# Salesperson Compensation for Gutter Company?



## UltraDave (Jun 6, 2015)

I have a gutter business for which I do all sales. My job has grown beyond what I can handle alone, so I'm really wanting to bring on a sales person to take over that part for me. But I have no idea how salespeople are compensated.

I'm sure there are many variables such as duties and what is provided to the sales person such as phone, vehicle, etc. 

As for duties, I really cannot imagine someone selling a job and then not managing it. Just too many details that go into a sale that need to be translated into reality and I would think the customer expects to deal with the person who sold the job, right? So I would assume the salesman would also deal with ordering material, writing up plans for crews, deal with the customer and scheduling and collect. Am I right here or way off?

As for what the company provides, I really don't know. I'm not totally against providing a vehicle, phone etc. I just want don't want to if it's not usual to do so.

Can anyone offer some advice?


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## WBailey1041 (Jan 31, 2014)

This is simple, don't hire anyone, raise your prices and charge for estimates. What's your current estimate vs close ratio?


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## UltraDave (Jun 6, 2015)

I appreciate your reply but I am still very interested in how salespeople are compensated.

Is there nobody here who runs a gutter (or similar) company that has grown to the point where they need to hire salespeople?


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## BamBamm5144 (Jul 12, 2008)

You'd need to sell lots of gutters to make any money as a gutter salesman. You'd need to sell 10 or so jobs a week just to make a decent living.


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## CompleteW&D (May 28, 2011)

Typical sales commission in the exterior home improvement business is 10%. But like Jake says, you'd have to sell a LOT of gutter jobs for a guy to earn a decent living at 10%. You could give an additional 5% if he generated his own lead. Plus there are the gutter protection add-ons where you can really mark them up quite a bit.

But, he would still need to be a real hustler to earn a decent living. Maybe you could work out some sort of bonus arrangement if he hits sales goals that you set, but then you're really starting to eat into your profits and would likely need to raise your prices.

Unless of course, you already sell 6" gutters and downspouts in the $15 - $18 per foot range, but my guess is, probably not. :whistling


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## CompleteW&D (May 28, 2011)

Plus, not knowing where you are located, a gutter salesman may only have a few months out of the year to make hay.

Making an assumption that you have your own gutter machine and can handle the extra work, maybe he/she could call on other contractors and secure their gutter business at a reduced percentage.

With that entire package available to them, I could see where a gutter salesman could at least earn a living.


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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

Guys at my yard run a decent size business with 3 or 4 salesman in both roofing and gutters. Not sure exactly how it breaks down but they all use their own vehicles and are out there hustling everyday doing one call type of selling. 
The salesman is in charge of the entire install and the crew that gets sent is his responsibility. I'm sure he gets a base salary, 10% commission, and a set price that they want per foot. They are like any other salesman. They try to get as much as they can get. 
They do pretty well but this is a pretty large company running 4-5 trucks a day.
How many leads are you going on a week that's you can't handle it. I do 10-12 per week plus install part time. How many trucks per day you sending out that you need to put your reputation in someone else's hands who's just there for a paycheck?


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## CompleteW&D (May 28, 2011)

It's one thing to earn commission on roofs, but gutters only, like was mentioned above.... the sales person would need to sell a lot of jobs per week to earn a living. I mean gutters are not something you can generally get ubber high dollar for. There are too many companies out there selling them for $3.25 - $3.50 per foot to the contractor plus $0.25 per foot for second story. At least around here.

I don't even sell gutters only, but sell them for $5.00 per foot as a convenience add on along with a roof or siding job. But, I don't have my own machine, so I have no idea what the actual cost is per foot on them. I don't imagine that the guys with the machines like the one that I use, where they have multiple machines and crews, sells them for much over the $3.25 they charge me, when selling directly to the homeowner. 

If that's the case, and we haven't heard back from the OP, it would be awfully hard for a salesman of gutters only to make much of a living.


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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

These guys who just sell gutters for this company do pretty good but does the op have the call volume to have his guy looking at 4-5 per day to make enough where hed want to be motivated to hustle? They look at that many every single day. If he gets 25 -30 leads a week it would work.


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## CompleteW&D (May 28, 2011)

And THAT's the ticket.... 25 - 30 leads per week (as long as they weren't spread over too big of an area), could work. But, if he's running that many leads, he probably won't have the time to order out the jobs, show up during the job and then collect on them like the OP suggests. The OP would need to do that.


