Market like a Commission-only Salesperson

Have you ever been a commission-only salesman?  I have.  Let me tell you there is nothing more thrilling than having to sell to eat.  It tends to be a very effective way to get people motivated to sell, though they often get burned-out pretty quickly (I did).

The point is that a lot of the people I meet who are in marketing don’t understand what it’s like to have to sell to eat.  They’re shielded from the cut-throat world of sales.  I’m not saying this is a bad thing.  What I am saying is that if marketers would pretend like they were marketing like their life depended on it, then they might have different results.

What if, as a marketer, you were paid solely on comissions from the products your company sold.  I gaurantee that you would measure everything much more closely (if you don’t have a record of the sale, you wouldn’t get paid).  I’m sure that you would be a lot more careful about how you spent your time and budget.  Just something to think about.