You know the difference between a $50,000 salesperson and a $200,000 salesperson? You go broke with the first and get rich with the second!

At some point in time, if you are going to grow your contracting business beyond $2 million, you are going to need someone working on sales full time.

Now, maybe sales is your thing and you want to do that full time. Fantastic. It's almost always best when a business owner is committed to selling. But, if sales isn't your thing then you will definitely need to hire a salesperson. Either way, you are going to be faced with a critical decision: how should you pay your new salesperson? Draw (salary) plus commission? Bonuses for sales generated? Increased commission with increased sales volume? A higher commission for new customers? Straight salary?

All of these are commonly used approaches. Not one of them is likely to produce the profit results you seek.

If you let your salesperson have his way, he will want a draw plus commission. Most will ask for a pretty stout draw and a relatively modest commission based on revenue sold. Don't agree to that!