[alain94040]

Ideally, you'd want to hire a salesperson who has experience selling into exactly those accounts. Given the current job market, it's easier than it has been in a long time.

However, be careful of con artists (also known as sales people). It's very difficult to properly interview sales people (read http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2009/03/27/im-a-geek-how-do-i-p... for details).

Bottom line: use references and strong recommendations, use your network, don't hire blind.

[cliffdickerson]

Alain,

Thanks for the link, and good advice. That's the trouble I'm having now is all the sales people I do know I would consider con artists before I'd call them good sales people.

I'm also having a hard time with compensation. Do you pay a flat % for a sale coming from the "setup fee" and then a small % of the recurring monthly fee's or just a flat salary?

[brk]

Do you pay a flat % for a sale

Most are going to want a base+commission sort of plan. You basically determine what the position is worth, we'll say it's worth $100K/yr to use a round number. Now, you determine (part art, part science) what the base vs. variable should be, lots of factors go into this, including how probable it is that the person has a decent shot at being successful. Most skilled sales people will also require an accelerator (if they exceed quota by x%, they get a y% bonus on top of the standard comp).

Then there is also the issue of recoverable vs. non-recoverable draws, if you do any draw at all (I'd try not to).

EDIT: I just realized I left this half-finished...

So if the overall comp is 100K, you might say 75K is base, paid like any regular base, and the 25K is tied to revenue. You'll have a monthly or quarterly goal, with the 25K applied in proportion to the revenue goals. Which means that they might earn ~1K in comp Jan, Feb, Mar, $2.5K in Apr, 3K in May, and so on. You can also divide the 25K by 4, set a quarterly all-or-nothing goal, or a dozen other combinations.

You'll also need to learn more about sales than it sounds like you currently know to prevent yourself from getting steamrolled by someone who knows how to take advantage of the situation.

[cliffdickerson]

Good info thank you. Without a doubt I need to learn more. I'm just a dumb tech person.

[alain94040]

base + commission. 50% commission is considered aggressive, but offers job security to the sales person. Less base, and it's almost a commissions-only job. Which is acceptable: lots of people work as rep, where the retainer is 0 or very small.