When the claim to a closing commission actually arises (§ 87a(1) HGB), when it falls away again (§ 87a(2) and (3) HGB), what of this cannot be contracted out — and how a salesperson uses the statement of account under § 87c HGB to check whether the settlement was correct.
“Most commission disputes do not arise from bad faith but from the fact that sales and accounting are talking about three different points in time and all three of them call it “the close”.”
Why most induction plans in sales train for too long and measure too late, what a 30-day plan with four weeks and four clear purposes looks like, which pieces of evidence have to be in place at the end of each week — and what, under § 2 NachwG and § 12 ArbSchG, has to be on the table on the very first working day.
“A new salesperson does not learn the product in the training room but in the moment a customer asks him a question he cannot answer. The later that moment comes, the more expensive it gets.”
Why the hiring interview systematically measures the wrong thing with salespeople, how a trial working day has to be built to prove anything, which four criteria have to be settled before the day — and where the legal line runs between a non-binding look around and a paid employment relationship under § 611a BGB.
“A salesperson who convinces in the hiring interview has proven exactly one thing: that he can sell a hiring interview. Whether he can sell my product is another matter entirely — and that page only gets written in the field.”
Why the weekly pipeline round moves nothing in most sales organisations, how to define stages with exit criteria instead of gut feeling, which four questions every deal has to survive, how to calculate pipeline coverage instead of guessing a forecast — and what the works council has a say in the moment the CRM starts logging activity per employee.
“A pipeline review in which nobody loses a deal was not a meeting, it was a reading hour. The purpose of the round is not to confirm the list — the purpose is to make it shorter and truer.”
A good salesperson's resignation is the end of a chain, not its beginning. Which five sentences are said months earlier, what a departure costs in a model calculation, how a stay interview is structured — and which three rules (§ 87 (3) HGB, §§ 74, 74a HGB, § 622 BGB) actually apply on exit.
“Nobody resigns on the day he resigns. He resigns four months earlier, in subordinate clauses that get taken for grumbling.”
Why a revenue target alone leads nobody, how to calculate backwards from the annual target to the week, which activities you may count and which only measure busyness — and what the Federal Labour Court decided in 2024 and 2025 about setting targets in good time.
“A revenue target is a gauge, not a lever. You can look at it, but you cannot do it — the only things that can be steered are the ones a salesperson can decide for himself on Monday morning.”
Why the classic closing techniques work against the salesperson in B2B today, which five closing questions actually hold, how to check beforehand whether the deal is ready to be closed at all — and what § 4a UWG and the absence of a right of withdrawal for commercial buyers mean in practice.
“A closing question does not make a decision. It makes an existing decision visible — which is why the worst closing question is the one meant to force something that never happened in the conversation before it.”
“I just wanted to check quickly whether you have had a chance to look at it” is the most expensive line in sales. Why it is not the frequency that annoys but the emptiness, what a follow-up cadence with real reasons looks like, which sentence has to be said before the quote goes out — and what § 7 UWG permits when following up.
“It is not the third follow-up that annoys but the first one without substance. Whoever brings nothing along is demanding work from the customer and calling it service.”
The objection “too expensive” has five different meanings, and only one of them has anything to do with money. How to tell them apart in the conversation, which three sentences work, why the counter-calculation matters more than defending the price — and what a reflexive discount does to the margin.
“Whoever answers “too expensive” with a justification has misunderstood the question. In four out of five cases the sentence does not say “too expensive” but “I do not see the difference yet”.”
Most first meetings in B2B fail not on price but because the presentation comes too early. A structure with five blocks, fixed time shares, the four questions that make up an analysis, and the sentence that ends a meeting without anyone saying “I will be in touch”.
“A first meeting is successful when there is a decision at the end — even if the decision is no. The most expensive outcome is the friendly maybe that sits in the pipeline for a year.”
Telephone acquisition is not prohibited in B2B, but it is tied to a condition most sales organisations never check: the presumed consent of the person called. What § 7 UWG requires, what a call to a consumer costs, and what an opening looks like that does not sound like a call centre.
“Cold calling rarely fails because of the law and almost always because of the first question: whoever cannot say why he is calling this particular business has neither presumed consent nor a conversation.”
Bakers, hairdressers, kiosks, restaurateurs: they are not buying a terminal, they are buying the certainty that the till keeps running and the statement adds up. How a payment sales conversation that keeps the customer is structured, and which three questions decide it.
“Sell a baker a terminal and you have a customer for twelve months; explain to him why his five-euro receipt costs 1.8 per cent and you have a customer for ten years.”
Pay only for the close and you get closes. Pay for the book of business and you get customers. How a commission model in B2B sales has to be built so that salesperson, customer and company want the same thing, with a worked example.
“A salesperson optimises exactly what he is paid for; if that is the close, you get contracts that get cancelled in the thirteenth month.”