Telesales Job selling advertising for PokerNews Magazine

[Newmanseye]

the mags have affiliate codes in their ads right? I read somewhere that Cardplayer is a huge affiliate for Party etc. Does our salesperson get 15% of any affiliate revenue that comes in from ads he sold?

dont be daft,  It will be revenue from point of sale only, if you get affiliate revenue this could be a sweet gig for a good sales person.

[ariston]

Anyone on here that may have thought i could make some extra cash at that will now think im just going to get the piss taken out of me by people fortunate enough to be in a "good job"

ppl can do what they like.  I'm entitled to my opinion about commission only sales and my opinion is that a company that offers such a position is not confident that the person they select will be sucessful (ie profitable for them) if they offer a basic + bonus.  The only reason for this could be that they have no idea what the demand is for their product and are not willing to take a the risk of employing someone on conventional terms.

there can be many reasons to have commision only sales personel. Between the ages of 17 and 28 I worked for a couple of companies and ran a couple. When I was on the sales side of things I earned 80k+ a year. I worked harder than most in a 9-5 job. As sales manager our wage bill (well the commision paid out by us) at one company was in excess of 100k a week so to make sweeping remarks about commision only sales jobs unless you have experience of them is foolish.

In sales if you are offering a basic and bonus you will get a rep who can be lazy. Its also far more complicated with things like being left in the lurch when your rep goes on holiday, is off sick etc. You will find with commision only reps when they go on holiday they will have already sold all their space beforehand for spending money so they still have target hit and they just dont have time off sick.

I am not interested in the job Mel but if you want to know a few angles that you won't have already thought of I will happily give them to you no worries.

[doubleup]

so to make sweeping remarks about commision only sales jobs unless you have experience of them is foolish.

I don't dispute that some ppl make money from commission only sales, but the majority of those who try don't and when the overall effort of all those trying to make money is considered, it is a poorly paid job.  I stand by my assertion that a company that is confident of the demand for its product would happily provide a conventional sales package. 

[ariston]

so to make sweeping remarks about commision only sales jobs unless you have experience of them is foolish.

I don't dispute that some ppl make money from commission only sales, but the majority of those who try don't and when the overall effort of all those trying to make money is considered, it is a poorly paid job.  I stand by my assertion that a company that is confident of the demand for its product would happily provide a conventional sales package. 

again awful generalisation- the majority of those who try don't make money???
those who try to do any skilled job for the first time, many don't succeed. If you try and fail and are on a nice fat basic the company loses but at least you can sit on your arse getting paid- this type of sales job gets people fresh out of university with a marketing degree with no sales experience. For someone to come in as a commision only rep you are going to get someone who can do the job- if they can't then they aren't getting paid. I know probably 50 people in the blackpool area still in sales and all making £50k+ per year. obviously though your assertion (or is it assumption meaning you have no sales background yourself) is far more informed. All sales people should be paid performance related- if you dont sell you don't get paid and you are only as good as last weeks figures. As for sales being a poorly paid job it depends if you are any good at it- in advertising sales it is not uncommon to get £5k+ on a good week- some people work a few months for that sort of money.

[londonpokergirl]

I hope the proof reader isnt on commission, he would have earned fk all since the mag was launched  LOL

it is pretty dire - it's become a bit of a game round this way to find the funniest mistakes!

Mel - if you do decide to sack the proofreader and need someone to do a bit, give me a shout - I've got a lot of experience.  I've done a bit of proof-reading in my time too.

er, the editor might be the proof-reader 

they have a good writer or two though 

no not me

[londonpokergirl]

so to make sweeping remarks about commision only sales jobs unless you have experience of them is foolish.

I don't dispute that some ppl make money from commission only sales, but the majority of those who try don't and when the overall effort of all those trying to make money is considered, it is a poorly paid job.  I stand by my assertion that a company that is confident of the demand for its product would happily provide a conventional sales package. 

again awful generalisation- the majority of those who try don't make money???
those who try to do any skilled job for the first time, many don't succeed. If you try and fail and are on a nice fat basic the company loses but at least you can sit on your arse getting paid- this type of sales job gets people fresh out of university with a marketing degree with no sales experience. For someone to come in as a commision only rep you are going to get someone who can do the job- if they can't then they aren't getting paid. I know probably 50 people in the blackpool area still in sales and all making £50k+ per year. obviously though your assertion (or is it assumption meaning you have no sales background yourself) is far more informed. All sales people should be paid performance related- if you dont sell you don't get paid and you are only as good as last weeks figures. As for sales being a poorly paid job it depends if you are any good at it- in advertising sales it is not uncommon to get £5k+ on a good week- some people work a few months for that sort of money.

Ariston you are bang on with what you say about commission only sales.  I've been in sales for 14 years , and having worked for 2 of the biggest advertising companies being yellow pages (who i hated working for with a passion but £30k basic plus commission) turned up and earnt a good crust, and Thomson local directories whom was on £18k but with a better commission structure

I've worked for 2 companies on a commission only basis and earnt a very good living from it.

We are doing it on a commission only basis because we are a very new magazine and we are slowly making our way in the market place, and yes there are a few mistakes here and there but we're only human.  We would rather get a good person who likes working from home, is self motivated and likes to earn a bit whilst doing it. 

For selling one of the smaller adverts you're looking at 450 euros, so if you only want to work a few hours a day its really up to you what you want to earn.

