Entrepreneurship & Small Business

minimum wage for sales reps?

  • Last Updated:
  • Oct 22nd, 2017 9:53 pm
Newbie
Jul 6, 2017
7 posts

minimum wage for sales reps?

i want to hire sales reps for my retail store, i want to offer them a fair pay plus commissions. Do i have to follow the base pay as any employee if i am offering them a commission salary on top of it? My commission structure is 3% of all sales of the store, workers can sell between $10,000-$30,000 worth of products depending on their performance. Would $10 minimum per hour, cash, be too little? Keep in mind its a very relaxing environment where most of the time the worker just sits there and surf the internet.
10 replies
Jr. Member
User avatar
Aug 15, 2010
169 posts
20 upvotes
Spruce Grove
A good sales rep doensn't surf the Internet at work - instead they followup on leads, learn how to network, work on their sales skills,etc.

Is that 10-30k per month or per year. $10 per hour plus $300 a month is very little. Your top sales person only makes $600 per more so not much incentive. I think the commission end of your equation is too low.
Garland Coulson, "Captain Time"
CaptainTime.com
Newbie
Jul 6, 2017
7 posts
its 10-30k per month in sales with 3% commission on that amount plus the base. That comes up to an average of $17 per hour. And this is after tax. But I want to attract better sales reps so if i have to increase the minimum then i wouldnt mind.
Member
Jan 3, 2017
435 posts
417 upvotes
dnndrk wrote: its 10-30k per month in sales with 3% commission on that amount plus the base. That comes up to an average of $17 per hour. And this is after tax. But I want to attract better sales reps so if i have to increase the minimum then i wouldnt mind.
I don't understand your math. How does $10 per hour +300-900 in commission for the month = $17/hour? are they only working part time?

$300 commission for a 40 hour work week less than an extra $2/hour
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Dec 3, 2009
6029 posts
1391 upvotes
Toronto
Do you mean sales associates?

I guess you could loosely use the terms interchangeably. Sales associates are the ones that work in a retail store, assist customers with their needs and process the transactions like your described here.

Sales reps are the ones networking, looking for leads, and are more commonly doing sales on the road. I was confused with your last thread that you didn't get good candidates for "sales reps".

Anyway, for your job I suggest to hire students if the attraction is down time. I know many students that work concierge at night just so they can study at work.
Remember to be an RFD-er and NOT a degenerate.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Aug 16, 2009
1574 posts
476 upvotes
dnndrk wrote: its 10-30k per month in sales with 3% commission on that amount plus the base. That comes up to an average of $17 per hour. And this is after tax. But I want to attract better sales reps so if i have to increase the minimum then i wouldnt mind.
Your compensation plan for attaining top sales talent is INCREDIBILITY weak. Even if your rep hits their OTE (On Target Earnings) they are still just making a few dollars above minimum wage after taxes. I would suggest spending some time researching Sales Incentive plans and how to attract the right talent.

You want the best and brightest, but you don't want to pay them a live-able wage....do your homework.

http://blog.cashierlive.com/2014/01/10/ ... lespeople/
http://www.furninfo.com/furniture-world-archives/4002
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/differen ... 32319.html
Deal Guru
User avatar
Mar 23, 2008
13006 posts
10009 upvotes
Edmonton
Between this thread and https://forums.redflagdeals.com/hiring- ... p-2117663/, you're fighting an uphill battle. You're paying too close to minimum wage, which explains the responses to your ads and the quality of your hires. And any quality people you might happen to snare aren't going to hang around, because they can do better elsewhere. Spending your time surfing the web loses appeal pretty quickly, so that's not really an attraction. Well, it will attract people who are only interested in jobs that don't require them to do much... Again, not exactly the cream-of-the-crop.

C
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May 24, 2003
4566 posts
1184 upvotes
Golden Horseshoe
A long while ago I was in a commission plus minimum wage sales job, your structure isn't going to attract anyone good or serious.

What the OP assumes is if the sales rep hits $30,000 in sales they make an extra $900 which over 120 hours monthly makes them $7.5 more.

To give you an idea, at the mall in retail there are a few lucrative sales jobs which literally pay out between $1000 (average low end) to over $10,000 a month in commission. I averaged about $4,500 in commission plus minimum wage, which was roughly $6,000 a month before taxes. They paid great commissions along with minimum wage.

To attract the best you need to pay minimum wage and make it more lucrative for your employees otherwise you're going to get the quality of workers that $10/hr will bring.
Newbie
Aug 8, 2017
40 posts
13 upvotes
You want the best and brightest, but you don't want to pay them a live-able wage....
To be honest, this is how most retail stores I am familiar with want to hire/operate. So go easy on him :)
Jr. Member
Jan 31, 2008
163 posts
20 upvotes
Barrie
Keep in mind that by law your employee MUST be paid minimum wage which in January will be $14/hour in Ontario. So if your employee makes $0 commission that pay period, you still have to pay them minimum wage or they can haul you to the labour board.
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Deal Addict
Feb 29, 2012
2654 posts
1461 upvotes
Richmond
Ontario law: https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es ... inimum.php

Employees who must get at least minimum wage includes: "Those paid a commission (where, in the case of sales commissions, the employee is a route salesperson or the sales or offers to purchase goods or services are normally made at the employer’s place of business)".

It's not totally clear who doesn't qualify for minimum wage, but it sounds like the store employees in this case certainly would.

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