Should I pay my team commissions?
Short answer
Only when the behavior you're paying for is the behavior you actually want, and you can measure it cleanly.
When commissions work
A clear, single outcome the person controls: a sale closed, a job booked, a service plan added. The math is simple enough to fit on one line.
When they backfire
Techs paid on revenue start upselling things customers don't need. Service writers paid on close rate stop quoting honestly. If you have to write a 12-page policy to keep them honest, your comp plan is wrong.
Ask your version of this question
This is one business owner-tested take. Your shop size, trade, and team change the answer. Ask the exact version inside Ask a Shop Owner and get a response grounded in how owners like you actually handled it.
Now run it against your numbers.
This answer is written for shops in general. Inside Ask a Shop Owner it becomes your answer: your revenue, your crew, your market, your history. Ask "Should I pay my team commissions" and get the version that accounts for what you already told us.
Was this helpful?
One click. It tells us which answers to deepen and which questions we still owe you.
Not ready for a trial? Take the scripts with you.
Leave your email and we send three short notes over the next week showing how owners used answers like this one on a real decision. No newsletter, no drip forever.
Three emails, then it stops. Unsubscribe in one click. We never sell your email address.