@scottalanmiller said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@BRRABill said in Home business ideas for transition out of 9-5?:
@scottalanmiller
Can a consultant also be a sales person?
No. Sales essentially overrides all other things. Sales pays you to anti-consult, you can't serve two masters in that case. You have to unethically fail to represent one party or the other if you mix the two together. Logically, you only mix the two when you intend to scam the customer, not to scam the vendor because under normal payment schemes you get nothing that way, vendors know better.
I have some problems here.
"Sales overrides all the things" <--- huge assumption about human greed. Non-sequitur. It's entirely possible that a consultant cares more about the work they do and providing the right solutions, than about whatever paltry affiliate fee they might get from promoting a solution they must KNOW is not the best.
"sales pays to anti-consult" <--- Really? By offering an affiliate/commission system, the product automatically becomes the worst choice in all scenarios? It's very possible that the product BOTH fills the need perfectly, AND offers commission. Another non-sequitur.
"You have to fail to represent one party or the other..." <--- False dichotomy. You're assuming that if a product has a commission program, therefore it can never be a good solution for a client. Because either the client is somehow screwed, or the vendor is (if you don't promote/use them in a particular case).
OR the product actually IS a good fit, AND has commission. OR the product is not a good fit, so the consultant does their job well and recommends something else. This doesn't mean the other vendor is screwed, they simply weren't an option on the table, commission or not.
"you only mix the two when you intend to scam the customer" <--- Seems like another non-sequitur. How is it you can sell Synology to hundreds of clients with good success, but if you change and now receive a small commission, it becomes scamming? The very same customers would have been scammed rather than helped, by the inclusion of a commission?
This discussion does assume a lot about human nature, and it's NOT a matter of logic. It's entirely possible that a commissioned option is available for a particular customer, but the consultant ignores that option if it's not the best choice.
It's entirely possible that a consultant is honest enough to not push services the client doesn't need.
It's entirely possible that the small commission potentially made by a product is insignificant next to the entire job. If a consulting + labor job is going to be $2k or $3k or $5k, then a $100 finders fee from some service provider means nothing compared to doing the best job I can for $5k. $100 won't swing decisions one way or the other, and if the provider that I like so much I've signed up to be an affiliate, happens to work in this scenario, and I make $100, this is definitely not "scamming" the customer. I would have recommended the same product regardless.
My opinion is that in most cases, especially independents like me, the small affiliates I get from my favorite products are a simple value add, or bonus, for me. I would be recommending the product anyway.
I don't recommend the product because of the affiliate, I signed up for the affiliate because I like the product so much.
This entire things basically seems to come down to whether human natural greed always wins over simple human honesty and sincerity.
Where things fall apart are the grey zones.
The simple product would work, but my affiliate product which is a little more advanced and more than they need, will easily fit too, but hey I get paid!
The super quick job that might cost them $200, but where I could get a $100 bonus, that's a pretty hard-to-reject offer. It's 50% of the entire job!
However, the $5000 job, a $50 or $100 finder's fee is not very cloudy. Maybe one or two little poofy clouds, but mostly a clear sky.
Lastly, commissions are not the only thing can cloud someone's view. If the client is cheap and wants as fast as possible, you might be tempted to recommend products you are most familiar with and can work quickly with.
Or maybe the client themselves "know" about a product you already happen to have an affiliate for, they demand THAT product, and you get a bonus, you feel even better about it.
Or maybe you're being clouded by cloudiness! You can go with the non-commissioned simple product, but the client (and you) feel like maybe you should go with something more powerful in case of future growth or needs. But the more powerful option is an affiliate, so now you actively don't want affiliate to cloud your judgement, so you feel almost an anti-affiliate pull to not recommend it just so you don't feel guilty! lol
Anyway, interesting conversation. I'm not fully convinced that I should never do affiliations for products for which I already love and recommend, and have affiliate programs available. My loyalty is to the client and doing a good job, I view affiliate commissions as little more than happy bonuses should there be a sale.
