Salesmen Commision?

What do you pay your sales people? Do you pay them off gross or net or flat rate?

I never could understand how a quality conscious roofing company would even use commissioned salespeople. There are so many latent problems especially with retrofit jobs. Maybe that is why there are so many disasters out there. Storm chasers are often nothing but salesman.

Apple's -n'-oranges.....I'm w/Natty as well....."Insurance game" is whole 'nuther ethic dimension.....(How's that for "PC"?)

Maybe I'm an idiot too, but I'm with Natty on the 50/50 and agree that we all have our price, but to have established whatever "your price" is, then tell a salesman I'll give you half of anything you get in addition..... Nah, don't agree with that at all.

I've even credited invoices with a nice note about how the job went better than we thought it would and thanks for their trust.

Roofguy Said: Well thats exactly right. It is foolish to suggest that there is one fair price to charge for roofing, as Natty suggests. Every company has a different cost/overhead structure. What he talks about is akin to price fixing.

twill59 Said:

Exactly Twill. I assume you pay by the hour, just like myself(and probably many of the others here.) I don't know how you run business, but I used to be very sloppy. I was really shooting from the hip up until two years ago. Just signing contracts and kickin ass. It seemed like their was no way we were losing money and we weren't on most jobs. I didn't track the money enough.

I got a spreadsheet from GKRFG that helped me tremendously. It was simple, I could have easily made it but I didn't. Now I track every job's hours and I KNOW how we are doing even though I round a few numbers here and there.

What I found was that I was completely wasting my time doing the harder jobs. We were doing them for free quite often, but because we always stayed so busy and didn't watch the books, we never really noticed just how bad we were shortchanging ourself on certain jobs.

I've been consistently making the harder ones more worth my time OR watching the other guys get them. But then again, I just did a trainwreck last week, we made about $250 over the course of three days.

It is nearly impossible to predict your profit without playing the sub game.

Roofguy Said: So you are suggesting I be greedy by taking it all myself?

No, I am trying to get you to explain how taking an upcharge then splitting it 50/50 with your salesman is not price gouging the client whether or not insurance is involved. Seems to me that 10% is plenty to pay a salesman especially since you apparently treat him as an independent contractor.

Roofguy Said: You read what you wanted to read.

There is no line. It is up to the individual contractor to determine what he charges for his work. Much like it is up to the owner to determine how much hell pay.

I get what you are saying but, imagine if it wasnt like this.... Would you really want your competition to determine what you can charge...? Or worse yet... the government...? I think not.

I believe there is a line between a fair and profitable price and price gouging. What roofguy was stating is clearly gouging. He said that he would split any upcharge 50/50 with his salesman if he could get it.

natty Said:

Roofguy Said:

Example of par is lets say we normally charge $300/SQR for a spec. If the salesman gets $400 then he gets 10% + 50% of the amount over our base rate. So the salesman gets 10% + $50/SQR.

Where is the line between a fair price and price gouging? Commercial work may be different, but in residential work, so much of the job is just based on trust. I once knew a salesman who would feel out the prospect, gain their trust, then jack up the price if he felt he could get it. I know this may be standard capitalist practice, but I never thought it was right or fair. I never could do it.

There is no line. It is up to the individual contractor to determine what he charges for his work. Much like it is up to the owner to determine how much he'll pay.

I get what you are saying but, imagine if it wasn't like this.... Would you really want your competition to determine what you can charge...? Or worse yet... the government...? I think not.

Roofguy Said: If we do work for $300/SQR and an adjuster pays $400, the 2 options available to me are to help the insured break the law by doing the work for $300, or doing it for $400.

Roofguy Said:

Example of par is lets say we normally charge $300/SQR for a spec. If the salesman gets $400 then he gets 10% + 50% of the amount over our base rate. So the salesman gets 10% + $50/SQR.

Where is the line between a fair price and price gouging? Commercial work may be different, but in residential work, so much of the job is just based on trust. I once knew a salesman who would feel out the prospect, gain their trust, then jack up the price if he felt he could get it. I know this may be standard capitalist practice, but I never thought it was right or fair. I never could do it.

That would be me, and I keep whatever is left.