Commission Salespeople

This website reports on the low wage life of unsuccessful commission salespeople. Its analysis is based primarily on numerical data; for example, the Direct Selling Association reported that $29.73 billion dollars of goods were sold by 13.6 million salespeople in the United States in 2004. That averages out to about $2,200 in sales per salesperson for the whole year! While some, if not most, salespeople included in that total are very part-time employees, and some salespeople earn fantastic incomes, but the fact remains that many salespeople are earning commissions that approach minimum wage. In addition to factual evidence, the website features interviews of several people living the low wage life of an unsuccessful salesperson. The author also shares his personal experience working in the sales industry, where he testifies to dichotomy that can exist between reps who sell well and earn an excellent income and other reps who work for what works out to be something near minimum wage. The site focuses on the following main ideas: the actual numbers and an interpretation thereof (how many salespeople are earning low wages, what do the averages really mean, etc.); the effect of the salesperson's financial brokenness on sales performance; the effect of the salesperson's financial brokenness on the customer's buying experience; and specifically, how students and young people in general experience low wage sales jobs. The site URL is: http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/cdelasoujeole/