Welcome to the world of software sales!
Delaying payment of commission until the company gets paid keeps the salesperson in their job. When a salesperson gets approached by another company (and that happens all of the time if you are a top performer) you have to work out how much commission is owed to you and weigh it up against what you will gain from the new role. Having to walk away from a lump of cash makes the decision more difficult. I have seen salespeople check their bank accounts to make sure that commission has been paid before they have handed their notice in to be on the safe side.
Another downside of being in sales (and this will probably be of more interest to the readers of The Reg) is that when we sell stuff to a customer and the implementation team make a b*lls up of implementing it, the salesperson is not only delayed in getting paid the commission, but if the customer refuses to pay the full amount due to the b*lls up the percentage that the salesperson gets is also reduced. We love it when that happens!!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
