Do you work on a commission only basis?

This isn’t one of those “people often ask me……..” social media mechanisms that doesn’t happen. I’m genuinely approached regularly and asked this question. Prospects find my website, a gig listing or perhaps approach me further to a networking chat and sometimes even lead with this question. My answer is unambiguous, direct and short. The answer is no.

Of course, I’m not rude enough to leave it at that and it would make for more of a Twitter-esque blog post than the one I have in mind so I’d like to expand, as due to the frequency of this question I felt it needed a deep dive, or at least a trip down to the deep end to retrieve my goggles after a failed somersault off the low “springy”. I thought I’d use the Q&A style for this blog post as nobody in the history of blogging has ever done it.

Is working “commission only” even legal?

Now I’m ironically going to start this with a bit of a “may contain nuts” obvious disclaimer in that I’m not a solicitor. Whilst I do have an A Level in Contract Law I’m not qualified beyond that so I’ll provide you with my best half-baked-research-tuppence-worth of an answer here.

Due to the national minimum wage, a commission only contract isn’t legal in the U.K. An employer would have to guarantee an amount of commission which would equate to at least the minimum wage against the number of hours an employee works.

But what if I’m self employed?

Like me? I’m so glad you asked. Self employed people like us can make a choice to work for eff all. Unfortunately some of us do and drive the pricing and value down for the rest of us but I choose not to. I’d rather work for more than the minimum wage based on my skills and experience.

So what is your beef with being asked then?

If a prospect asks me this then it is evidently clear that at least one of the following things are applicable: -

1. The prospect is perhaps out of touch or unfamiliar with the sales profession and thinks that salespeople are all still driven by commission cheques. Fair enough.

2. The prospect values my skills lower than the lowest of the low in terms of payment.

3. The prospect would like to employ salespeople on a commission only basis and thinks that they have found a way of navigating around minimum wage legislation.

4. The prospect is from a country where commission only pay to salespeople is legal and culturally acceptable.

5. The prospect is used to paying for other outsourced provision on a results only basis such as graphic design or legal advice and thinks that sales work falls into the same bracket where a tangible result triggers a payment.

6. The prospect previously found another desperate mug and took advantage of their situation.

7. The prospect previously found someone with a lower skill set and as they paid peanuts they got a “monkey” and they haven’t yet realised that repeating the same mistake makes them a baboon.

8. The prospect thinks that sales is easy so why wouldn’t I want to be paid on commission? Based on their calculations I could make billions in weeks!

9. The prospect has convinced themselves that their product or service is so good that they’re doing me a favour by offering me the chance to earn so much commission that I can buy a gold house next to theirs.

Like the old saying goes “If you pay commission only, you’re a baboon”

Do you not think that list was a bit long for a Q&A based blog post?

Probably a bit yes, but they’re all decent observations in my opinion and I feel better for getting this off my chest despite it now looking like I’m having a public conversation with myself.

So how do you deal with these requests as the nine points you make above in a slightly ranty manner mean that their motives widely vary?

First impressions are important and it is often clear very quickly the type of person or organisation that one is dealing with I’m sure you’ll agree. One of my strongest skills is my questioning technique alongside my diplomacy so using these skills means I’m able to quickly establish if I’m dealing with a chancer or simply someone who is enquiring how I bill clients but perhaps has unintentionally struck a nerve.

So do you ever work for commission?

Never on commission only but there have been occasions where I see there is a mutual benefit to negotiate a partial commission based remuneration agreement.

This is Steve with his new notebook and pencil. He’s recently taken on another commission only job….

What are your thoughts on people who do work in commission only sales roles?

My thoughts are aimed more at the organisations that employ them. For me, in a lot of cases, commission drives the wrong behaviours in salespeople and their managers. I think that profit based team bonuses are much more conducive to a better customer experience and can instil more of a team player culture in an organisation. I also think that commission can be very divisive both within a sales team and with other functions so needs to be handled cautiously.

Have you ever run commission schemes in sales teams you’ve managed and directed?

Yes. But the salespeople were always paid a decent salary anyway. The schemes were always transparent, simple and behaviour based, including mechanisms whereby if any of the company values were proven to be compromised then commission payments were forfeited and there was a risk of potential disciplinary action. That was and is how strongly I felt about the way in which salespeople should go about their profession.

It’s all got a bit serious so how are we going to conclude this blog post?

Salespeople like any other profession like a sense of enjoyment or actualisation in their day to day work. Slogging on the phones or in person in sales can be a very demanding role and time is the most valuable resource we all have. So if we don’t feel rewarded for our time then we feel undervalued and demotivated which will form the foundation for failure. So if someone wants a motivated, efficient, professional, engaged and effective salesperson then all they need to do is pay them what they’re worth, coach them and train them and then a win-win situation is achieved.

Simon Lunt - Silent Sales (and his imaginary friend)