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Don't salespeople make a lot of money on commission if they're involved in selling expensive equipment? Like, even if they have a 1% commission, if they sell a state of the art MRI machine that goes for $3 million that's a good $30,000 from just one client alone. Even without a salary, it only takes a few sales per year to make a living wage.
They can, but $3mil dollar deals don’t just line up outside your office. Getting 3 of those per year like clockwork probably isn’t normal.
Not normal or everyday perhaps, but the equipment is still needed for other businesses to function.
Also the notion that sales is the most important department in corporate since they, well, bring in the sales.
Also the notion that sales is the most important department in corporate since they, well, bring in the sales.
The sales people can't sell anything without the people who make the actual equipment. On the other hand things still sell without sales people. One of the largest contracts at my company was a company that reached out to us unprompted.
They may have only been able to reach out do to the work of sales getting the company name out there, advertising, or word of mouth through engagement that sales were responsible for. In a healthy company all departments are vital to success.
I never really got this point of view. It seems like possibly the shallowest take you can have about a successful company, imo, besides blaming all success on the CEO. The sales people wouldn't have anything to sell without the people making the goods or service to be sold, and they'd soon be out of a job anyway if the goods and services being produced were no good. The people making the goods and services wouldn't have any work to do without the sales people actually moving product. The CEO is necessary, too, but it would seem to me that the importance any given worker has can be qualified by asking how bad it would be if that entire team disappeared overnight. If the c-suite up and vanished overnight, you probably wouldn't notice for a while, and the business could coast for a bit (not too long) without sales, but it'd be just about instant bedlam if the people at the action layer of the business, the ones who actually provide the service or create the goods the company sells, all vanished.
Sales people generally make a commission, but you're assuming they are selling expensive equipment to begin with. My cousin does inside sales at a tire company, mostly tires for construction vehicles. His commission is based on whether they meet sales numbers, and is considered part of his "normal" income, typically referred to as "on target earnings" or OTE.
A company that beat their number by $6mil and isn't popping champagne means they are probably a billion dollar or more corporation.
Source: I work in pre-sales, get commission, do not get mints or pizza. I did get a $40 credit to our company store, which lets me buy shirts and hoodies with the company logo on it WITH MY OWN MONEY.