Sales Commission And Production

kbg1kbg1

Reposting this to a new thread.......

The Contractor I have worked for about a decade, does not pay his "salesmen" Commission. He tried it once - poorly -in one department, by offering 5% for all sales on top of regular salary??? - after seeing his salesman was complaciant and did not try to increase his sales.... he took away the commission........
Every Salesman I have ever talked to has given the same response..... " if they dont work on Commission then they are just estimators - not salesmen"
He also has a problem seperating Sales and Production......
I worked in the production side for him for several years, and never had a problem reveiwing a new job sold by someone else, doing my own take-off and pricing the job to see if it was accually priced correctly, and then passing that info along to the owner when running and/or billing the job.
But the owner strongly feels that his "salesmen" should also RUN the awarded jobs as well - since he feels the "hand-off" from sales to production causes to many "problems" - So what happens when the jobs come in and the "salesmen" get busy running jobs?....... you would think that time spent on sales would decrease.....and what about when a job was bid incorrectly? - with the salesman running the job most F-up's are hiden by the salesman running the job.....and what incentive does sales have if they are getting their weekly salary check wether they sold $10,000.00 that month or $10.00?

Does anyone else besides me feel this is a highly disfunctional way to handle Sales and Production?

msalinas

It sure sounds like a mess. I wouldn't sell there

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Mike Finley

It sounds a bit daffy.

I don't really think there are salesman capable of running the job (I'd call that not running the job but project management or project manager). So to rephrase, I don't really think there are a lot of salesmen who are capable of being project managers at the same time.

I think you can have an estimator be a project manager, but not a salesman. If he is a salesman he is selling and if he is good at selling it's highly doubtful he will be good at project management.

Like wise I don't think you will find many people who can be good project managers and then salesmen, but I think you can certainly have good project managers who can be good estimators.

Carport King

I love this kind of post. I worked in Florida when I first came here as a salesman. There was 10 salesman. Here is how we did our job. First I was given a territory that I worked and I built my own client base. I also had some dealers that I serviced at which I was paid a 4% commission.

Then I had my retail business that I made 10% commission. But I sold the job,did the take off,ran the project and collected the money. My first year I made $80,000.

I also had a company truck that I paid for the fuel but also recieved a $250.00 allowance for.

I busted my butt for this guy because he was great to work for and ran a great company. I felt like I owned my little slice of heaven and I built this area into a little gold mine for me.

I worked this area for 5 years and made up to $250,000 a year for several years. Not bad for an employee new to the game. This is where I learned the difference between a customer and a client. When you show a client that you truly care about them and there project and give 100% client satisfaction and your sales and referrals will go through the roof.

80% of my business was referrals after only one year of very hard work. To this day I still work this same area and have done work for the same clients over and over again.

So there is several ways to do this and Mike is right on his thoughts. But the key is always finding the right person for that key position. Plus let them make some money.

Good luck

Pro Builder

What do you mean you had a retail business that gave you 10%?
$250k!!?? Damn what kind of payment plan were you on?

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jtpro

Here in Fla there are "products" that accompany other items which could lead to a high return.

These "products" usually generate from the Miami area.

Pro Builder

Ok, I'm completely lost now.

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buildpinnacle

Say hello to my little friend!

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kbg1kbg1

Thanks for the responses guys - and yea I am a little lost on the later posts ........dont know how Carpet Kings retail sales trnslate into Constrution sales......
And the point I was making with "salesmen" on salery not comission was that they have no incentive to bring in sales if they are getting the same paycheck each week.....
and I agree not every saleman can make a good estimator or project manager - but a good project manager usually can transition into sales since he has hands on knowledge of howthe jobs play-out in the field.
BUt what about the fact that my company has their sales doing project management as well? - How can you keep up with sales when the jobs are coming in? or vice versa? - seems obvious that something will suffer in either sales or PM with the same guy doing both...........