u/Snowboardsurfer91

I keep the Sabbath, so I can’t wear it then.

I run an e-commerce business, B2B. Been doing it the past 2.5 years. Going to do around $2M in sales this year.

Problem is I’ve been stagnating. I havent just been FEELING stuck, my business has BEEN stuck the past 9 months. Not sure how to get out of this, so I’m looking for a coach (or would I need a mentor instead?), but I have no clue where to look for one that’ll actually be GREAT and not just a waste of money (been there done that).

So basically, a lot of times when I sell a product that is like 65% or even 85% margins, I feel like, "Oh boy, if only they knew how much this actually costs." I know that running a business costs a lot of money. Even an 85% margin is not really 85% when you factor in all the costs of doing business, like website hosting, software, subscriptions, etc.

Its kind of like when I play chess. A lot of times I find myself making a move in the hopes that the other person won't think this way. I feel like my mindset that I'm describing here is something like "I'm gonna do this and they won't notice". I'm looking for a perspective shift because I feel like that perspective is incorrect, especially when running a business.

I own an e-commerce company, and I'm currently maxed out at capacity with me doing practically everything. I need to hire my first salesperson. I want someone who can take over all of my accounts so that I can focus on other parts of the business in order to grow it and grow my accounts and also prospect for a new business. In other words, the new salesperson will have to grow my accounts and prospect for new business.

I'm thinking of paying them on 100% commission because, from the current sales cadence of my current accounts, they'll make around $100,000 in their first year without even growing the current accounts at all with my current commission percentage that I'm thinking of giving them. Is this realistic?

I also want them, after they get their feet wet and comfortable, to hire salespeople themselves and build a sales team around themselves. They're going to start out as an account manager of sorts, plus prospecting for new leads, of course, new business. I want them to quite relatively quickly, within the first one or two years, move into more of a sales management role. Is this all realistic, or am I setting my expectations too high or too low? Do you think the pay amount should be higher?

Also, what kind of person should I be looking for for this role? Should it be someone who has been a sales manager before, or can it be someone who's just been selling for a couple of years, has good industry experience, and is just not happy at their current company because they want more vertical growth (let's say to be a sales manager)? Their current company is not affording them that, or at least won't afford them that role for another couple of years, and they want to start now.

(the industry is laboratory supplies , by the way, I'm looking to only hire somebody who's had several years of experience selling either life science or analytical chemistry laboratory supplies, no exceptions. I thought I'd write this here to prevent getting chat-spam bombed.)

EDIT: Okay, so what kind of pay structure SHOULD I be aiming to offer for this type of role?