- The Business of Agency
- Posts
- Why Most Agencies Fail at Building a Sales Team
Why Most Agencies Fail at Building a Sales Team
How to design a comp plan that drives growth
Erik J. Olson
November 12, 2025
When I first tried to hire a salesperson, I made the same mistake most agency owners make: I thought paying someone to “get deals” would automatically bring growth. I didn't have much of a plan, no process, no brand recognition. Shoot, I didn't even have a list of items they could sell because everything was custom.
It failed fast.
You're an A-player who wants to work with other A-players.
You're a great advertising specialist with #passion for your job.
You love that your effort is helping your clients generate more revenue, hire more employees, and help more customers.
You deserve to work for an agency that is booming, growing, hiring, and is creating unlimited opportunity for its clients and staff by #winning on a daily basis.
No bullshit. No bureaucracy.
NOW HIRING: DIGITAL ADVERTISING SPECIALIST
Before you think about hiring sales, ask yourself:
Have you picked a clear niche?
Have you made your name known in that niche?
Do you have a pricing sheet that removes guesswork?
If the answer to any of those is “no,” you’re too early. You’ll just burn cash. If you make the classic mistake of hiring someone on commission-only, what you save in cash, you'll burn in time (with no sales to result).
Once those pieces are in place, build a comp plan that rewards what you want: recurring revenue. At my agencies, every Account Executive (AE) earns a solid base salary plus commission. They get 7.5% on MRR for the first year, 2.5% in year two, and nothing after that. It’s intentional. That structure pushes them to keep hunting instead of milking old clients. For projects, it’s just 2.5% flat, because projects don’t build stable cash flow. When they make sense then the AE will be rewarded, but to a lesser extent than for recurring revenue.
Show me the incentives, and I will show you the outcome.
We also tie performance to a quota system. Each AE has to close $5,000 in new MRR per month (or about $60,000 in signed revenue). Miss that two months in a row, and you’re on the naughty list. Hit it consistently, and you’re an A-player. A rainmaker.
The system is fair but demanding, and it keeps everyone focused on predictable revenue growth. It weeds out order-takers and rewards hunters/closers. It creates alignment between sales and leadership. And it gives us the ability to forecast, plan, and scale without guessing.
We teach agency owners how to run profitable agencies that give them more time and the ability to scale. I do this through The Business of Agency newsletter and private one-on-one coaching. Subscribe at businessofagency.com to learn how to build a scalable, sellable agency.
If you’re serious about growing your agency, start by designing your sales comp plan to match your long-term goals. Don’t build one that rewards short-term wins at the expense of stability.
I hope that helps.
~ Erik
Reply