I am looking for a few good salespeople. I have been looking for a few good salespeople for a while. The catch? The people I am looking for need to be willing to work on commissions. The challenge? I cannot find anyone interested in working on commissions. What is the problem?
Sales professionals wanted
I am a bit bewildered. There are millions of sales professionals out of work. They sit at home and mail out their resumes, collect unemployment, live off their savings, and network with their contacts looking for work–one that pays them a nice, safe salary. During this entire adventure, the money is going out, not in.
What would be the problem taking on a sales assignment during this void that pays you some real money? Most of the companies that I am working with in this situation are newer companies, they have a cool product offering (if they didn’t I wouldn’t be involved), and they do not have the funds to pay salaries. No problem. The sales training and support is excellent (it’s me–and I am pretty good at what I do), the selling cycle is short, and the compensation is generous. Since you are not working anyway, why aren’t you taking advantage of these offerings?
What I am starting to believe is that there are simply not enough quality, talented salespeople out there. There are a lot of pseudo-sales-pros that have gotten used to easy sales, a nice salary, and a cushy environment. Reality check–those situations are getting harder and harder to find. If you truly believe in your ability to sell, take a position that compensates you for selling. If you do not believe in your ability to sell, keep looking for that “sales job” that makes your life easy. You won’t be working for me or my clients anytime soon — we are looking for real sales professionals, not the pretenders.
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This is a good post, one for many business owners to follow while the debate continues. I think there are many “pretenders” or “hobbyists” in nearly every field, but I don’t fault them for trying to find something “safe” in this economy; many have and will gravitate toward the guarantee vs. the unknown. This is a good discussion for anyone trying to hire sales people to increase business. Nicely done!
While I agree that “salespeople” who will not take a commission only job in the face of un- or underemployment aren’t salespeople at all. I know plenty of good salespeople who aren’t commission only due to varying factors. Also take into account things like Dan Pink’s current research and reporting on motivation – http://www.chrisconrey.com/commissions-motivation/ – and its therefore results.
How many salespeople have you seen fall into the trap of have a good month, have a really good month, have a great month, have a horrible month? Or worse, selling to the pay plan rather than what’s best for the client or the company? Commissions are just another form of motivation that can be abused.