How Can Salespeople & Entrepreneurs Boost Their Earnings?
Guest Post by Andrew Lisa
For salespeople and entrepreneurs, the concept of payday is radically different than it is for 9-to-5ers who work a steady job for a steady paycheck. In the businesses of selling and creating, there is nothing steady about the rewards of work – or the possibilities.
For salespeople, more selling means more earning.
Salary
As explained in “High-Paying Jobs for Ambitious People,” there is a big difference between salary and commission. Salary is a fixed income – a regular paycheck that is the same each week. If your salary is $24,000 per year (not considering taxes, for the sake of simplicity), your pay is $2,000 a month, every month – no matter what.
Commission
Commission, on the other hand, does not provide the stability and predictability of a salary, but – unlike salaried workers – those who work on commission are limited only by their ambition and talent. Receiving a percentage of an individual sale, a person who works on commission makes more when he or she performs well, and less when they don’t. It is not as safe but not as limited as receiving a salary.
Sales
For salespeople, commission-based earnings can be the key to unlimited expansion and success. It can also be the cause of constant anxiety, stress and worry about the next dollar if your sales techniques don’t measure up to your ambition. Watch your timing. Ask for a raise in commission when you need it the least – e.g., when you’re coming off of a good year or quarter. This will provide you the leverage needed to make the request.
Entrepreneurs
As outlined in a recent article on Inc.com, for a lot of companies, much of the business’s sales are done by the original entrepreneur. In many others, the top 20 percent of the salespeople make 80 percent of the sales. Get rid of your low-producing commissioned salespeople today. The best thing you can do is cut the dead weight and focus on keeping your best producers in a business with notoriously high turnover.
Salespeople can achieve unlimited earnings through commission.
Good sales techniques, good relationships and good timing can lead to commission rates that make you feel bad for the poor souls who still toil for a salary. Knowing how to squeeze the most out of it – whether as a salesperson or an entrepreneur – is the key to future success.
Andrew Lisa is a freelance business writer. He covers entrepreneurship and small-business management.
Following these guidelines will lead you to
the Smooth Sale!
Read Addtional Strategies and Techniques:
Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results, Sourcebooks
HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself On Interviews, Career Press
