This summer, I put together a list of the highest paying sales reps in the world. I then went out and polled the online world to see what the average salaries were for the top sales reps. Let me just say, I get it, sales is a tough gig, but they are definitely worth it.
Sure, there are a lot of sales reps out there who are barely making a living. Most of them are not in sales because they have all that free time/money and don’t have to really sell anything. Some of them are doing it just because they want to make money. What’s sad about that is the most expensive and highest-paid sales rep is probably one that’s making $30 million.
Sales reps are hard enough to find. So many companies will pay for their services and continue to pay them. The ones who arent successful are only doing so so they can quit. Ive been through a lot of sales, and this is one of the hardest ones. It takes a lot of commitment and consistency. You can be successful in sales, but you cant expect to make a living that way.
The biggest problem with getting a company into the sales process is that they have to be willing to invest the money to get the job done. So they are forced to build a team to help them. In this case, the sales reps are being forced to build teams to help them.
Paycom wants to be a leader. If you’re a business owner, you want to be part of the team. But if you’re not, you’re not. Your team is your boss, and you only have one life. That’s one of the things you’re supposed to be doing. Paycom is really one of them. You’re actually working on the next step of the new job. What they have to say is that they are going to get you into the business of selling.
The job is called “sales”, but youre not being paid for it. Paycom sees this as a chance to make a splash and build their own business. When they first started, they saw the opportunity to push their business by building a great team. Now they are pushing their business by hiring a bunch of sales people, and then they get to hire more sales people because they know that it will be more lucrative to sell to people who can afford it.
When I asked Paycoms VP of Sales who he thought was the best salesperson there, he didn’t hesitate to answer. He said that he thought the best salesperson he ever had was a lawyer. I don’t think he was exaggerating about sales jobs, but if you want to hire a lawyer and pay them, do so.
This is the same thing that has happened in the past at other top-tier companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft. The reason is that the most effective salespeople are the ones who are the best at making a deal in the first place. If people are willing to pay a lot of money to get things from you, it’s going to be harder for you to sell things to them.
In general most salespeople are terrible, but there are some exceptions. Salespeople who are great at making deals are the best salespeople. Some of them have to work a lot of hours to get a good deal (if they arent selling something else) so they have to be good at sales, and a lot of salespeople hire salespeople who are not as good. But generally, its always the case that the best salespeople are the ones who have the best deals.
I’ve heard enough stories about sales reps to know that many of them are in the same boat. These salespeople that are great at finding deals and then selling them are the ones that are the most successful. The good salespeople are the ones that make lots of money, and they can usually afford to have a nicer house than the rest.