A - I don't like working evenings. A lot of times it is hard to go knocking on doors in a bad part of town. Some people don't have much money anyway and to show up all dressed up; it's an uncomfortable situation for me. I don't like to think of myself as a pushy door-to-door salesman.
It is very competitive between agents, not within my company but with agents at other companies. It's straight commission, so unless I end up actually writing the contract, I can spend all my time for nothing. So the thing that bothers me most is the lack of loyalty to an agent. For example, a family looking to buy comes to me for help finding a house. I take them around, get them comfortable in the area, and spend a lot of time with them. Then one night they drive by and see an open house, and run in and take it. I'm out the commission and all the time I spent.
Q - Is there a lot of stress associated with direct sales?
A - It's very stressful. I can move now and make the salary, or wait and starve. My clients deal with all the brokerage firms. If I'm not calling them, someone else is. There are a lot of ups and downs. One day I'm as happy as heaven because my stocks are holding well and I'm making money; the next day everything goes wrong.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I would say 15. Actually about 7 for me. But others feel it is 10, especially people who are in this business to support their family on a straight commission basis. That's tough.
If I were to quit, the reason would be insecurity of the job. There is always the pressure to produce - it's a numbers game. You've got to put numbers on the board, show everybody else what you are doing, everybody sees, there is always someone on your tail. When you have a bad night, there is pressure to perform the next day.
Q - Do you have any advice for someone considering a career in direct sales?
A - If you're the type of person who likes to know every month you're going to have a certain amount of money, then I'd say you better go get a salaried position. But realize that for the rest of your life you'll be working for somebody else, and that somebody else is the person who is taking the risk. The person with the big house, the big car, and the big money is the one who is taking the risk. The person who doesn't take the risk never makes it.
I'm getting real good experience doing what I'm doing now, and I think people in a management marketing position know that direct selling is one of the toughest things to do; they can't see themselves going out and knocking on doors. If you come in and have been a successful "door man" they admire you.
I'd say the best way to begin a career like my own is to be single. Because I'm on a straight commission, I have to bear the lean months. I wouldn't suggest that anyone planning on getting married and starting a family go into it. Also, anyone thinking about it had better have a lot of confidence, because there's going to be a lot of rejection. Someone who doesn't have confidence is going to be hurt.
Q - How are you compensated?
I get paid straight commission, so my efforts are directly rewarded. If I have an extremely good month, I may lay back a little bit the next month and not push myself quite as hard. If I'm having a poor month, I'll work myself harder.
100 percent commission. Whatever the customer paid a month, I get in commission, between $9 and $35, the average is $20. We're told we should work six days a week and make three sales a night. The weekly quota has since dropped to 15.
As a territory manager, my earning opportunity has gone up- more potential contacts, more homes, more people phoning in who want the service. And I still get the commission. I can set up appointments with people who call in; it doesn't count toward your quota, but it's another couple hundred dollars per month.
There is no salary in this business; it is all commission. The commission rate is 7 percent on the total sale of a property. But that is divided up in many ways. Four percent stays with the listing company, and 3 percent goes to the selling company. That is divided with your broker, so generally as an agent you are operating on about 1.50 to 1.75 percent of the sales price.
There is pressure to produce the numbers, the quota, but you don't need unethical means to get them, like taking them from somebody else's territory. That doesn't go on. The management doesn't care how many hours you work; if you have five sales by 5:00 in the evening, the supervisor will be the first one to tell you you're playing nine holes of golf.
The first of every month is the day I look forward to in door-to-door, because that was when the welfare checks came, and I knew the people that got the welfare checks. I followed the person delivering the mail. They'd get their checks, and I'd have to talk to them in the next couple of days before they got rid of their money.
