Answer extracted from the B2B Vault: The Biz To Biz Podcast — listen to the full episode below.
Should you hire commission-only salespeople or salaried sales staff?
The choice depends entirely on how much operational control you need and whether your systems can handle growth. With commission-only staff, you gain flexibility but lose control; with salaried people, you maintain full authority but must invest in management oversight. The real decision starts with diagnosing where your business will break as it scales.
Diagnosing your scalability before choosing a sales model
Your sales structure cannot be separated from your operational readiness. Before deciding between commission-only and salaried roles, you need to understand what will fail in your business if volume doubles. This foundational question determines everything that follows.
Commission-only models work best when your processes are rock-solid and can operate with minimal supervision. You're essentially paying for autonomy—your salespeople bear the financial risk, which naturally weeds out those who won't perform. However, you forfeit quality control over how they represent your brand, which products they prioritize, and whether they follow your procedures.
Salaried staff give you the opposite trade-off: complete control over behavior and processes, but you're now responsible for managing performance, maintaining morale, and paying wages regardless of revenue. As Stuart Webb explains in the episode, this structure often requires you to hire a dedicated sales manager to oversee the team—an additional fixed cost many founders forget to budget.
The operational prerequisite: knowing your breaking points
Neither model works without first identifying which parts of your business will crack under pressure. If customer service overwhelms you at scale, adding aggressive salespeople will backfire. If order fulfillment is fragile, a commission-only sales force will sell faster than you can deliver, damaging reputation.
The diagnostic process Webb emphasizes involves mapping every dependency in your business—finance, operations, customer success, logistics—and asking which one fails first when demand increases. This insight is discussed at length in this podcast, where the focus is on building systems that scale before adding more salespeople to your payroll.
"Most business owners are building today, but they're not thinking about what that business will be like in two, three, four, five years down the line."
Stuart Webb — Founder, Complete Approach. Webb works with business owners across the UK, US, Europe, and New Zealand on scaling operations and identifying the bottlenecks that prevent sustainable growth. His method centers on operational diagnosis before strategic hiring decisions.
One fascinating angle Webb explores in the episode is how most businesses underestimate the hidden cost of salaried structures—not just salary, but the administrative overhead, management time, and system complexity that commission-only models avoid. Learn more about how this plays out in the full conversation.
See also
What key diagnostic question should a business owner ask before scaling to identify operational breaking points?
Stuart Webb recommends asking: "If your business doubled tomorrow, what would break first?" Most business owners don't consider whether they could actually handle the operational strain that comes with sudden growth.
How does LegitScript monitor merchants after certification?
LegitScript performs continual monitoring of certified merchants. If a merchant adds new products or services to their catalog, they must update LegitScript to maintain their standing and ensure ongoing compliance.
What documentation is required from a merchant applying for LegitScript certification?
Applicants must provide their website, a list of all contracted doctors or telehealth companies with contracts, pharmacy information including licenses and credentials, and proof of compliance with all relevant regulations.
Key takeaways
- Commission-only salespeople offer flexibility and autonomy but require you to surrender direct control over their processes and brand representation.
- Salaried staff give you full operational control but demand a sales manager, additional administration, and fixed costs regardless of revenue.
- Before choosing either model, diagnose which part of your business would break first if volume doubled—that answer determines the right structure.
- The hidden cost of salaried teams often lies in management overhead and system complexity, not just wages.