Running a small busines: sales, business development, marketing

[mrsrobinson]

Talks have progressed well. I have been doing some business development work off hours and just got a RFP, so it's time to start talking compensation. I met with the owner again last night and he is ready to commit to me and I am ready to commit to him.

In this industry I have always been on the side after the sale so i am not familiar with the sales process.

My questions for the folks here who have worked in the IT consulting industry, on the sales side, is how are sales folks paid typically? 3 potential pieces of business/revenue are:

1 - turn key full SDLC projects, solicited and/or from a RFP
2 - staff aug
3 - contract work (3, 6, 9+ month contracts)

All 3 are billable time; send a body out to the client.

I am hearing 3-6% of billable time. We have discussed 100% commission and we have discussed a base plus commission. I want to have enough information to be prepared to discuss this with the owner next week.

Thanks

 

[fwebster]

Don't do this without a contract spelling out the terms of your deal, specifically, the profit sharing, ownership/partnership parts of your agreement.

It is funny how "things change" when it comes time to write big checks or to give up part of a business. It is weird, but the more successful you are in creating profit, the worse this problem seems to become.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Thanks Frank, agreed. I've had similar conversations before joining previous companies where nothing was in writing and guess what, nothing ever happened. Lesson learned.