I work in large account sales for a software company and was recently told (4 weeks before a $1M -one of my largest deals was closing) that the account would be moving to a new rep. I have done all the legwork and will end up closing the entire sale with 0 input from the new rep. My boss has told me that he would make me split the sale 50-50 with the incoming rep. I pushed back on him and he's come back with a 75-25 split. There is no policy on how commission credit is split on transferring accounts. My boss and his VP didn't like it when I asked them if this was consistent across all regions and they directed me to HR. I am consulting an attorney but want to know:

1) Is it legal to force reps to split sales if there is no written policy in the company

2) If my boss originally told me "You are lucky that you are even getting any credit on this" do I have grounds to pursue any legal action?

Thanks -- CA based Sales Rep

The general rule for sales commisions was stated by one court as he who shakes the tree is entitled to the fruit. Unfortunately, this description is not always precise enough to determine who should be paid how much.

I am sure that the other sales rep might have a different point of view on her level of contribution to this particular sale, but if it is indeed a fact that she had 0% contribution -- then she should not be entitled to any percentage, and you should get the entire amount.

However, the company (and the other rep) will likely point out that many contracts allow for software returns or perhaps even a cancelation period. Thus, work must be done well after the deal is closed to ensure that it stays closed. Such work can be used to prospectively determine a percentage of the work. That is, it takes 50% of the work to close a deal and 50% to keep the customer happy so they don't return a bunch of the items.