Commission models that last: why pure closing commission buys cancellations
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.
The short answer
A commission model is an instruction to the salesperson about what he should do. Pay only for the close and you are saying: get the signature, move on to the next one. Pay for the book of business and you are saying: win customers who stay. In recurring business — energy, payment, software, maintenance, insurance — the second model is the only one that carries in the long run.
What pure closing commission does
I have built and taken over sales organisations with both models. With pure closing commission, three things happen reliably:
- The salesperson sells whatever gets signed quickly, not what fits. The cheapest package, the longest term, the first commitment.
- After the close the customer is on his own. Onboarding, follow-up questions, the first invoice: no longer the salesperson's job, so nobody does it.
- The first-year cancellation rate rises, and sales cost per lasting customer explodes, because for every customer who stayed you have paid for two that were sold.
The Flatpay figures that became known in August 2026 show this at scale: 2,000 employees, mostly field sales, 39 million euros of revenue and 70 million of losses. Sales is faster than the business.
The model that lasts
Three components, in this weighting:
Closing commission, reduced. A base so the salesperson can live in the first month. No more than a third of the contribution margin the customer brings over twelve months.
Recurring commission, monthly. A percentage of the customer's ongoing revenue for as long as he stays. This is the part that turns the salesperson into an account manager without anyone having to tell him. He calls after three months of his own accord.
Clawback liability. If the customer cancels in the first six to twelve months or does not pay, the closing commission is offset pro rata. That is not a punishment but the flip side of the recurring commission: whoever earns from the staying also carries the leaving.
Worked example
A customer brings 80 euros of contribution margin a month, expected contract term 36 months, so 2,880 euros.
| Model | Salesperson receives | If cancelled after 6 months |
|---|---|---|
| Close only: 600 euros | 600 euros one-off | 600 euros, the company has 480 euros of contribution margin, a loss of 120 euros |
| Close 250 euros + 10% recurring | 250 + 8 euros monthly = 538 euros over 36 months, 250 + 48 = 298 euros if cancelled after 6 months | the company has 480 euros of contribution margin, costs of 298 euros, no loss |
Over the full term the salesperson earns almost the same in the second model. The difference is not the amount but when it flows and what it depends on.
Four rules for implementation
- Simple enough for a beer mat. If the salesperson cannot work out his commission in his head, it does not steer him.
- Pay out on receipt of payment, not on invoice. Otherwise you are paying for customers who never paid.
- No cap at the top. Cap your best salesperson and you lose him.
- Recurring commission does not survive a change of salesperson. It belongs to whoever looks after the customer, otherwise it turns into a pension.
What this has to do with recruiting
A model with a recurring component attracts different applicants: people who want to build customers rather than work through lists. You can spot that in an interview within five minutes. Anyone who asks about the size of the closing commission before asking about the product will be gone after the twelfth month, and his customers with him.