How do I determine a fair commission rate?
February 26, 2008 9:04 AM Subscribe
I'm not a sales person, help!
In a salary negotiation with my boss last month, we came to a compromise where I received a small salary increase and was also told that I could negotiate a commission plan for sales of certain packages I sell for my company. We are a professional association, and part of my job involves handling new and renewing group memberships, which have costs starting at $3,000 and ranging to $20,000. I also work with organizing group certification packages, which bring in anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 each. My job is not a sales position, and I have no background in sales, so my question is this – how do I arrive at a reasonable percentage to propose for commission? My salary is not dismally low, but the expectation was that since I was not given the raise I asked for, I’d be able to make up for it by directly tying my commission income to the work I had done to bring that money into our office. Any advice on how commission percentages are commonly decided on is appreciated.
In a salary negotiation with my boss last month, we came to a compromise where I received a small salary increase and was also told that I could negotiate a commission plan for sales of certain packages I sell for my company. We are a professional association, and part of my job involves handling new and renewing group memberships, which have costs starting at $3,000 and ranging to $20,000. I also work with organizing group certification packages, which bring in anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 each. My job is not a sales position, and I have no background in sales, so my question is this – how do I arrive at a reasonable percentage to propose for commission? My salary is not dismally low, but the expectation was that since I was not given the raise I asked for, I’d be able to make up for it by directly tying my commission income to the work I had done to bring that money into our office. Any advice on how commission percentages are commonly decided on is appreciated.
How many of those packages did you sell last year? If you expect to do about the same this year it should be easy enough to figure out what commission rate would make up the shortfall in your raise. Once you have that percentage, double it and present that number to your boss. He'll like push back, so that gives you room to negotiate down to a number that still gives you a fair shot at working yourself into a raise.
posted by COD at 9:41 AM on February 26, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by COD at 9:41 AM on February 26, 2008 [2 favorites]
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posted by fusinski at 9:15 AM on February 26, 2008