Ask HN: Does your company offer commission for engineers?

[d4n]

I have worked at multiple consulting service companies that offered engineers commission for bringing in new business. Now that I'm at a product company I'm being told this is not industry standard, but am still expected to leverage my personal contacts to aide the sales team. Are there other notable product companies that offer commissions outside the sales department?

[dyeje]

Company asking employees to work their personal contacts is usually a big red flag.

[theli0nheart]

What do you mean? Why do you see this as a red flag?

[dyeje]

If an employer is pressuring you into getting friends, family, etc to buy the product it means the sales pipeline is completely busted.

[smoyer]

I never worked at a company (in the CATV industry) that paid commissions to engineers ... even when the engineer was enlisted to help with the sales process. Leveraging your personal contacts seems like a good way for those "friendships" to dry up. You're not an Amway distributor right?

[d4n]

There's a big difference though between "I helped scope the work and talk with the prospect / demo / whatever" vs. "I was the sole source of this customer and made the introduction." I don't mind bringing something to a friend if they're likely to be genuinely interested in it, but it seems weird for sales to be like "can you introduce me to your connection on LinkedIn."

[muzani]

It happens in consulting companies, not product so much, because consultants can often undercut.

[JohnFen]

I have never heard of a software company that offers commissions like this before, personally. I've also never heard of companies that expect devs to leverage personal contacts on behalf of the sales team.

[idunno246]

ive never seen it for sales either, but ive seen it for recruiting. get everyone in a room, give them a linkedin search, and tell them to add people to a spreadsheet for sourcers to reach out to. i always nope out of those, they cant really force you to give up your friends, so id just ignore any expectation of leveraging contacts

[JohnFen]

> give them a linkedin search, and tell them to add people to a spreadsheet for sourcers to reach out to

Maybe that practice is a big part of what makes LinkedIn so horrible. The constant spam from recruiters is what led me to delete my LinkedIn account.

[Spooky23]

If you’re expected to prospect, I’d slow roll it unless you’re getting paid.

[ewams]

Two questions?

Are you in the USA?

Are you getting a true commission, as in a percentage of the sale or contract value or are you just getting a bonus / referral / finder's fee?

Commissions are not normal for consultants at consulting shops or services companies, at least in the States. Sometimes it is possible to strike a one off deal with a sales team to get a bonus, but definitely not a commission.

Have both been a consultant and sold consulting services, now I'm at a product company doing presales. At consulting shops it's normal for consultants to get a straight salary and then a bonus for hitting a certain billable hour % or total hours for some period (like monthly, quarterly, etc).

There are these things called SPIFFs, basically a bonus for doing something specific, such as demoing a certain product, installing a product with a new feature, etc that consultants sometimes can qualify for. But again, straight commission is not normal. If you find a place that does, it might be a good place to stay!

Unless, they give you a quota then guess what... you aren't a consultant, you are an SE.

I assume you are a consultant at this new place? Relationships are how sales are won. These other people saying it is fishy are not giving you objective advice, this is absolutely normal. Have you never asked someone else for an introduction, reference, or info about to another person or company? This is the same thing.

Depending on how it was communicated to you and that person's personality may have made it seem like a requirement, which it is not. But it is probably a good idea to help for several reasons:

It helps the company increase sales which means they stay alive.

Improves the likelyhood of you having a project.

You, hopefully, are working for a company that has a product(s) which solves business needs, so you would be helping both your contact's company and yours.

It improves your relationship with your original contact and the sales team.

Gives you an opportunity to try some light sales skills, something you may be interested in the future.

I am southern and raised to always be respectful and refuse to sell my soul. With that, you should never feel required to do an introduction or push a product/service when that is not your job or you do not feel it is appropriate. Somes sales people may not like this, but fuck them and their boats.

Feel free to reach out if you want to chat more. I have been working on a sales engineer book which includes information similar to these situations. I'll share it when done.

Good luck!