Sales Job – salary negotiation help, please?
My last position was in sales and I earned a good base salary (52K) with bonus potential of 20% of salary (total 66K) which I hit the last two years. I wish the position had been more commission/bonus based because I did quite well selling and I would have made more that way.
I've been offered a job at a very young company. The owner started and sold off her first business at a point when she had grown to 20 employees. She started this new business 1.5 years ago - it is just her, a receptionist/secretary and a sales associate who was heading out the door to pick up a sick kid when I arrived for my 10am interview.
The business is marketing/media. The owner wants someone experienced who can grow into a co-director type of position so she can devote time to other interests.
I knew the job would be primarily commission based but she offered me /hour base!!! Plus commission for each exhibitor/vendor I bring in for various presentations.
/hr base shocked me. I'm not a kid just out of college nor am I desperate for a job. I'm not willing to risk the roof over my head and want a higher base with a lower commission percentage.
I am psychotically self-motivated, so I would work just as hard on 100% commission as 100% salary. Fear - of not being able to pay my mortgage - would hinder my performance in any job.
Should I counter with a higher weekly base? Or ask for a draw-type compensation plan?
June 5th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
There are a million sales jobs out there so its your choice to pick this one or move on.
Also becareful…These young companies that in the interview want to grow you into a co-directer or something like that, generally are trying to sell you the business after you have worked there a while for ALOT more than its worth. I remember hearing that same thing with this guy that owned a company that sold litho-graphs and he said in his interview he was looking for someone to "replace him" A few months later i saw the SAME GUY in a different town 100 miles away, (it was just a really strange coincidence that our paths crossed again) doing the same thing but selling a different product and gave me the same line that he was looking for someone to replace him(guess he didnt remember me). All this guy did was start these companies and then hire a bunch of salespeople and sucker one of them into overpaying for it so he could start another company and do it over again.