Salary Negotiations

The commission is based off of ad sales. I will request the commission structure in writing now.

At this point, what they are offering is not lucrative enough to leave my current job. If I counter with a base range and they decline, that's ok. I just feel I am being undervalued at this point.

 

I think that is a good plan. Good luck to you.

 

Thank You. Also I noticed that in her email she said "25k a year for the 1st 90 days." Does this mean that after 90 days, I will be working on straight commission and no longer receive base pay?

 

One of the things that you may want to consider is the slow decline in print readership of todays newspapers and magazines. In the lat couple of years alone, the Washington Post has dropped just over 13% in print readership.

Here is an article from earlier this year. BTW...good luck in all of your endeavors !!!

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.../3437-newspaper-circulation-continues-decline

 

You know I saw that and was a little confused by it. If you go to a draw or straight commish after 90 days I would run like the wind.

 

Yeah, I'll have to inquire about that as well. I just sent off an email requesting commission structure and whether or not I will be required to start from scratch, or if some accounts or leads will be acquired on my behalf.

 

This is the latest reply I received in regards to commission structure and account acquisition:

"Jacob:

The 5 % commission would be the base commission earning potential plus additional bonus commission structure of:

Ad run totals Commission increase bonus
$4000-$4999 - 1% (total of 6%)
$5000-$5999- 2% (total of 7%)
$6000-$6999- 3% (total of 8%)
$7000-$7999- 4% (total of 9%)
$8000+ 5% (total of 10%)

The bonus system (higher commission rate) awards higher commission rates in weekly ad run money. In order to receive the higher commission rate on weekly ad run money you must have a minimum of $2000 in ad run money the week prior to the one you qualify for the bonus.
For Example: If you achieve $5,000 in ad run money for the 8-5 issue but only achieve $1,700 for the 7-29 Issue, then you would get just the regular 5% commission on the 8-5 paper instead of 7%.

Also if you maintain an average of $5,000 in weekly ad sales for an entire month, you are eligible for a $1,000 bonus. This is on top of your base salary and commission.

Normally, when you start as an Account Executive, you build your accounts from the bottom up. You may receive a handful of accounts to get you going, but that’s something you could further discuss with --------, the person that interviewed you, if you would like additional confirmation on that subject. Let me know if you would like her contact information or if I can be of any further assistance to you."

 

That does make it a little more lucrative if you continue to build your portfolio which is nice.

 

So I should still try negotiate base commission though right?

 

Dot.

I wouldn't negotiate more vacation time. 2 weeks is a bit for just starting. Seems to be great benefits.

 

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Do you get any good "previous or house accts." to start ... or do you need new accts. for commission ?

How established is/was this territory previous to the present day. It is protected and do they have "house accts." ??

What is the "total volume" from the sales territory now ? What and where is the largest territory & how long has the same guy worked it ?

IMO .. a few more questions to ask and good luck.
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I've emailed her again to get a contact for one of the current sales reps (the one I interviewed with). I want to ask her about house accounts like you said. Likely I will be starting with nothing, or some scraps that the current reps don't want.

I asked for them to clarify what exactly "$25k a year for the first 90 days" meant.

I really hate asking them all these questions, but then again this is probably information that should have been included in the original proposal.

 

I would think long and hard about this job. It sounds as though this is a 100% commission job in which they're guaranteeing that you'll make the equivalent of $25k/year for the first 90 days...after that your pay won't be guaranteed---of course, I'm just reading into this.

Also, you might want to take a look at the publication from about 3 or 4 years ago and compare it to the most recent editions. Is the publication noticeably thinner? If so, that's due to a drop in ad spend. Many print publications are going out of business cause they can no longer afford to pay the bills, there just aren't enough folks willing to spring for ads and traditional print publication's costs are high compared to their online equivalents. It's a dynamic affecting all publications not just small papers but big papers in large cities and national magazines.

Also, does your publication have an online component? Will the ads show up there as well as in print? Who is the target audience of the publication? If it's high end rather than a mass audience publication it could also limit the type of businesses that would want to advertise in it. For example a Mercedez dealer wouldn't advertise in a "thrifty nickle" publication and likewise your local mom and pop restaurant probably won't advertise in a publication geared towards higher income readers....and there are far fewer high end advertisers.

I really don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm, I just want you to go in with both eyes open. Whichever way you go I wish you complete success!

 

More times than not commissions are not negotiable. I do not negotiate them at least. I would be more interested in the house accounts and if you have a chance at those, who is going to manage the accounts after the person that is retiring leaves?

Also someone made a point about internet. That is a good point, it makes the sale a little easier if the company gets a web presence as well. I will always look more favorable on an ad deal if I get some back links. That SEO value is great.

 

They do have a website which is growing. When I interviewed, I want to say she said they were averaging about 4 mil hits a month.

 

Below is the most recent response:

"
Minimum Monthly Average “Ad Run Sales”

Base Salary (rate per annum)

Over $7,000 $40,000

$5,500-$6,999.99 $35,000

$4,000-$5,499.99 $30,000

$3,000-$3,999.99 $25,000

$2,000-2,999.99 $16,900



The above information is how your base salary would be calculated following the 90 day training period, so no you will not be drawing on strictly commission after the first 90 days, the base would still be in effect. Each month your average weekly sales would be looked at to determine the following months base salary.

You can call xxxx on her cell phone at xxxxx and she will be happy to answer any questions you may have. You have my contact information so please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me for any further assistance as well as a reply to our offer of employment to you. We would appreciate a reply by this Friday.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you,"

 

To clarify, I would need to average these numbers weekly, to meet the base salary.

I am going to draft a counter offer tonight. I am going to request my current pay guaranteed for 6 months, rather than the 25k for 30 days they are offering now. I'm not sure if commission is negotiable, but I am going to request 6.5% rather than the 5% offered. I won't try to negotiate benefits or vacation time, or gas and cell phone allowance. Sound reasonable?

 

I think negotiating a longer guarantee pay is a smart idea. I still dont think they will budge on commission payouts, might also seem a little greedy.

In reading your previous post about the payouts after the first 90 days I think a 6 month ramp up period is a fair number. They are capping you at 40K as well. It might be impossible to reach those numbers but a company that caps commission is shooting themselves in the foot. Why would you want to sell over a certain amount if you are not going to get paid? The salesman I pay the most make me the most money, period. It is a win win situation, and you don't have top notch salespeople looking for new jobs because you are capped. I want to keep my best sales people, and if that means uncapping commish I am all for that.

 

The more I think about it, I think I might just stick with negotiating base salary.

Also there is no cap on commission, only base salary at 40k. The more I ask the company questions and get their feedback, the more I feel comfortable about taking the job. I have been in communication with one of their sales reps and she has been very helpful. They have a lot of tools in place to help the sales reps succeed. She said that there are only 7 reps working there, including herself, and of those 7, 5 have been there for 2 years or more.

She also said that last year was their biggest year to date for ad sales, even given the status of the economy.

Readership is also a bit higher than I thought. Right now hovering around 10k, with another 3-5k buying the paper from newsstands, with approx 3.5 views per paper.

Obviously, this is a position that will take a lot of hard work, something I don't have a problem with.

 

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Maybe it is just me, but with the info. posted on this thread and reading between the lines ... I might let this potential job pass by ...

Unless you feel that you are about to be jobless.

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