I am (was?) an independent sales contractor for a nationwide flooring company. Here's the current situation: I missed an appointment the other morning because it didn't show on my schedule when I checked at 7:30 AM. I went and did something else. I checked in later to see if I had any afternoon appts and saw messages from 9:30 AM asking why I didn't go to my appointment. Texted management back apologizing and got no response. The only thing I can think of is that this appointment was given to me at the last minute so I didn't see it.
I'm pretty over this job though. Part of the problem being that my appts aren't shown to me until a couple hours before. Being an entrepreneur, I like to be able to plan a productive day, and if I have no appointments I want to know that so I can plan something else.
The commission isn't high enough to make ends meet or even make it worth driving out there half the time. 4% of a $1000 job isn't worth a 5 hours of my time. Because of an archaic policy, I sometimes have to drive there twice, which would make me operate at a loss, so I just lose the sale instead.
Onto that archaic policy… If I want to sell a job, I have to have the customer be physically present so sign our contract. I've had customers literally laugh when I tell them this, sometimes because they think I'm joking with them, sometimes because of how ridiculous it is. The company doesn't seem to realize that it's 2022 and everything gets done online. We offer financing though a partner bank, because that partner bank allows the customer to e-sign the application. This is why I sometimes have to drive back to a customers house a second time. They want to sleep on it, or they need to save up for a bit longer. If I'm not making at least $100 commission, it's not really worth the time and effort, so I'll just let it go. If it's less then $50 I'm legitimately losing money with the price of travel. There also just aren't enough leads in this area, or at least I'm not given any.
Back to the commissions, this is the part that makes me feel like scum, and I'm wondering if this is common in this type of sales. It doesn't seem to be based on some limited research that I've done. Here's a basic run down of how it works: let's say what I measure is 1000 sq. ft. and the customer wants vinyl plank. I write up 2 quotes at $9,000 or $6,750. If I sell it at $6750 I make 4% commission and if I sell it at $9000 I make 8%. That's all fine and dandy, except that both of those quotes are for the same product. It doesn't seem right to me that if we can do a job for $6750 that I'm allowed (and encouraged) to charge a customer $9000, especially when the competition is doing the job for $6750. In order to get a higher commission, I have to (for lack of a better way to put it) take advantage of people who are too naive to know any better and/or don't get any other estimates. I enjoy the 8% commission when it happens, but I hate the way that I feel after leaving their house. My final issue with it, even at the lowest cost, the products still seem over priced.
Sorry for the long post or if this doesn't fit in antiwork. I'm not really asking anything other than if anyone else has had a similar experience. Also sort of a PSA to everyone out there to always get a second estimate! I also wanted to officially (maybe?) announce my resignation.