Negotiating a higher starting salary at job offer. Should I?

shadow81

I have just been offered a comission based job with an average salary of £16000pa. The company have written in to the offer a guaranteed £500 a month 'commission' for the first 3-6 months as it's a new startup property office. After that I will revert to £16k basic plus my own comission. OTE of £22k.

I am currently earning a guaranteed £18.5k plus a bonus at the end of the year of around £900.

Pros:
The new job offers better hours and weekends at home with my fiance. I currently work evenings and weekends and long 12 hour days in the leisure industry.
The property industry (especially lettings) is booming so there is potential.

Cons:
I cannot live on £16k. I wouldn't get out of bed for it (well I would, if I had to, but right now I don't really have to as I've got a job). We need at least £18k coming in from me to live and pay the bills.
I would also need to add business insurance to my car which is another additional cost.

I am unsure as to try to negotiate a higher basic salary in return for a lower comission rate with the new job. I don't know whether it's worth it. Having not worked in any salesy type job before I have no idea how generous or average this offer is or how easy it would be to keep up this rate of commission as income each month.
It worth persuing or should I politely turn them down and stay where I am.

InsideInsurance

Business class for yourself only generally doesnt add anything on top of commuting to your car insurance - at most it is going to be an admin fee for a mid term adjustment and only a few pounds for the extra class of use.

As per your other thread on the same topic, you need to understand the commission structure, I would ignore ant OTE numbers as they arent controlled and as a new start up they have no way of knowing what their volumes are going to look like to be able to calculate an on track earnings figure.

heretolearn_2

I cannot live on £16k.

You won't have to. If all you receive is your basic that means you aren't making any sales = you won't be kept on.

This is how sales jobs work, you get a lower basic plus a commission and it's to encourage a high level of sales from you. If your guaranteed income is higher, there's less pressure on you to make the sales. Your pay comes from your results. If you think you can do well at this type of work, go for it. If you don't, stick to a non-sales role. They are being pretty decent in paying unearned commission for the first three months, not all firms will.

Charlies_Mummy

16k is a really decent basic salary for estate agency work; a friend of mine works for an estate agency and her basic is 7k, and she has to earn the rest via commission.

JimmyTheWig

I don't think that you'll be able to negotiate this with them.
I think you'd have a chance the other way around...

"Hey, I'm the best in town at this and I'll prove it to you. I'm happy to take a cut in my basic pay if you increase my commission rate."


But by suggesting what you are suggesting, you are saying something like...

"Um, hello. I haven't really got any experience in this market and I might not be very good at the job. I might not get too much commission as I might not be making too many sales. Therefore could you give me more basic pay?"

Are you really expecting someone to (a) take you on in the first place and (b) increase your basic pay if you turn round to them and say you're not confident that you'll be good at the job?


Find out what you have to do to earn £2k commission (i.e. to ensure you get £18k) and decide whether you think you can do it or not.

shadow81

Thanks JimmyTheWig. I totally agree with you. I really want the job, mainly because I hate mine so much so I'm trying really hard to convince myself that this would work. I've typed out the email but it just makes me uncomfortable. I need to decide to either accept thier terms and work my !!!!!!!! off or stay where I am sit on my hands so I don't punch my boss in the face!

scheming_gypsy

if you're using your own car i'm presuming you'll also be able to claim back 45p a mile? the difference between 18.5k and 16k is £142.00 a month; so with the commission and 'extra' you'll make from using your own car you shouldn't really be any worse off.

JimmyTheWig

Do you know exactly what their terms are - i.e. what you have to do to achieve £2k commission? If they're avoiding telling you, I'd be tempted to walk away.
Once you know, have yuo got any way of measuring how difficult it would be to do what you'd need to do?

shadow81

It's not clear how the commission is worked out in the offer they've sent me. It tells me I can earn 10% on insurance sales but there is no commission rate for lettings or whether they would be paid only if I reach target or per let. It was neatly dodged when I asked for a salry range in the interview followed by a long explanation on how people are paid individually by their 'worth'. I'm going to send off my declining email now :-( I've decided it's too much of a risk. I'll be losing sleep at night worrying about my earnings which outweighs the better quality of life thing. It's better the devil you know in this situation methinks.

lizzywig

You could always take on a part time job if you find you're not earning enough....

Charlies_Mummy

If they're being unclear about the commission and pay structure then chances are getting your bonus from them will be like getting blood from a stone! I was once offered a job which promised a very high rate of commission...until I started the job and the goalposts were moved, and the commission would only kick in if I'd reached my sales target for the month. So I hit my target after a couple of weeks and then the company owner decided to up my target that month, so I decided to leave as I knew he would always wriggle out of paying me a bonus. And the basic pay was rubbish.