What kind of salary/commission should I ask for

[franckiesmum]

I was recently employed on a short contract for a local government organisation.

They have now re-approached me to see if I'd consider a position where I split my time between the council and their supplier who I worked alongside in my previous role (about 50/50). The time allocated to the supplier would be a business development role so they'd jointly pay me £24,000 plus a car plus , in their words, a "hefty" commission on any new leads I generate which result in a sale.

I haven't yet spoken to the supplier as I will probably end up getting involved in a commission negotiation conversation and I haven't a clue what I'm talking about as I've never done sales before.

What kind of commission structure/amounts would be reasonable? Their average up front sale is around £30k per customer each year and this costs them around £10k a year to service. I would expect not to bring in more than 6 or so new customers a year.

Many thanks

[Hoppinggreen]

I wouldn't worry about how much the contract costs them to service, I've always been paid commission on sales not profit.
Without more details it hard to say as it often depends on length of sales process etc. 10% would seem reasonable though

[indigox]

Is there a way you can find out the standard for your industry?

[SaltyBitch]

What would you be getting paid if your most recent role was a permanent position?

[franckiesmum]

It would be permanent, just part commission-based. When I worked for them previously, I was just doing marketing and was paid the equivalent of£36k pa.

Not sure what the industry standard would be as it's a unique proposition but I can do some digging.

[PenguinsandPebbles]

You need to understand their expectations of you prior to entering any negotiations around commissions - expectation is key.

contract sales, how many do they expect you to close, what the time scale is for those sales.

My sales people have always had the ability to earn their salary again in commison. So if they are on £50k pa, if they hit 100% of their target they would earn another £50k. I expect most to hit somewhere between 80-100%. My good/hungry sales people earn much more and they earn "hefty" commisons

You need to understand what they expect and be very careful their "hefty" doesn't involve you working full time whilst they pay you part time.

If you expand a bit on time of sales, will you get leads, are you field based, desk based etc I can try and help a bit more tomorrow.

[PenguinsandPebbles]

Sorry I am extremely tired, I just noticed that you mentioned any leads you generate that result in a sale

So your doing lead generation? Then someone else goes off to sell it? You would get less commison for this type of business development volume of leads would need to be high to result in the six sales a year.

I would 100% ask them to outline their expectations, don't get involved prior to that and then you need to make sure it is achievable hopefully the marketing experience will enable you to make an informed judgment