It's very hard to give you any answers since there's so many different ways this could be handled.  I think you need to have this dicussion with the owner, but here are a few ideas which might help you. 1. First, is there a draw against commission?  Recoverable or non-recoverable?  I would suggest that you ask for at least some recoverable draw amount for the first 3 months or so.  Rather than a flat rate commission, I would structure a sales plan to use a sliding scale to incentivize your sales and those of your sales force. If the target amount of the commission portion of the company's SG&A budget is roughly 12%, then starting at (for example) 8% for the first 200k in booked revenues could be reasonable. Then 10% for the next 200k, 12% for the 400k and 15% for anything over that.   2. As you transition more into management rather than direct sales, your compensation should be more bonus based rather than commission based.  The bonus should be based on achieving overall revenue goals, new business goals, new product sales goals, etc and should also use a sliding scale based on how well you met the revenue targets.  How you use your contacts to generate sales is up to you. 3. Gross profit is a key component.  Allowing a sales person to be compensated based on revenue rather than gross profit is opening the door to sales reps selling on price alone.  No company wants that.  Use a forumula that takes into account both factors.  For example, no commission will be paid on sales with GPM of less than 75% of target.  At 75% of target, you could calculate a commission by using a forumula of .75 X commission. Then set benchmarks at 85%, 95%, 105% up to a max of 120%.  Reward the good sales rep for achieving company profit goals and closing deals.  Nick the poor sales rep for not but also keep in mind that sometimes you have to give up something to close a deal.   Keep in mind that there is a difference between prospecting and account maintenance. New business should be rewarded more highly since there's more effort involved than simply farming an existing account. 4. Any residuals will be governed by a sales compensation plan and/or state law.  Some states, notably Connecticut, require that commissions be paid out following termination for deals that were completed by the date of termination.  Most states, however, don't.  You may find that you won't have any right to any commissions following a termination for any reason. By all means, develop a solid sales compensation agreement before you join this company.  it can be a very simple one that doesn't address everything above (and more), but at least have something.
Posted by nork4