Benefits, rewards and opportunities for the entrepreneurial sales person
Are you an entrepreneurial sales person sick of working for someone else? That pretty much describes almost all salespeople in my experience. For sales is one of the few jobs where you are your own boss. Of course you still have to work for someone but your performance has a direct bearing on your rewards. For example, let’s say you work in a store stacking shelves. It doesn’t matter how fast you stack the half empty shelves your pay isn’t going to change. The opposite is true in sales.
Now let’s take this a stage further. Remote sales jobs. Remote sales opportunities have become more popular over the last few years particularly because of the Covid effect.
Back in the day when I ran my own sales operations, if one of my sales people came to me looking to work from home I would send them away disappointed. It didn’t matter how good they were. I believed that top performance was best achieved in an office team environment with a manager waving a stick and dangling a wad of cash.
I still believe that the majority of sales people perform best when managed closely in an office environment where team members compete with each other and where a small base salary provides sufficient motivation for the salesperson to get his or her ass out of bed in the morning when ordinarily he or she may not wish too. When that reluctant salesperson makes his way to the office and if they are fortunate enough to be overseen by a motivated dynamic manager miracles can happen. But this scenario doesn’t apply to the entrepreneurial self motivated sales person.
Most remote sales jobs are commission only. However, saying that there are a few roles which pay a basic hourly rate plus a commission. For example a job we were recruiting for recently offered a base pay of $10 an hour plus a $10 bonus for each appointment and $10 for each deal closed. The candidate is expected to make at least 30 calls an hour to collect their basic and are provided with warm leads. This job was selling wills.
Commission only roles however are the focus of this article.
As they say in the sales game, you eat what you kill. That is why remote commission only sales jobs are ideally suited to the entrepreneurial sales person.
There are generally two types of commission only positions.
Roles where you have to bring your own leads or clients to the table and jobs where you are provided with leads.
The kind of remote sales roles we recruit for which fall into the first category include:
Oil and Gas – Texas oil operator selling partnership interests in productive oil fields.
Registered charity – Third largest OSHA course provider in New York selling loan notes to fund the intake of students to take advantage of the massive influx of immigrants.
Automated trading – The sale of derivative trading strategies to both traders and non traders allowing anyone to become a day trader and compete with professional and institutional investors.
Other sales opportunities you will come across include:
Pre-IPO – The sale of stocks to accredited investors.
MCA – Short for Merchant Cash Advance, arranging finance for mom and pop businesses.
Solar – The sale of solar panels or community solar to households.
Cannabis – The sale of cannabis products to retail stores.
Generating your own leads
Many candidates are immediately reluctant to pursue a remote commission only role for two reasons, one obvious, the other not so. We all want a free lunch. That free lunch comes in the form of a base salary. The absence of a base salary is a turn off for most. One of the first questions my mother asked me when I was offered my first job right out of school was, is it a commission only job?
Second, providing your own leads is also a turnoff. However if you think about it buying and generating your own leads is actually a major advantage for the entrepreneurial sales person.
The problem with a company providing leads is the firm usually expects a commitment in return. That can sometimes translate to expecting you to work full time or to set hours.
That commitment is not what most entrepreneurial sales people are looking for. Many want independence. Freedom to put in the hours and effort as they see fit. In reality if the sales person has success selling the product or service and is paid in a timely manner then he or she is likely to work even harder. Self motivation is the key. If you are not self motivated then get a sales job working from an office.
The downside of a commission only job is the lead time it takes to get your first paycheck. MCA sales jobs can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months before you receive your first check. We can all dream about the one call close but in reality you will have to fund yourself for a minimum of a month.
Working with a portfolio of clients
Some of our candidates work with a portfolio of 2 or 3 products/services. That approach has its advantages. Most significantly it protects you from the potential failure of the product provider whilst also spreading your bets if they decide to delay your check, not pay you or make bogus deductions. You will have to manage your time more efficiently if you go down this route but it is the optimum strategy in my opinion.
The biggest deterrent to most salespeople entering the world of remote sales is how they go about acquiring leads. There are a multitude of list providers out there. Lists of accredited investors, ex oil and gas investors, doctors etc. You can even generate your own leads through social media marketing. The main point to understand is these are your leads and you can call them about other products you may be also selling now or further down the line. Treat them as a valuable asset.
One bit of advice when buying leads. Get a free sample first. At least 20 leads. Make sure the leads are not more than 6 months old and have telephone, email and ideally, buying history.Email Sell Me This Pen Careers if you are looking for a remote sales job. Attach your resume or a brief description of your sales experience.