We have contacts in the poker world so its not exactly cold calling although you will need to find new poker rooms (throughout the world), or maybe poker related companies to work with and sell advertising to

Any good sales person could do this job standing on their head.  The earning capacity is there its up to you whether or not you want to achieve or not

[Pokerron]

Have to disagree with Ariston.   Most decent sales people working for decent companies earn £30-40k+ basic and at least as much again in commission.   On a part time basis its fine, but who wants to have a job that offers no protection for holidays, illness, births, deaths etc? 

Saying that paying a basic to a rep makes them lazy is incorrect, any saleperson worth their salt would not be able to survive on their basic alone. 

[Dingdell]

Have to disagree with Ariston.   Most decent sales people working for decent companies earn £30-40k+ basic and at least as much again in commission.   On a part time basis its fine, but who wants to have a job that offers no protection for holidays, illness, births, deaths etc? 
Saying that paying a basic to a rep makes them lazy is incorrect, any saleperson worth their salt would not be able to survive on their basic alone. 

I take it your employed then?? All self employed people dont get paid when on holiday etc. Everytine a client doesn't show up for an appointment I have lost money.

[Robert HM]

Have to disagree with Ariston.   Most decent sales people working for decent companies earn £30-40k+ basic and at least as much again in commission.   On a part time basis its fine, but who wants to have a job that offers no protection for holidays, illness, births, deaths etc? 
Saying that paying a basic to a rep makes them lazy is incorrect, any saleperson worth their salt would not be able to survive on their basic alone. 

I take it your employed then?? All self employed people dont get paid when on holiday etc. Everytine a client doesn't show up for an appointment I have lost money.

You tell 'em. Same boat again but wouldn't have it any other way.

[ariston]

Have to disagree with Ariston.   Most decent sales people working for decent companies earn £30-40k+ basic and at least as much again in commission.   On a part time basis its fine, but who wants to have a job that offers no protection for holidays, illness, births, deaths etc? 

Saying that paying a basic to a rep makes them lazy is incorrect, any saleperson worth their salt would not be able to survive on their basic alone. 

show me a job that lets me have as many holidays as I want when I want and I may be interested. The point you want holiday protection as well as illness/births/deaths etc proves my point exactly. Lets ask dingdell or robert hm how many days off sick they have had in the last few years and ask you the same question- I can guarantee I know which figure is greater. Theres no ringing in sick when you have a little cold or a hangover or the footies on the telly- you dont work you dont get paid, exactly how it should be.

As for earning 30-40 basic and as least as much again for the better reps- thats for 44 weeks a year (or whatever employed people get as holidays). £80k is doable in a quarter when its tax time or you have a few bills to pay. I still do the odd week sales (last week I did was last August) and usually clear 5 or 10k for a week or twos graft. Over the last 7 or 8 years I have gone and done the odd week when I have run bad and gone broke but I really don't enjoy selling anymore and hate working so before anyone says how come I dont go back and do it all the time I would ask them to consider theres more to life than money.

[RED-DOG]

10k for a weeks work and you don't want to bo it?

I don't care how good you are at selling, I'm not buying that.

[ariston]

10k for a weeks work and you don't want to bo it?

I don't care how good you are at selling, I'm not buying that.

well im not selling it tom

if you read my post it was 5 or 10k for a week or twos work. The problem with sales was there were good sites and not so good sites. I had many good sites where I would earn those sort of figures and then wouldnt bother with the not so good or bad sites. This would lead to me working maybe 1 or two weeks in a month when I was doing it "full time". I have over the last 10 years sold over a million pounds worth of advertising just in Cork which is where I still do the odd week, whether you believe it or not is something I dont care about. I go maybe once or twice a year at festival time and do a weeks work while I am there. Maybe next time you see chubbs you can ask him to confirm the figures a good commision only sales rep will earn in the advertising game- maybe you will believe him over me.

my record comimsion cheque which I am quite proud of was £25k and change for 2 weeks when I worked Jersey and Guernsey safeways a good few years ago and I am not saying all reps sold this ammount of space- I was always number one at any company I worked for doing the fewest weeks graft. The average reps would probably only earn 40 or 50k a year.

[RED-DOG]

In that case, I take my hat off to you for turning that amount down 

[ariston]

I spent years living out of a car and hotels tom and its not a matter of turning it down there just really is more to life than money. Chubbs was in the same game and knew me before poker and will confirm the stupid ammounts of money good reps could earn but there were also many downsides.

[Pokerron]

Have to disagree with Ariston.   Most decent sales people working for decent companies earn £30-40k+ basic and at least as much again in commission.   On a part time basis its fine, but who wants to have a job that offers no protection for holidays, illness, births, deaths etc? 
Saying that paying a basic to a rep makes them lazy is incorrect, any saleperson worth their salt would not be able to survive on their basic alone. 

I take it your employed then?? All self employed people dont get paid when on holiday etc. Everytine a client doesn't show up for an appointment I have lost money.

You tell 'em. Same boat again but wouldn't have it any other way.

Tracey - There's a difference between being self employed and being a salesperson on commission only.   If you are self employed you are normally trading/earning off the strength of the product/service you personally provide and have control over, so the downsides are worth the risk.   You dont have the option of having things as they are now, but also getting £3k a month guaranteed income, if you did I assume you'd take it?  Long time, no speak by the way!!!

Ariston, you seem to be talking about the sort of salespeople who earn £12-£15k a year and who take the piss, I am talking about protection for serious illness, not a cold!     Anyway, look on any sales recruitment site and count the number of decent jobs with large companies who offer commission only.   Then look at the number of £100k OTE jobs out there that come with a £40k+ basic wage.    If commission only was so convenient why do the companies pay so much to recruit and keep sales professionals and why is there so little demand for it?