The Ultimate Sales Commission Playbook for Movers

Getting a moving company off the ground is a pretty big deal, but once you reach a certain point in the business, the trucks just don’t fill up like they used to.

Whether you’ve got 5 trucks or 50, a strong commission structure is critical to the success of your sales machine. It lets your team know exactly how to win and motivates them to keep booking at a higher level.

But is your current pay structure effective? And if you’re setting your splits for the first time, where do you even start?

With the cost of marketing on the rise, every lead is precious. Which means now is the time to dial in your sales process.

In this guide, we’re going behind the curtain to share real commission structures and insights from profitable movers. We’ll help you weigh the pros and cons of flat percentage vs. tiered structures and provide guidance on creating a strategy that keeps the sales flowing—without sacrificing profits.

-Tobe Thompson
Founder and CEO of SmartMoving

Gotta run? Download the playbook and come back to it anytime👇

Lead generation isn’t cheap. And with more pressure on the bottom line, comes more pressure on the sales team. With a well-planned commission structure, you can help reps rise to the occasion—and the impact could be game-changing. In our annual survey of over 500 movers, we found that top-performing reps book over $75k more per year compared to average players.

Our research also revealed that 38% of moving companies don't currently offer sales commission. Among those who do, many have challenges with reps booking business that isn't profitable, yet still getting paid their commissions.

We asked 500 movers... Do you offer sales commission?

*percent that answered "yes"

• 0-2 trucks: 35%
• 3-4 trucks: 55%
• 5-10 trucks: 65%
• 11-20 trucks: 81%

Source: SmartMoving State of Moving report

So, how can you strike the right balance between sales and profitability when structuring your commissions? Start by understanding the two core types of pay structures.

The first thing to know when establishing your sales team pay structure is that it can and should evolve over time. Be transparent with your team about the fact that splits may change in the future, based on the needs of the business and market.

Whether you’re launching your commission structure for the first time or optimizing an existing comp plan, there are two main approaches you can take: flat percentage or tiered compensation.

What is a flat percentage structure?

In a flat percentage structure, sales reps get a fixed percentage of the total sales they generate, regardless of performance or sales volume. This means that the commission rate remains consistent for all sales, without any increases based on sales targets or achievements. A 7% flat commission percentage is often considered the standard in the moving industry.

We asked 500 movers... What is your average sales commission?

• 0%-2.5% commission: 23%
• 2.5%-5% commission: 34%
• 5%-7.5% commission: 14%
• 7.5%-10% commission: 21%
• 10%+ commission: 8%

Source: SmartMoving State of Moving report

What is a tiered commission structure?

A tiered commission structure offers different commission rates based on sales performance, motivating reps to exceed targets with the promise of higher earnings for higher volume. Percentages in a tiered structure can range anywhere from 0.5% plus base to 15% without base depending on the needs of your business.

If you’re just building out your commission structure, a flat percentage may be easier to track and manage while providing stable earning potential for your team. As you scale beyond 10 trucks, you may decide to transition to a tiered structure to help reduce turnover and incentivize your team to bring in high-value deals.

Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of each.

Flat percentage

✅ Simple to understand
✅ Easier to implement, manage, and track
✅ Fewer administrative resources needed
✅ Less pressure to close big deals

❌ Potential of higher turnover among top talent
❌ Risk of sales reps booking less profitable business
❌ Not as motivating for higher-performing reps
❌ Limited reward for exceeding targets

Tiered structure

✅ Higher earning potential for reps
✅ Motivates reps to keep booking better jobs
✅ Brings in more profitable jobs
✅ Reduces sales team turnover
✅ Serves as an early warning system for undermotivated reps
✅ Rewards most consistent and motivated team members

❌ Can emphasize volume over quality
❌ Team members might focus on booking more moves over customer relationships
❌ Can be difficult or time-consuming to track and calculate
❌ Higher commission can eat into margins
❌ Can be confusing for new hires or less experienced reps
❌ Can lead to unhealthy competition

If you’re like most movers, you’re laser-focused on getting more out of your moving company marketing. Best-in-class moving companies don’t just put more coins in the marketing machine—they also invest in their sales teams.

Let’s dive into everything you need to build a focused and motivated sales team, including how to set your splits, systematize your process, and hold reps accountable.

