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A comment on Why do we pay sales commissions?. Parent comment

Re:Why do we pay sales commissions? by tptacek on Thursday January 05, 2012 @01:16AM (#3427675)
In the 3 companies I've worked at where I worked closely with direct sales teams, the ones who beat their numbers stick around, the ones who don't get fired. Your salary is the base pay you get whether you clear your numbers or not.

It's weird to call that "expert opinion". I'm not an "expert" at managing sales teams, though I've hired salespeople in 2 companies (I've never done sales or managed a sales organization). But we're right now not so much discussing my opinions about direct sales as we are talking about basic facts.

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Re:Why do we pay sales commissions? by jacques_chester on Thursday January 05, 2012 @06:29PM (#3431113)
I agree with you, personally; commissions have their place.

That said we don't really know. Everyone uses commissions because everyone agrees that they work. But I'm not sure we've tested the alternative. That's why the Fog Creek trial will be interesting.

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