Should You Consider Commission-Only Salespeople? For 95% of the companies I talk with, I am not a fan of commission-only salespeople. Each executive understands what's best for their unique market and business, but it's hard to imagine a situation in which I would recommend that you hire commission-only salespeople. The exception is in an industry in which commission-only is a well-known and practiced standard, such as financial services. Your environment determines whether your people succeed or not, and “commission-only” doesn't demonstrate commitment by the sales leadership or the company that they're really there and incented to help their salespeople succeed. Pros: Reduced risk in hiring (there are still time and opportunity costs) Salespeople are highly incented to close business Cons: If your sales cycles are more than a month or two long, commission-only salespeople will begin starving before they can realistically close enough business. They are more likely to fall out before you can see whether or not they will really work out. The company will attract more inexperienced salespeople that can't get better jobs. Commission-only increases the motivation to "do wrong" to close a sale. You do not want desperate salespeople representing your company. They will increase your liability, decrease your customer success and satisfaction, and wreck your culture and morale.