Bringing Business to the Company? 1

[ee2002]

Hello all,

I am an employee at an engineering consulting firm. I am starting to make some contacts and am working on bringing new business to the company. I am meeting with some potential clients to tell them a bit about the company, myself and handout a company resum. When I start bringing my own jobs in, does it make sense that I should receive a finder's fee of some sort for every project brought to the company? I think growing the business deserves some incentive, and a project by project based incentive plan sounds like it could be a good thing for the employer and the employee. For instance, an example could be that any job brought to the company would require the company to pay me 7% of the total project fee. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated wehther you have experience with this type of situation or not.

Thank you.

 

[tripleZ]

Sorry atlas06, but I beg to differ on the 10+ employee comment. I can give you a list of businesses in the Pittsburgh area (my family's old one included) where more than 10 people are employed in a manufacturing field and the exec's pay was much less than $500K. $200-$250K isn't unreasonable in a good year, but $500K is one hell of a year. In the bad years, it's far less than $200K. The same holds for the area of Wisconsin I work in now.

If you live in DC, CA, Phoenix, Seattle, NYC, or some other high cost of living area, that statement might be true. But there is a reason mfg. plants locate themselves in backwater towns, and it isn't because of accessibility to transportation.

 

[tripleZ]

And to the original poster's statement, in my area of mfg., engineers are expected to foster relationships with customers and potential clients to bring in more business. We don't receive commissions, but the amount we bring in is directly reflected in our annual bonuses (if you're profitable). In the past, some sales engineers could shoot for a commission based salary, but they take a significant hit in base pay. Most opt for the guaranteed salary to cover the bad years, and hope for promotions and bonuses to make up the difference.

 

[cvg]

All companies and practice areas are different, however, I speak from the point of view of a very large consulting engineering firm. Our practice ranges the gamut from architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, civil to land development with gross revenues in the hundreds of millions.

However, I speak with authority that the group I work in has a budget goal of approximately 12% net profit. We are very happy to beat that by 1 or 2 percent in any given year. Granted, the CEO certainly makes more than $500,000, however my boss who manages nearly 30 employees makes WAY LESS.

The salary for the CEO (and other corporate officers) is taken out of our gross revenues along with other corporate and G&A expenses PRIOR to figuring the net profit. However, our CEO and stockholders would never dream of giving over half the net profit to the guy that wrote the proposal. I don't know of any other similar firms that do this either.