Please Could Someone Explain the Commission Scheme to Me?

For me there has been one predominant driver behind my time in sales and recruitment – MONEY! Initially I had none, and as the slow kid in the class, wasn’t expected to earn much of the stuff – belatedly, as a working-class person its arrival makes me happier! Of course, I have other motivations, some, snapping at the heels of money as a motivator – but when push comes to shove, MONEY has always led the pack in my list of motivations. Now before moving on, I should make a very important point – in life, what a person earns in no way denotes their self-worth or the contribution they make to life and society! For example, a nurse, teacher, carer, etc probably earn far less than us in sales & recruitment, though contribute so much more – we are indeed very lucky to have such wonderfully wired people among us.

Our experiences as sales and recruitment professionals are often very much at odds with the natural way we are wired? As human beings, we don’t like being ignored, rejected, criticised, abused, disappointed, let down or failing – I’m not doing a great job of selling this, am I? But it is the bloody truth! On their way to outstanding and consistent success, every sales and recruitment professional has fought through these experiences, together with the emotions they produce!

So, to my point, why do I meet a steady flow of very impressive sales and recruitment professionals who don’t understand their commission scheme? These are generally scheme’s which run to several pages and resemble legal documents. Meetings to “explain” them are often cancelled. Where they do take place, the new colleague often feels obliged to agree even though they have understood them. After all, we don’t want to get into conflict with the new boss?

Often woven into the afore mentioned lengthy schemes are elements of team bonus, whilst peripheral benefit from this type of structure can be used to drive team work and be positive, a total or disproportionate reliance on it should be avoided by driven sales & recruitment professionals! I’ll stand or fall on my own results, thank you! I’ll start earlier and finish later, thank you very much! I’ll make more calls, be more expert and be more impressive in the opinions of all I come into contact with, thank you very, very much! Yes, I’m a team player, but I won’t be held back or disadvantaged by the lack lustre or under committed!

In contrast, the businesses over which I have had influence have commission schemes which comfortably fit on a single side of A4 paper – type face no smaller than 10. They are written so that my 12-year-old son could read, understand and remain motivated by them. They ensure a win/win and, that the wealth created is shared! As colleagues exceed thresholds, hit accelerator bands, the parameters and scheme still remain unchanged. Why would you want to punish over achievement? So to as ensure financial success is not achieved at the cost of honesty and professionalism, a relevant degree of importance is also placed on the delivery of professional behaviours.

And, so to conclude, my experience tells me if you don’t fully understand a commission scheme, you are highly likely to be disappointed by it! Don’t waste your time, talent or energy.

If you’d like to discuss this area and how to improve your situation, we’d be delighted to hear from you.