1. Set your splits

When it comes to sales team compensation, there’s a number of questions to think about. Do you opt for tiered or flat fee? Should you offer commission only or commission plus base? How do you split onsite estimates between moving consultants and reps?

These answers will vary based on your specific goals and team.

💡Let’s take an example...

For Grant Korzetz, President & CEO of Eco-Movers, the team’s commission structure is determined by a graduated scale based on each agent’s total revenue.

Here’s how it works:

• $0-100K = 0.75% on top of base
• $100-125K = 1.25%
• $125K - 150K = 1.50%
• $175-200K = 1.75%
• $200K+ = 2%

Under this commission + base pay structure, the more Eco-Movers’ reps sell, the higher the percentage they make on all sales—not just the big-ticket jobs.

“You want to make sure that your sales team is motivated because you're paying out all that money for leads. That's an investment. So invest in your salespeople with commissions," says Grant.

“Reps are always looking to jump those levels because it boosts the rest of their commission structure up and keeps them excited."

With a 50% booking percentage and nearly $20M in annual revenue, Grant’s team is killing it. His goal is to keep growing revenue while boosting profitability to 15%. By rewarding his reps with a higher split based on total revenue booked, his commission structure is designed to help him crush that goal.

But what about base pay? This is always going to depend on the areas you’re in.

For example, Two Men and a Truck in Cary, NC advertises a base pay of $30,000/year with the potential to earn $65,000 to $75,000 based on performance and “ability to close the sale.”

Whether you’re offering a flat 7% commission or tiered structure based on revenue, the key is to keep your process easy to understand.

2. Optimize your process

“Your sales process has got to be dialed in. That's how you make the marketing work. You don't go throw money out in marketing and then fix sales. You fix sales first and then you go to marketing," says Grant.

 No matter how well you structure your commissions, they’re nothing without a fully optimized sales process. As a leader, it’s your job to create the clarity that allows sales managers to take control of the process and hold the team accountable.

Here’s a quick checklist to help you tighten the screws on your sales process:

Find out what is and isn't working

📊 Metrics to review: 

• Speed to lead
• Follow-ups
• Number of calls
• Number of inactive leads
• Booking percentage

❓Questions to ask:

• How much time does the team spend on high-value activities?
• Are you providing fast and consistent communication? 
• Are the right leads routed to the right agents?
• Do reps have access to email/text scripts and templates? 
• Are there automations in place to help them connect with leads instantly?
• What happens after an estimate is sent?
• What’s the average number of follow-ups per rep?
• Are you assigning quality checks to sales managers after the third or fourth follow up?

🎬 Action steps:

• Build automated sequences
• Create automated follow-up tasks
• Set rules and conditions for local vs. interstate
• Make sure rules don’t overlap

Review your sales resources and training

📋 Documents to review:

• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Sales scripts
• Sales rebuttals
• Email templates
• Text templates

❓Questions to ask:

• When was the last time you updated your sales scripts?
• How easy is it for reps to access the communication history of each customer?
• Do reps have access to all the information they need?
• What’s the process for reviewing accepted estimates?
• How does the team handle unread messages from leads and customers?
• Does your current process make it easy for sales reps to know their next step?

🎬 Action steps:

• Listen to call recordings
• Update sales scripts and templates
• Roleplay responding to common rebuttals
• Create a clear post-sale follow-up process

3. Hold reps accountable

If you want to win with sales, consistency is law. Once you’ve got your core sales process in place, it’s time to establish checks and balances to make sure it's followed. 

Start by understanding your true cost of goods sold to make sure reps are booking profitable jobs—not just boosting topline sales. Then create a repeatable reporting process that keeps the entire team accountable in the day-to-day.

Know your cost of goods sold

To make sure you’re accounting for your true costs, be sure to include the following items in your cost of goods sold on each job:

• Labor
• Sales commissions
• Materials
• Claims
• Services
• Valuation
• Trip fees
• Truck fees
• Fuel fees
• Travel time fees
• Prepaid storage
• Warehouse handling
• Discounts
• Credit card processing fees

Remember, not every job is a profitable job. Add in any other fees related to any of your core products or services sold, including commissions. 

