Continuation of the Bob London of London, Ink “Customer Rant” posts, see previous posts for more information.
Rant #3 I should be able to hire someone for $30k right? If they’re really good they’ll make it up in commissions
Here’s the issue, the good ones know their value and $30k is an insult. You are essentially asking someone with 15+ years of experience with amazing connections that they are essentially going to drop in your lap, someone with a strategic mindset who can build and manage long term relationships and make you look like a genius to accept the equivalent of $15 per hour. Here’s what $30k will get you – $30k will get you someone extremely junior who requires a lot of training and mentoring – aka no commissions coming in any time soon. I’m certainly not saying this is a bad idea – for some it’s a perfect fit – you want to look for a real go getter, someone with a lot of energy but just know they will require a lot of time and energy on your part for training and eventually will leave you at some point for more money. My friend Andy Miller of Big Swift Kick just loves when prospects ask him to work on a success fee only structure. His answer is simply perfect, he says “sure, I’d love to. We’ll just have to make sure the contract is buttoned up and I’ll need 3 references of people who have worked on a success fee with you before where you’ve actually written the big check”. Look this isn’t our first rodeo, we’ve all been asked to do this before and we’ve all said yes and we’ve all been screwed. There are a couple of issues at play here:
- We don’t necessarily have access to all your systems so we have to trust that the numbers we see in the end are correct and you actually have to abide by your word and write the check
- There’s a difference between an increase in sales revenue and an increase in profit. If you add to the expenses at the same time sales are increasing your profit may actually shrink and it wouldn’t be the first time someone has tried to hold us accountable to their inability to manage expenses.
- You need to give us free reign and most CEO’s aren’t willing to let us control all aspects of their sales environment including terminating those who may be a hindrance.
- More so than any of the others, you aren’t taking this seriously. The CEO who is serious about growing their business understands investment.
