How much do agricultural machinery sales people get paid

ollie989898 · Mar 29, 2024

Someone who is truly good at sales will be able to earn 100K-200K a year but in all likelihood it won't be selling into agriculture. You can learn technical expertise over time with training and so someone who is very strong in the skills required for sales may well be best advised to try other industries. I have an acquittance with his own business who sells products to the construction industry. In the past he jested he could employ me just to use a rake to gather up the sheer cash involved.

To be successful in sales you need to be resilient and somewhat larger than life or at least have extrovert traits. Given that a lot of farmers live like hermits who will pap their pants if someone strange so much as steps on their doormat it is not the best arena to try the hard sell- it's more of a long term relationship which must be built over a long period of time. It's not impossible though- I have some extremely unique (i.e. weird/poor) social skills to say the least and was from Dorset of all places but I managed ok- the only people who genuinely thought I was weird I more than likely thought the same of them so we were even.

Claasact1 · Mar 29, 2024

ollie989898 said:
Someone who is truly good at sales will be able to earn 100K-200K a year but in all likelihood it won't be selling into agriculture. You can learn technical expertise over time with training and so someone who is very strong in the skills required for sales may well be best advised to try other industries. I have an acquittance with his own business who sells products to the construction industry. In the past he jested he could employ me just to use a rake to gather up the sheer cash involved.

To be successful in sales you need to be resilient and somewhat larger than life or at least have extrovert traits. Given that a lot of farmers live like hermits who will pap their pants if someone strange so much as steps on their doormat it is not the best arena to try the hard sell- it's more of a long term relationship which must be built over a long period of time. It's not impossible though- I have some extremely unique (i.e. weird/poor) social skills to say the least and was from Dorset of all places but I managed ok- the only people who genuinely thought I was weird I more than likely thought the same of them so we were even.

Thanks for the advice and response

I have had links to agriculture all my life from doing milk round and working on small dairy farm milking 3 at a time in a shippon through to working for one of the biggest contractors in the country so I do already have good relationships with many farmers and am able to level and talk the same language from the smallest to largest farmers so fairly well placed for the breaking ice stage of a business relationship.
Thanks again.

Robt · Mar 29, 2024

Claasact1 said:
How much can an average agricultural machinery sales person expect to earn in a year.
Is there a set minimum wage then commission?
Or is it based just on commission?
Don’t really want people guessing I want to hear from people who actually know because we all know how that will go.

It can range from 30k to 130k … depends on what you sell, where you sell it, how good you are, how good the year is…. It really is that wide. This is based on 25 years working in sales in the industry

Robt · Mar 29, 2024

Claasact1 said:
Not at all just don’t have a lot of time for people who type a totally non relevant answer

With that attitude, don’t even bother going into sales. 70% of your time will be wasted. Best realise that now

Claasact1 · Mar 29, 2024

Robt said:
It can range from 30k to 130k … depends on what you sell, where you sell it, how good you are, how good the year is…. It really is that wide. This is based on 25 years working in sales in the industry

Thanks for the reply and advice

Claasact1 · Mar 29, 2024

Robt said:
With that attitude, don’t even bother going into sales. 70% of your time will be wasted. Best realise that now

I do totally understand that. But under these circumstances more than happy to give people the response they deserve advice met with appreciation and respect and sarcasm with what it deserves

Robt · Mar 29, 2024

Last piece of advise. (May be too late ) don’t burn any bridges. The ag supply chain is a smal family and everyone knows everyone else. You soon get a reputation . Jeremy is one of the good guys and Dave has the balls to use his own money to set up his business.

Johnnyboxer · Mar 29, 2024

Robt said:
With that attitude, don’t even bother going into sales. 70% of your time will be wasted. Best realise that now

One day though, it’ll click and you have to be resilient

Johnnyboxer · Mar 29, 2024

Robt said:
Last piece of advice. (May be too late ) don’t burn any bridges. The ag supply chain is a smal family and everyone knows everyone else. You soon get a reputation . Jeremy is one of the good guys and Dave has the balls to use his own money to set up his business.

Another piece of good advice (however I don’t think the OP has got what it takes so far)
A good piece of advice an older, retiring rep (whose area I was taking over) in the feed industry (some thirty years ago, as a fresh faced youth - just out of Ag College), was that you have 2 ears and one mouth - use them in that order and also you will never know a particular farm better than the farmer and you can suggest something-but the farmer will know best whether it will work or not (farmers love leading reps ‘down the garden path’, letting them get to the last hurdle and onto your final closing spiel, then tripping you up at the end & leaving you red faced, whilst they have a chuckle)

Sharpy · Mar 29, 2024

Claasact1 said:
I think we will have to agree to disagree on that one because I think his response was both rude and unhelpful hence the response he received.