“You need to be profiting over 50% on jobs booked, which means your cost of goods sold is less than 50% on all jobs,” says Wade Swikle of 2 College Brothers Moving & Storage.

Wade uses SmartMoving to run daily and weekly reports, job by job. “Ideally, that's a task that we want to get a VA doing. Our GM is the one who's doing it now. It also catches your salespeople if they're giving away moves just to get a topline commission,” he explains.

Customize systems accordingly

Your commission structure can and should change over time. Make sure your CRM or moving company software makes it easy to customize your rates as needed.

You should be able to make adjustments for the following factors:

• Local move
• Intrastate move
• Interstate move
• Onsite estimate
• Virtual estimate

For bigger teams with both sales reps and moving consultants, having a central system to set, adjust, and track commissions can help prevent profit leaks due to topline commissions and keep everyone on the same page. 

"SmartMoving can give you a breakdown of profitability, job-by-job, to make sure your cost of goods sold on each job is less than 50%," says Wade.

Wade speaks from experience. He grew 2 College Brothers from 10% net profit to a jaw-dropping 30% since switching to SmartMoving.

Streamline sales reporting

Consistency and accountability are two sides of the same coin. With a strong reporting process, you can make sure every rep is accountable for their success.

Here’s a sample reporting system you can adjust to help keep reps accountable:

🗓️ Daily:

• Sales performance report, including lead status, opportunities by move date
• Quality assurance (QA) report, including bad leads, lost leads & opportunities, booking percent
• Agent report, including total calls made (inbound/outbound), average talk time, speed to lead

🗓️ Weekly:  

• Sales department report, including revenue forecast, booking percent
• Agent report, including total calls made (inbound/outbound), average talk time, speed to lead

🗓️ Monthly:

• Sales report, including lead status, opportunities by move date, revenue forecast, booking percent

From the time taken to contact a lead to the accuracy of your estimates, structure your daily reporting tools to make it easy to stop and evaluate performance—even in the day-to-day hustle.

“The problem with looking at your reports on a monthly basis is that by the time you catch things that are out of whack a whole month's gone by and it's a lot harder to track down where that inefficiency was," says Wade.

Like many moving leaders, Wade reviews his numbers every day. 

Here are some of the key metrics to add to your reporting:

🤜🤛 Team-level metrics:

• Booking %
• New leads received
• Total revenue booked
• Average job value
• % jobs sold + valuation
• % jobs sold + packing
• Marketing ROI

👊 Agent-level metrics:

• Number of leads
• Total jobs booked by agent
• Number of emails sent out
• Calls made (inbound/outbound)
• Average Talk time
• Number of texts sent
• Number of quotes sent out
• Number of inventories reviewed
• New leads taken
• Number of follow-ups
• Unanswered messages
• Open urgent tasks
• Number of stale leads

Try to limit each report to the top 3-5 KPIs you want to see, based on your goals. Here’s an example of how Grant automated his reporting so there are zero holes in his sales process. 

If you’re not already using a streamlined sales dashboard, Grant recommends starting with a simple scorecard, then leveling up to a more advanced reporting system as you scale. At every step, be transparent about how these metrics tie back to real day-to-day behaviors.

“Are they offering valuation? Are they going through and talking about drive time? Are they making sure they're hitting every single component on the call?

Grant answers these questions with reporting. The sales leaders at Eco Movers get a daily report that tells them who's actually doing what they're expected to do.

With his finger on the pulse of the sales team's daily behaviors, he can set clear sales goals and specific close rate targets to help coach his reps and make sure they prioritize efficiently.

The cost of marketing is only going up, but that doesn’t mean you can’t grow your sales and profitability. A strong commission structure can incentivize your team and lead to more sales of profitable moves.

SmartMoving makes it happen. With real-time notifications as leads enter the system and the ability to customize automations and lead routing, SmartMoving makes sure no lead goes unnoticed.

“SmartMoving changed the game for Eco Movers by getting everything in one place and automating our entire process. It's just been amazing,” says Grant.

At SmartMoving, we’ve been building software in partnership with real movers since day one. Unlike homegrown systems or Silicon Valley CRMs, every feature we add is tried, tested, and mover-approved.

See why movers like Wade Swikle and Grant Korzetz trust SmartMoving to power their wildly successful moving companies👇.