Pay package in sales

[stylez82]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to get everyone's thoughts as to the fairness of a recent job offer I received. Just some background information, I used to work in finance (2+ years experience) in institutional sales and have been searching for a job for the past year with little luck. Finally found something outside of finance but pay is less than before. However, commissions/bonuses could push my total compensation above my previous compensation. So the package is:

HKD20,000/month + commissions/bonuses + health/dental

Would this be considered fair in sales or should I be aiming for a bit more?

[shri]

Selling what?

Also, you have to be very careful about commissions and bonuses, as many of them can be structured to look good on paper .. but you're given a quota that is impossible to make.

[stylez82]

It'll be a luxury good but not in a retail store(so combination of over the phone and in person) .... The commissions are structured so that I would make a commission on every sale instead of having to first reach a stated quota.

[shri]

20K + commish for tele / direct sales is not bad.

Again, consider what you're selling and the volume you're likely to sell when you look at the total cash compensation. Selling a bottle of wine is different from selling a Roll Royce.

I'd expect someone who sells even 1 Rolls Royce a month would make a lot more than $20K basic, if you get my drift.

Best of luck...

[stylez82]

Thanks Shri! So if I were selling Rolls Royces, how much should I be expecting to make as a base?

[UK/HKboy]

even just 20k basic is very very good!
alot of people in non-sales jobs cannot even make that, and the majority of sales do not make that much even including commission!

[stylez82]

Thanks!

But are there no sales jobs outside of finance that even pay close to what financial sales pays (ie Sales directors, relationship managers making 100K+ base or even a junior that starts off in the 30-40K+ range).... I understand that there is a pay gap given the bull market of the last couple of years but this seems like too big of a gap....