# Sources

The load-bearing claim in this brief — **the dealer-standard sales commission is 20–30% of front-end gross profit, with 25% most common** — is confirmed independently across four high-ticket dealer industries (auto, RV, powersports, farm/heavy equipment). Sources below are grouped by the **three distinct concepts** they support, ranked by authority. Keeping the three separate matters: a per-deal commission rate, a store-level cost-of-sale ratio, and a take-home-earnings figure are three different numbers and should never be conflated.

Compiled 2026-06-11. All figures are either **Pine Hill internal inputs** (our build sheets — see bottom) or the **public industry sources** cited here.

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## A · Commission rate per deal — % of front-end gross profit  *(the anchor)*

What a salesperson earns on each unit, as a share of that unit's gross profit. This is the standard the proposal is measured against, and it's the best-supported figure in the brief.

| Source | Figure | Authority | Industry | Link / date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Farm Equipment** — "Industry Q&A: Sales Compensation Plans" | **25% of gross margin (new), 30% (used)** — named dealer-principal quotes | **High** (trade authority, attributed) | Farm / heavy equip. | [link](https://www.farm-equipment.com/articles/17098-industry-qa-sales-compensation-plans) · Jun 18 2019 |
| **Trucks Parts & Service** — dealer compensation survey | **75.4% of dealers pay on gross margin; survey avg 21%**; ~60% pay 20–30% | High (survey) | Truck/trailer | [link](https://www.truckpartsandservice.com/economic-trends/indicators/article/14989063/how-do-your-sales-compensation-plans-compare) |
| **AutoFinder** — car-salesperson commission | **"20–30% of gross profit, 25% most common"**; $100–200 "mini" floor on thin deals | Medium | Auto | [link](https://autofinder.com/insights/how-much-commission-does-a-car-salesman-make) · upd. Jun 10 2026 |
| **Nimble Compensation** — "What Is Front Gross" / tiered-plan examples | **25% of front-end gross** worked example; real tiered plans (15%→20% after 10 units) | Medium (dealer comp-software vendor) | Auto | [link](https://www.nimblecompensation.com/resources/what-is-front-gross) · Oct 1 2024 |
| **RV Rank** — average commission on RV sales | **20–30% of gross/net profit** — explicitly "not the sale price" | Low–Medium | RV | [link](https://www.rvrank.com/post/average-commission-sales/) |
| **Powersports Business** — "Developing a Compensation Plan" | Most common plan = **% of gross profit per unit** (~15% + small salary); graduated tiers | Medium | Powersports | [link](https://powersportsbusiness.com/archives/2004/04/19/developing-a-compensation-plan/) · 2004 |

**Strongest single citation:** *Farm Equipment* — it quotes named principals of high-ticket durable-goods dealerships (the closest analog to a trailer dealer) paying 25% of gross on new units.

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## B · Cost of sale — sales pay as % of sales / expense  *(store-level KPI)*

A different denominator from Section A — this is a store overhead ratio, not a per-deal rate. Used only to confirm the proposal stays inside normal selling-cost envelopes.

| Source | Figure | Authority | Industry | Link / date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **WEDA / NAEDA** — Cost of Doing Business Study (since 1947) | Total employee salaries **~7.1% of sales**; sales salaries the fastest-growing line | **High** (association study) | Farm / heavy equip. | [link](https://www.equipmentdealermagazine.com/weda-2019-cost-of-doing-business-study-what-we-learned/) · 2020 (2019 data) |
| **Motorcycle & Powersports News** — "The Compensation Challenge" | Total salesperson comp benchmarked at **18–22% of expenses** | Medium (trade) | Powersports | [link](https://www.motorcyclepowersportsnews.com/the-compensation-challenge/) |
| **NADA** — Dealership Workforce Study 2025 | 250k+ payroll records; **Sales Consultant turnover +13 pts in 2024 (highest in store)** — supports the retention point | **Highest** (NADA); detail gated ($599) | Franchised auto | [link](https://www.nada.org/nada/research-data/nada-dealership-workforce-study-2025) · 2025 |
| **NCM / Presidio** — Avg Dealership Performance Benchmark | Tracks "Personnel Expense to Gross Profit" ratio across 3,900+ dealers | High; exact % member-gated | Franchised auto | [link](https://thepresidiogroup.com/research/) |

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## C · Top-producer earnings  *(market context)*

What sellers of high-gross units actually take home. Lead with the conservative role-level figure; treat the broader aggregate as directional.

| Source | Figure | Authority | Industry | Link / date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Salary.com** — RV Salesperson (role page) | Avg **$96,713**; 75th pct $106,188; **90th pct $114,815** | Medium (aggregator, role-level) | RV | [link](https://www.salary.com/research/salary/hiring/rv-salesperson-salary) · 2026 |
| **Salary.com** — "RV Sales" (job-category aggregate) | Avg $177,225; up to ~$303,109 (90th) — **directional only** (likely includes managers) | Low (loose aggregate) | RV | [link](https://www.salary.com/research/company/rv-sales-salary) · 2026 |
| **NTDA** — Dealer Compensation Survey | The trailer-specific body's comp benchmark — **member-gated** (obtain via membership) | High (in-industry) · gated | Trailer | [link](https://ntda.org/services/market-data/) |
| **MRAA** 2025 Marine & **RVDA** 2025 RV Compensation Studies | Percentile pay by dealership role — **purchasable / participant-only** | High · gated | Marine / RV | [MRAA](https://mraa.com/2025-marine-retail-compensation-study/) · 2026 |

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## General cross-check (not dealer-specific — label as such)

| Source | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| **Everstage** — Sales Compensation Statistics 2026 | "Total comp should be **~25–40% of the gross profit generated**" | A *general* B2B sales-management rule of thumb, **not** a dealer-data benchmark. Consistent with Section A, but don't present it as if NADA published it. [link](https://www.everstage.com/sales-compensation/sales-compensation-statistics) |

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## Pine Hill internal inputs (ours — not externally cited)

Confirm/refine these from BlackPurl unit-sales data before the meeting:

- **Build sheet:** base unit $76,240 / cost $56,000 (26.55% gross); factory options $10,150 / $6,400 (36.95%); total $86,390 / $62,400 / **$23,990 gross (27.8%)**.
- **Sales per closer:** **~$400,000/month (~$4.8M/year)**; unit range $50k–$130k at similar margins.
- **Current comp:** $75,000 base **+ a 0.6%-of-sales commission** (0.6% × $4.8M ≈ $28,800/yr) ≈ **$103,800/yr total**.
- **Lead-flow cost:** significant; exact figure is leadership's to insert into the [cost-of-sale model](docs/economics.md).

## Honesty notes

- The **$150k–$400k "high-line producer"** range (in [market-comparison](docs/market-comparison.md)) is industry orientation, not a trailer-specific survey — trailer-specific high-ticket comp data isn't published publicly (the closest sources, NTDA/MRAA/RVDA, are gated). It shows *direction*, not a precise benchmark.
- Comparing Pine Hill's ~8% total-pay-share (≈$104k ÷ ~$1.3M gross) to the 25% commission standard is fair for commission-only reps (whose total pay ≈ their commission), but it compares a *total-pay* share against a *per-deal* rate — stated as such, not as a like-for-like number.
- Several primary sources (NADA, NCM, NTDA, MRAA, RVDA) publish the most authoritative numbers behind membership/purchase walls; this brief cites their public summaries and names the gated reports so they can be obtained if leadership wants the underlying detail.