Commission based job - how long to stick it out?

[Anonymous]

DH started a commission based job from a salaried job last year. He had a great first 6 months, so we had high hopes although we knew this year would be tough. He is doing a great job finding clients but his company has recently tightened the rules on what types of clients/deals they will accept and the market pool has grown smaller. There are only 2 other guys in his office and they are also down this year. If we saw a lot of potential, he would stick it out but he is not sure that its going to get any better.

How long do you stick with a commission-based job and lower salary? He needs to make over $100K to support the family and will probably bring home approx $65-70K this year. He is also wary of his resume looking like he looks for a new job too often (he's 35 and has had 4 prior jobs - 2 yrs, 6 yrs, 6 months, and 2 yrs).

[Anonymous]

If he is truly a good salesperson, then he can have his pick of jobs... that will pay WAY more than $100k if he is hitting his goals. But you guys need to realize that the "rules of the game" change all the time in sales, this isn't something unique to this company. They change territories, types of products, commission splits, etc.

If he is confident in his sales abilities and it truly is that this is an unrealistic playing field, I'd start looking ASAP. Good sales people get snapped up. But he needs to look long and hard at if this is truly an unmanageable change to the rules, or if he is just expecting to sell the way he was selling before. A good salesperson is adaptable and will make it work no matter what, assuming the rules aren't just totally insane.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he is truly a good salesperson, then he can have his pick of jobs... that will pay WAY more than $100k if he is hitting his goals. But you guys need to realize that the "rules of the game" change all the time in sales, this isn't something unique to this company. They change territories, types of products, commission splits, etc.

If he is confident in his sales abilities and it truly is that this is an unrealistic playing field, I'd start looking ASAP. Good sales people get snapped up. But he needs to look long and hard at if this is truly an unmanageable change to the rules, or if he is just expecting to sell the way he was selling before. A good salesperson is adaptable and will make it work no matter what, assuming the rules aren't just totally insane.

Good luck.

Thanks. He really is very good at sales but while he has been in this industry for his entire career, this is his first venture into the sales side (he was on the analyst side prior to that). So while he'd probably be very good at sales in general, I doubt he would be willing to jump to another industry. Most of his confidence comes from his knowledge of the industry, although his natural people skills are a huge part of his initial success. He has no problem finding clients and even bringing in the deals, its just that the pool is narrow and getting even more narrow thanks to the company's new rules. There is the possibility that the policy could change once they see how tightly squeezed the sales guys are, but i is just so uncertain, we dont know how long to stick it out.

[Anonymous]

Is he s commercial real estate broker?

[Anonymous]

Insurance?

[Anonymous]

Corporate will often interfere, essentially stealing a new, potential client from a regional office, if it could potentially be a big client or a national client. They make contact and find their own way in. They really aren't allowing their regional sales force to earn beyond a predetermined range.

In sales, corporate always fair better.

[Anonymous]

What is your contribution to the 100K necessary to support the family? If you are a SAHM, perhaps that is not the best choice for your family.

If you are not, perhaps you could look for something that covers the 30K you fear he won't make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your contribution to the 100K necessary to support the family? If you are a SAHM, perhaps that is not the best choice for your family.

If you are not, perhaps you could look for something that covers the 30K you fear he won't make.

This is in no way helpful