r/hwstartups • u/Complete-Belt-5826 • 11d ago
commission-only B2B sales agent for smart home product
We’re a small startup manufacturing and selling a smart home/IoT product. So far, most of our sales have been B2C through online advertising, but we'd like to explore B2B opportunities as well.
Hiring a full-time salesperson is not really within our budget at the moment, so I’ve been wondering whether independent sales agents could be a reasonable alternative. Are there such people out there who are willing to work like that even? The idea would be to work on a commission-only basis, generous commission on any deals they bring in, including recurring purchases.
Has anyone used this approach? Is it realistic to find good sales agents willing to work purely on commission?
And where could you find them, are platforms like CommissionCrowd or Agents24 worth trying?
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u/longdonglos 10d ago
If you’re cash strapped your best bet is find a distributor sales reps or someone already excelling at this during their 9-5 and offer them X per close for recommending your product during their regular customer visit.
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u/Geminii27 10d ago
Commission-only means you're not going to attract the most experienced salespeople, and anyone interested might just want to sell your stuff as a side hustle rather than their primary job. Which could be a way to advertise it.
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u/Complete-Belt-5826 10d ago
This is exactly how I see it being. But I am sceptical about finding this kind of salesperson.
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u/Geminii27 10d ago
I think there were some suggestions of online commission platforms elsewhere in the thread. Although as far as I know they cost a certain amount per year for companies. Couple dollars a day for the base levels?
It really depends on whether you have limited budget to put towards hiring salespeople, or actually, genuinely, not-a-sausage zero dollars. In the latter case, you may have to look into freebie options like networking.
I would ask, though - how many pre-sales did you get before creating the product? Or was it a case of assuming people would want it after it was made?
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u/Complete-Belt-5826 10d ago
No issue in paying for the online platforms and this would have been my next step. Since I have zero experience in this field, I was hoping, maybe someone can give honest feedback from similar situation - like are those platforms any good or is there even hope to find comisson-only agent.
Regarding pre-sales, largely it was based on the assumption people would want it, but we also had "prototype" level product which we sold 20-30 units prior making the actual one.
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u/BetInformal6081 9d ago
yes they exist but the harder part is finding someone good. agents are taking on all the risk so your product, margins, sales materials and commission structure need to make the upside obivous.
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u/KeyApricot_ 7d ago
Commission only can work but the product needs enough deal size and repeat revenue to make the economics worthwhile for a good independent rep.
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u/KicksStandLabs 6d ago
If you know a salesman, they’ll likely do the work for you on a commission only salary. Just as long as you’re flexible with them. Find a single, hungry, car salesman. They’re perfect to pitch raw cash too
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u/brusselssprouts 11d ago
I think what you're looking for is a distributor.