If you are that thin skinned you would be better not pursuing an agricultural sakes career.

kiwi pom · Mar 29, 2024

I think it was a fair question to ask for someone curious about the industry.
Perhaps got off on the wrong foot though.
Never really understand why earnings from employment are secret, especially if there's a shortage of applicants. I suppose if it's bad you don't want to advertise it.

It would seem from the few replies that gave actual numbers, anywhere from minimum wage to 130K at the top end, with no chance of anywhere near 200K. When you consider the value of the equipment a really good rep could sell, I think the top end is too low and would suggest a really good salesperson might be wasted in AG.
@Robt what sort of hours would you put in?

Robt · Mar 29, 2024

No way would you earn £200k in ag sales. The margin simply ain’t there. 200k is top top top md money. For the big four.
hours wise to earn 70k plus you need to work for a manufacturer and be away 2 nights a week. A very very very good dealer rep in a good area could hit 70k .

Robt · Mar 29, 2024

kiwi pom said:
I think it was a fair question to ask for someone curious about the industry.
Perhaps got off on the wrong foot though.
Never really understand why earnings from employment are secret, especially if there's a shortage of applicants. I suppose if it's bad you don't want to advertise it.

It would seem from the few replies that gave actual numbers, anywhere from minimum wage to 130K at the top end, with no chance of anywhere near 200K. When you consider the value of the equipment a really good rep could sell, I think the top end is too low and would suggest a really good salesperson might be wasted in AG.
@Robt what sort of hours would you put in?

As MD I was doing 80 hours a week and away three to four nights a week every week. I wasn’t earning £200k even with a 21 million turnover! No where near 200k!

alomy75 · Mar 29, 2024

Claasact1 said:
I do totally understand that. But under these circumstances more than happy to give people the response they deserve advice met with appreciation and respect and sarcasm with what it deserves

An old boss once told me; sometimes the best thing to say is nothing. A bit like sitting on a shirty email before sending it. As you’ve found out on here; if you bite back it rarely ends well. As others have said; farmers need to like you…even the arsehole ones that you want to give a piece of your mind to. Vent when you get home at night; as the moral high ground you seek won’t get you your 200k.

kiwi pom · Mar 29, 2024

Robt said:
As MD I was doing 80 hours a week and away three to four nights a week every week. I wasn’t earning £200k even with a 21 million turnover! No where near 200k!

Perhaps we've answered all the "why are reps shite" threads. All the good people move on and do something else because it isn't worth the effort they put in

Landrover · Mar 29, 2024

Best thing I ever heard a very good rep/salesman told me that he'd never sold a machine to a farmer but plenty had bought them off him !

L P · Mar 29, 2024

Claasact1 said:
Not at all just don’t have a lot of time for people who type a totally non relevant answer

You don't have the right attitude, you'll not sell machinery to farmers by being rude to them or get a job in machinery sales by rubbishing salesmen. Not a good start. Jp1s answer was spot on.

kiwi pom · Mar 29, 2024

Lets turn the question around a bit as we are on a forum with a lot more farmers than salespeople.
How much do you think a good standard machinery salesperson should earn and how many hours a week would you expect them to work?
Should it be commission based? How much would you want?

Claasact1 · Mar 29, 2024

Claasact1 said:
I do totally understand that. But under these circumstances more than happy to give people the response they deserve advice met with appreciation and respect and sarcasm with what it deserves

Johnnyboxer said:
Another piece of good advice (however I don’t think the OP has got what it takes so far)
A good piece of advice an older, retiring rep (whose area I was taking over) in the feed industry was that you have 2 ears and one mouth - use them in that order and also you will never know a particular farm better than the farmer and you can suggest something-but the farmer will know best whether it will work or not (farmers love leading reps ‘down the garden path’, letting them get to the last hurdle and onto your final closing spiel, then tripping you up at the end & leaving you red faced, whilst they have a chuckle)

Thanks for the advice yes I’ve been in agriculture for over 35 years and have a good understanding of building relationships and sometimes your wasting your time and others you just click and them relationships can last a lifetime if you have mutual trust and respect

Speedstar · Mar 29, 2024

Claasact1 said:
Thank you for the advice you have given me that is relevant to the actual question.
The reason I am asking this question is I am considering a career change and in my experience of dealing with many different machinery sales representatives is how much they lack knowledge of the equipment they are trying to sell and also a lack of follow up after you have spent your hard earned on said equipment. In my personal opinion
Which counts for nothing there shouldn’t be any reason that a very good representative couldn’t earn £200k + but an average one earning around £50k ish.
The financial side could be an option as I am very good with numbers
Thanks again.

I have mate that works for manufactuer & if they sell more than there sales target for the year they get a big bonus one year it was a six figure sum , so in the right place at the right time 200k is possible

How much do agricultural machinery sales people get paid

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Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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