Salary Commission ?

Question

My husband was a dock supervisor for a trucking company, and we decided to have another child and move back to our home city three hours from there and so he resigned...he began selling cars for a family friend who opened a used car lot (not some gross place but a decent place) and now that he has been doing this for about a year and a half he is just unhappy...he does love sales, but he needs to work somewhere that is salary plus comission. Becuase of the two jobs he has had have been well paying our monthly $ need is about 5K...but where can he go for a job that is salary plus comission so we know what amount he will make for sure on slow months? I am a mom to our two boys under 3 and we also just started an on-line business, but it has not yet grown enough to be our primary source of income.

Please let me know your SERIOUS suggestions for salary plus comssion jobs with his experience...

Thanks so much.

Answer 1

Has he considered going to another car lot? I know a car salesmen that had a similar situation and he went to a different dealership where they offered salary plus commission, however, I will tell you that the commission was at a much lower rate (to compensate for having a salary).Also, he had to sell so much (value/price not amount) in three months or he'd be fired. So it was like he had a monthly quota.

What about going back to getting another job for a trucking company working the docks again? My only other suggestion would be being a food vendor for Pepsi, Little Debbie, Coca Cola etc. The people that sell the products to the stores and load up the shelves. My dad did this while I was growing up and made about 70+K per year (which is more than 5K each month). Plus even though there was not set salary (at least not with the company he worked with) it was never a problem because people always eat. Even though in summer people may not be buying as much...they are still buying.  

Answer 2

None.

I believe your spouse or you need to work for a company that has benefits especially medical benefits for your family, plus a solid work week so your family can STAY together.

I believe you need to realize that working for sales means that you have times when you don't make much money, and times when you make much more.

If you want a balance in your life, one of you needs to have a solid working environment and working from home unless you're a lawyer, or CPA just doesn't make enough money.

During the slow months (when I was working in the real estate sales market while working my way through college), I found  part time work elsewhere (grocery stores - even if your husband has to work in the trucking end).

GOD bless us always, IN all ways.

Answer 3

Seriously, I worked for Foot Locker for 5 years.  They have excellent pay as managers, but he will have to start out as an assistant manager first.  As a manager I made close to 50k a year.  Assistant managers make salary plus commission, managers are salary plus bonuses.  if he likes the retail and sales part, then this is the job for him.  it does have long hours, but so does car salesmen.  

Answer 4

It's good that he really "likes" selling because there's an inexhaustible number of sales jobs waiting to be filled.  Of course, he doesn't want to sell just anything.  His best bet would be to sell a high end, reputable product.  

The economy is so depressed right now that it's going to be hard for him to determine the kind of product he would like to align with.

However, more importantly, in my opinion, is negotiating methods of payment.

It's been my experience that salary plus commission jobs come with an almost unattainable quota!  I've watched dozens of salesmen sit and listen to ridiculous sales payment plans and then without any negotiation, accept the plan as offered.  They were, in effect, being set up for failure; and fail, they did!  What they didn't know, was that they had a lot of ground on which to negotiate.  But they took the first offer and worked themselves into a hole.

You should do some research and try to learn as much as you can about how jobs pay and what you should expect from certain positions.

Wish I could give you the name of a company but it isn't possible.

Good Luck guys!