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I'm thinking about a commission structure for a sales team I'd like to put together. I've thought about affiliates, resellers, and a sales team and I think I'm going for sales team. As a little background, we launched a web service with 3 plans: $24/month, $49/month, $99/month. Monthly service. I'd like to build long-term relationships with local sales people (as independent contractors). I'm thinking commission only with some type of monthly shares. I'd like to promote the idea of making sales and then sticking around because of the recurring revenue. We can communicate via technology and grab a weekly lunch or something to talk about what's working and what isn't working.

I'd like to find the person who is self-driven, in this for the long term, serious about this, creative, likes to think outside of the box, etc. I was thinking of reaching out to some local colleges first.

I think the best idea would be sales people/promoters but I'm very open to input. If so, how much should the percentage be? Maybe, 50% off first months payment, and 10% thereafter or something? I understand it needs to be fair and I am in this for the win/win.

If anything other than this, maybe instead of them being sales people they would be resellers. The technology we've built allows other people to do whatever they want with it so theoretically someone can resell our service for some niche audience and support those customers. I understand this scales better than affiliate in that the reseller provides customer service. Maybe I should be thinking this instead of sales?

I'm open to any legal tips, agreements I should be looking into (non-compete), or other thoughts. Thank you.

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If I understand correctly, at your highest plan, commission is $158.40 per account per year.(50% x $99 =$49.50 first month per sale plus 10% x $99 x 11= $108.90 for the rest of the year).

From an independent sale person's perspective, one sales person would need to sign up thousands of customers to make this worthwhile if your product is the only thing they sell.

I am not sure what you are selling and how feasible it is for an independent sales person to sell that many accounts but it seems like a huge amount. Maybe reselling and affiliates may be a better route as you really want to sell to many customers.

Or is the monthly fee per user?

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Mike,

You're facing myriad sets of issues.

Without a lot more information there is little chance of providing input that would be useful.

Each of the 'programs' you are thinking about has 'strong' points and 'weak' points. There may even be ways to combine or co-relate them. Unless these factors are taken into account before you establish your system, you are going to lose the opportunity to design a coherent and consistent system, which WILL result in re-design/revision and a lot of other 'soft costs'.

The physical and 'environmental' factors behind your product, your company, your markets, your own personality, will all affect the selection of best methods, even influence the screening criteria for potential marketing partners or direct salespeople.

Please feel free to drop me a line through the website www.abusinessmentor.com.

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