple of hundred bucks a pop is going to get them nowhere.
1) How did you find them?
Usually lured them from successful shops.
2) How did you help them be successful?
Make sure they have all the marketing materials they need, and sales/client list or database and service their clients right.
3) Were there products you found them to be most effective in selling?
Website, marketing materials, once the job is handed over to the project manager, responsive communication
TyrantDesigner
Art! Hot and fresh.
Wow rick, I know a few shops that would LOVE a sales person that could bring in 500k in sales ... sadly I've never seen a small to medium sign, marketing or graphics shop have a sales person come in and do that much unless they pulled their old customers over from a shop that was closing its doors ... and generally if a sales person is doing that ... the owner is on his/her way out the door due to health.
As for the questions from the OP ...
1. from other sales positions ... doesn't matter the business really. If you find a good sales person, as the saying goes ... they can sell snow cones to eskimos. You just need to make sure the market can sustain the sales to be commission only. When I used them was almost always when I needed to approach corporations for their projects in their internal image (wall wraps, corporate art, etc) and was almost always teamed up with interior designers. Temp sales position I gave a 30% share of profits from the jobs and was generally for some wicked sales people that could get me the sales I couldn't get due to my lack of time to invest in them.
2. making sure they have the marketing materials to properly sell your services, as well as having the ability to match their sales they generate helps as well.
Really though, most of the commission sales positions I see rotate rather frequently ... doesn't matter the industry they represent ... mainly due to the fact that it's a fickle market and again, sales need to be there to sustain commission only. Here in the north of Texas seems like one out of every 10 store fronts is a shop that offers 'signs' and will be happy to underbid the next. I know that is a little overly inflated for a statement, but on the way to one of my in house design jobs I do ... I pass 2 places that do things like tinting and 'graphix' but try to be normal sign shops as well as a more than a couple sign shops that compete with each other but are about as employee friendly as a punch in the face. As such I don't see very many outside sales positions, most are internal ... get paid minimum wage and earn a tiny commission to encourage sales. The few outside sales positions I do see every year is from companies that offer creative services that advertises for a 'graphic designer' but requires that position to be outside sales and general shop ***** with 5% commission on sales as compensation.
Even had one job I applied for about 6 months ago for snot and giggles for a 'graphic designer' that didn't even want to see a portfolio, and even after I sent in the resume they wanted ... got a 9 page 'application' pack that included not only an nda, a credit check authorization form, request for driving record and a 2 year non-compete agreement if I stop working there for ANY reason for any aspect of graphic design in any industry ... for a $10/hour position they described as an outside sales role that would garner no over time, expected to be selling at $90k per quarter after 3 months and had no reimbursement for expenses (gas, wear and tear on vehicle, cellphone, etc) and would require all design work to be done on your own equipment. I don't know about you ... but that sounds like a bad deal.
Not the only bad deal I've seen for employment. But again, depends on the area.
As for the questions from the OP ...
1. from other sales positions ... doesn't matter the business really. If you find a good sales person, as the saying goes ... they can sell snow cones to eskimos. You just need to make sure the market can sustain the sales to be commission only. When I used them was almost always when I needed to approach corporations for their projects in their internal image (wall wraps, corporate art, etc) and was almost always teamed up with interior designers. Temp sales position I gave a 30% share of profits from the jobs and was generally for some wicked sales people that could get me the sales I couldn't get due to my lack of time to invest in them.
2. making sure they have the marketing materials to properly sell your services, as well as having the ability to match their sales they generate helps as well.
Really though, most of the commission sales positions I see rotate rather frequently ... doesn't matter the industry they represent ... mainly due to the fact that it's a fickle market and again, sales need to be there to sustain commission only. Here in the north of Texas seems like one out of every 10 store fronts is a shop that offers 'signs' and will be happy to underbid the next. I know that is a little overly inflated for a statement, but on the way to one of my in house design jobs I do ... I pass 2 places that do things like tinting and 'graphix' but try to be normal sign shops as well as a more than a couple sign shops that compete with each other but are about as employee friendly as a punch in the face. As such I don't see very many outside sales positions, most are internal ... get paid minimum wage and earn a tiny commission to encourage sales. The few outside sales positions I do see every year is from companies that offer creative services that advertises for a 'graphic designer' but requires that position to be outside sales and general shop ***** with 5% commission on sales as compensation.
Even had one job I applied for about 6 months ago for snot and giggles for a 'graphic designer' that didn't even want to see a portfolio, and even after I sent in the resume they wanted ... got a 9 page 'application' pack that included not only an nda, a credit check authorization form, request for driving record and a 2 year non-compete agreement if I stop working there for ANY reason for any aspect of graphic design in any industry ... for a $10/hour position they described as an outside sales role that would garner no over time, expected to be selling at $90k per quarter after 3 months and had no reimbursement for expenses (gas, wear and tear on vehicle, cellphone, etc) and would require all design work to be done on your own equipment. I don't know about you ... but that sounds like a bad deal.
Not the only bad deal I've seen for employment. But again, depends on the area.
Rick
Certified Enneadecagon Designer
Generally, if a salesman is going in an a commission only deal, he would want to keep his old clients.
If the OP is only doing a few hundred thousand a year and paying 15%, it's a lot of hard work to make 300k happen out of thin air without some contacts in the industry. And thats only 45k a year (chump change here in California if you have to pay gas and cell phone)... might as well buy a cutter and start your own shop for that.
The jobs I design are usually in the 150-300k range. Right now, I'm working sales on 4 projects in the 700k range (total). Don't know if I'll get them, but I think there is a decent chance, but I do get to design my own marketing brochures (plus they have some) and get paid to design the projects at an hourly rate. I also get paid an hourly rate to sell, and it's not minimum wage.
The type of salesman I'm used to talking to that get paid straight commission sell for sign shops in the 5-10 million a year range. Their contacts are usually environmental graphic designers, (www.segd.org) and most are in the larger dollar amounts... of course there is also a higher risk and more work dealing with approval processes, permitting and variances, a salesman only has to land a couple to make a decent living.
By the way, if you want to look for a job for the fun of it...
http://jobbank.segdservices.com/jobs