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The Straight Commission Dilemma Pt 1

Going from an hourly job to a salaried job was supposed to be a move up, according to my corporate masters at the retail music store I managed back in the day. These folks acted as if I had made it to the big leagues, but the truth was that the hours I worked increased while my take home pay was about the same. It was not the most motivational scenario for me. At the end of the year I would get a job performance review which was factored into a giant algorithm that included a profit and loss report and, from this mathematic equation, somehow my annual bonus was determined.

Another store manager, about an hour away from me, had twice the sales volume that I did. She also had double the staff, double the inventory and double the general headaches. As we were told in no uncertain terms not to discuss salary and pay with other store managers, we went about it very discreetly. It was all very covert, as we would lock ourselves in our respective offices during evening shifts and speak in furtive whispers.

You can imagine her disappointment when she discovered that our salaries were comparable (I had been in management about a year longer), but her annual bonus was only $500 more than mine. I laughed as I explained that she was putting up with a lot more crap for a measly $10 a week extra. Apparently it was like a punch in the gut to her when I broke the numbers down like that. 

One thing I noticed was that if my store was really slow, I was stuck there and didn't have the opportunity to work on any side hustles. There was just too much mandated busy work. On the other hand, if we were slammed and had a great sales day, I got paid the same. My incentive to work was dampened either way.



There was another factor to consider. I love to get out there and talk to people, especially about a product or service I believe in. Not that I enjoy cold calling, but in casual conversation I like bringing up what I do and how I help people. Talking up someone else's music store seemed futile though. Call me selfish. 

And when you consider that my salary was more or less capped, I was stuck. Everyone hopes that it's possible to make more next year than this year. The realization that I may only get a small raise, and that was only if my performance review and other factors lined up, didn't make me want to work harder.

When I left that company (the internet was killing music stores) I decided to jump back into insurance sales, much to the dismay of my wife, who enjoyed the security of a salary. In my mind, if I had a productive day selling insurance, then I would get the rewards and those rewards would help even out the less productive days.

Being on straight commission can be scary, but so can being a small business owner. Either way, if you don't sell anything, you don't make money. A friend of mine had bought into a car detailing franchise and told me that he wouldn't eat lunch until he sold a job. Sometimes, he didn't eat lunch.

In the next post, I'll discuss more about how to succeed without a salary. In the meantime, stay healthy and productive

Chris Castanes is a professional speaker and author who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states. Please subscribe!

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