2 Security Guard Sales Myths You Shouldn’t Believe

A lot of the companies that I talk with at some point have struggled with their sales. During those times they often kick around two ideas that I would probably call myths.  The first is the myth that security guard sales positions can work as commission only positions.

MYTH: COMMISSION ONLY SECURITY GUARD SALES

Commission only sales positions can definitely work within certain verticals, but the security guard industry is not one of them. In fact, I had the opportunity to work with a very successful safety company whose sales professionals were on 100% commission. That instance was one of the very few times that I’ve seen successful commission only sales positions. From my observations, there were three reasons that commission only worked for that company.

First, the business was highly transactional in nature, meaning there were very short sales cycles. As a salesperson at the company, every time we engaged with a customer or potential customer there was a significant possibility that they were going to make a purchase. To a sales professional, that means that every time that you talk to a customer or potential customer there was a high probability of ringing the register.

If you’ve been in the security guard industry for more than 30-days then you know that the probability of closing a sale every time that you talk a customer or prospect is very low. Because your average salesperson has to worry about keeping a roof over their head and food on the table, they can’t wait the 6 to 18 months that are necessary to close a sale. Security guard sales is about finding a potential customer and building a relationship in hopes of one day closing a deal.

security guard sales cycle 2

Second, the company sold very high margin products in volume. To sales professionals that translates into large and frequent commission checks with enough zero’s behind the comma to make it work waiting a month to get paid.  In fact, the average salesperson at the company made $175k per year. I repeat “High Margin”…

Third, there was a large pool of potential customers for their products. So in addition to the short sales cycle, the opportunity to find new customers was extremely high.

If you look at these three conditions as a foundation for having a successful commission only sales position, you will understand why commission only security guard sales positions do not work.

MYTH: PAYING PEOPLE MORE GETS HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY

Security guard sales is not for the faint of heart. Some owners and managers may believe that paying salespeople more will motivate them to close more deals. I have heard many people say that if you pay someone more they will work harder or do better work. I have found that to be patently false, especially in sales. There are 3 classes of sales professionals in the world: Class A are salespeople who are internally motivated; Class B are those professionals that just want to coast; and Class C are those “professionals” that don’t really care. In my experience, no matter how much you pay either of these three classes it is not going to increase their levels of motivation. Let me explain why.

For Class C professionals if you pay them more, you’re just throwing away good money. This class of sales professionals will always be a drain on your resources because they don’t care. They are just there to collect an easy check. You will find yourself trying to motivate them when in reality you will be doing them and yourself a favor by separating them from the company.

Class B professionals will make up the bulk of your sales organization. Offering them additional money will probably get you a little more productivity in the short-term, but eventually, they will gradually coast back into cruising mode. They will do what they need to do to stay under the radar, but usually not much more.

Class A professionals are not motivated by additional money because they are internally motivated. These are the people who are almost always in “beast mode”.  I find that they operate in a self-perpetuating cycle of success. They work hard and achieve some level of success, which pushes them to work even harder to attain even more success.  Paying them more does not motivate them, it just adds fuel to that self-perpetuating cycle.

I hope that you found this article useful. If you are experiencing challenges within your sales organization I encourage you to reject the myths of successful commission-only security guard sales and motivating through increased pay.  But if you are in disagreement, I would love to hear why in the comment section below.

selling-your-company-cta

 

By Courtney Sparkman


OfficerReports.com logoOfficerReports.com is a software company that provides security guard companies with an easy way to monitor their officers, better manage their operations, and win new business. Take a tour of our software to see how we combine Electronic Reporting, Real-Time GPS based Tour Tracking, and GPS based Clock In and Out into one easy to use platform.


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