by Patricia Gilliam

Created on: February 26, 2008

I believe the best income situations are ones designed with both the company owner and salesperson in mind. I think salary has a limited place in a sales environment in that it should be a low amount in the "training phase" and gradually decrease to nothing as the salesperson gains experience and should be making enough income from commissions not to mind.

This idea prevents a company owner from being taken advantage of and still gives a good amount of incentive for the salesperson without stressing them out on how they're going to live while they're educating themselves. If the person is having to work an extra job to feed their family while they sell, their focus may be more divided than it normally would be if the sales position was their priority. Just knowing the salary will not be there forever can still be motivation.

A seasoned salesperson however may care more about commission percentages rather than salary because they have a much great chance of making a higher income through commissions. This is why it can pay for a company to be flexible based on what the salesperson bring to the table. Three salespeople with different experience levels and personalities may do well with different terms of compensation, even though they all have the same position.

As far as what a salesperson can control, it's a good idea to get your finances in order to the best extent you can before even going into sales. Debt can bring you down if you're not careful, and sometimes if you want something bad enough it may require you having more than one job until you get off the ground. At the very least, keep your expenses down until your income stabilizes.

There's a lot of appeal in sales if you don't like your income to be capped. In traditional job situations, a "decent" salary with little to no incentive for increased income does not appeal to many salespeople. Make sure that when you take a sales job that your compensation fits where you are in your skills and can change as you gain more experience. Long-term, this will help you and the owner make more money.

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