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## CarpenterSFO (Dec 12, 2012)

If you've never hired a salesman before, then some money ($100/week?) to cover phone and gas, otherwise no salary, all commission. His truck and phone; set aggressive targets and fire anyone who can't meet them, pronto. No slow starts or getting used to the system.

If you can't be ruthless and manage completely by the numbers, don't bother. Plan to fire the first one very soon, then re-evaluate whether you're doing the right thing, the right way. Managing sales people is a different thing.


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## UltraDave (Jun 6, 2015)

Right now I'm doing about 30 estimates a week and booked out nearly 3 weeks just on estimates. I don't do any installing myself but do run the company internals and have a real estate business on the side. It's getting overwhelming for sure.

If 10% is the compensation then I guess that's decent pay, but not amazing. In the busy season I do about 8 to 10 houses per week and in the slow season it's more like 5 to 6. With each house averaging about $1000. There is a lot of room for growth but I'm limited by my time.

At 10% I'm guessing a salesman would make about $700 per week. At that number, I'd certainly need to pay for the gas.


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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

It might work for you with that number of potential sales to hire someone. That's a lot of estimates. We do an average of six 6" jobs and four 5" jobs per week. I do half contractor and half homeowner usually 40-50 thousand a month in sales just two guys and me helping and selling. 
I couldn't imagine being three weeks out just to give an estimate. That's a chit load of leads..Ive never even had a back log of jobs that long in over 20 years. Enjoy hearing how others run their gigs. I've always run lean and mean and push 6" gutters and do no cleaning or repairs. Hope it works out


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## UltraDave (Jun 6, 2015)

At 10% commission, do you guys think providing a truck would be necessary?


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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

Get some small pickup for a few hundred a month letter it up and send him out. If he's good he can make a killing given that many leads. 
You could make a ton money going full tilt withs good salesman and that many estimates. I'd lose my mind trying to sell that many. I close on a very large percentage of my leads cause the I am also the Installer card holds a lot of Value around here do to all the Mexicans. You should be running two trucks a day. Is 30% normal closing for this industry ?


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## Framer53 (Feb 23, 2008)

If you are closing more than 30% then you need to raise prices. if you are selling less than 30% lower them a little.
30% is the number to shoot for.

Personally I think the OP is selling them cheap as 1000 AVERAGE IS NOT HIGH AT ALL.
At 700 wk, you will have a hard time getting a good salesman.


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## Framer53 (Feb 23, 2008)

By the way, in the late seventies I ran an eight man sales crew selling siding, roofing, gutters and windows.
We were the high priced outfit in the area and we closed 30% year in year out.
made damn good money, just couldn't take managing salespeople.


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## UltraDave (Jun 6, 2015)

Framer53 said:


> If you are closing more than 30% then you need to raise prices. if you are selling less than 30% lower them a little.
> 30% is the number to shoot for.
> 
> Personally I think the OP is selling them cheap as 1000 AVERAGE IS NOT HIGH AT ALL.
> At 700 wk, you will have a hard time getting a good salesman.


$1000 is just a number I pulled out of my head after a quick glance at a few invoices. I just figure that there some minimum jobs ($350) and some big ones like $4000+ but most houses are somewhere in the middle.


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## John Mahland (Dec 23, 2020)

UltraDave said:


> I have a gutter business for which I do all sales. My job has grown beyond what I can handle alone, so I'm really wanting to bring on a sales person to take over that part for me. But I have no idea how salespeople are compensated.
> 
> I'm sure there are many variables such as duties and what is provided to the sales person such as phone, vehicle, etc.
> 
> ...


I own a gutter business in NY and I employee two full time salespeople who sell gutter cleaning, repair installation and some roofing. they both get 10% of the gross with a company truck. They do an excellent job and are well compensated in excess of 75K I hope that helps. you can do it. we close about 30% because we have to search harder for those willing to pay more.


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## Kowboy (May 7, 2009)

UltraDave said:


> Right now I'm doing about 30 estimates a week and booked out nearly 3 weeks just on estimates.


UltraDave:

On December 10th, I made 5 sales calls and sold 3 sink replacement jobs. On the 2nd I made 4 calls and sold 2. On November 18th, 5 calls, 4 kills. I'll get some bebacks; I always do.

My kill ratio is so high because I'm a brutal telephone qualifier. It's much easier to sort through the riff raff with a telephone than an automobile. Maybe make 'em email you a picture of their job or do something please. Look at is an even exchange of information, not a free estimate. The participators are much better prospects.

You're out way too far; toughen up please.


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