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The Salesman on Salary
Module 9 · Sales & Leads · Play 13 of 14
The problem in one breath
The trade pays sales on commission because the trade has always paid sales on commission — and then wonders why the rep sells roofs to people who needed a repair, argues about a bid he got wrong, and disappears in February.
Why it happens
Commission feels free. You only pay when he sells, so the risk looks like it sits with him. What it actually does is put your customer and your rep on opposite sides: his paycheck goes up when the job gets bigger, whether or not the roof needed to be. Then it comes with its own paperwork — tracking, splits, what happens when a job is underbid or cancels — and every one of those is an argument you will have on a Friday.
The play
Decide the pay structure on purpose, and know that salary is a real option. One shop pays everyone, sales included, a straight salary — no commission, no percentage of profit. Their reasoning: it takes the pressure off the rep so he is not selling people things they do not need, it removes commission disputes entirely, and it deletes a whole layer of bookkeeping. How you may classify and pay anyone in a sales role is set by federal and state wage law, so build the structure with your accountant or an employment attorney before you offer it.
Then pay it well and package it. A phone, a laptop, a drone, a take-home vehicle, health coverage, and a check that does not vanish when the weather does. In a trade that mostly offers commission and a magnet sign, that is a genuinely strong offer — and a steady winter paycheck is the part experienced men actually respond to.
Let the rep spend it at the door. I'm not commissioned, I'm on salary, I get paid either way. A homeowner braced for a pitch has no answer for that, and no commissioned competitor can say it. It is the cheapest trust you will ever buy.
Replace the commission with a scoreboard, or you have just bought a payroll leak. Every week: inspections run, estimates out, jobs closed — read against what that rep normally does, not against another rep. That is the whole point of the salary bargain: the accountability is the fire (Play 14, "The Number That Tells You Next Month").
Watch the process, not just the total. Did the photos and video get taken. Did they get the whole roof. Are the measurements right. Was it bid for what the customer actually needed. Did the follow-up run. Your project manager orders material off that man's work, so a sloppy inspection shows up downstream within days — which means you find it fast if you are looking.
Put the never list in writing on day one. Never promise a start or finish date. What is allowed sounds like this: if you sign today, this puts you at this week as of right now — but that's a month out, it's construction outside, and it's subject to change. Never tell a customer what they want to hear to close; those jobs go bad and you keep them.
Hire for fit and roofing, and use the failure list as the rubric. The ones that do not work out think procedures are for other people, have never been on a roof, overpromise, or bring drama into a small team. You will know inside a month. The one narrow exception worth a commission deal is a proven veteran with a verifiable record who brings customers with him — and even then he works inside your process, not around it.
Do this this week
Write down what your rep did last week: inspections, estimates, closes. If you cannot fill in those three numbers, the pay structure is not your problem — you have nobody watching the work at all.
The tool
The rep's week — the four lines to look at, and the never list.
THE REP'S WEEK
Inspections run ........ ____ (his normal: ____)
Estimates out .......... ____ (his normal: ____)
Jobs closed ............ ____ (his normal: ____)
Follow-ups still open .. ____
Read every one against HIS normal, not another rep's.
PROCESS QA — spot-check two inspections a week
[ ] Photos and video taken, per our standard
[ ] Whole roof captured, not just the bad slope
[ ] Measurements right
[ ] Bid for what the customer actually needed
[ ] Follow-up cadence actually run
THE NEVER LIST — on the wall from day one
Never promise a start or finish date.
Never tell them what they want to hear to close.
Never skip the process because you're the sales guy.
WHAT'S ALLOWED ON TIMING
"If you sign today, this puts you at [week] as of right
now. That's a month out, it's construction outside, and
it's subject to change."
If your crew is 1099
A salaried rep is a fixed cost that keeps drawing when the schedule is thin, which is the opposite of how sub crews work. That is the trade: you carry him through the slow month and he is still yours in the busy one. Know what he costs you per month and what a slow month looks like before you sign the offer (Module 1, Play 8, "Can You Afford Another Crew? Do the Math Before You Hire It").
One more thing: this play is how we run a shop — it's not legal advice. Rules change by state and by contract, so before you act on the legal-sounding parts, run them past your own attorney or accountant. It's your business, and what you do with any of this is your call and your responsibility.
M9-13 · The Salesman on Salary — Roofer MBA, https://roofermba.com/plays/sales-leads/the-salesman-on-salary
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Same fire
You put a man on sales and can't tell if it's working
- M9-13the salesman on salary — you’re here
Fixed this?
A salesman who works fills a schedule you may not have the crews for. Do that math before he starts, not after.
The fire right behind it is usually You're turning work away but you can't tell if you can afford another crew.