Selling for someone else — on your terms, not theirs
You're right that the Cutlers-shaped role suits you better than it suits Henry. You're wrong about which version of it to go for. The employed version pays less than you need. The version that works is the one where you're a commercial agent, not a sales executive — you carry two or three principals at once, you're paid on outcome, and the customer base you build has legal value to you.
Built 2 August 2026 · Private, not indexed · Sources listed at the foot01The honest read
Two different jobs are hiding behind the same idea. Separate them before you do anything.
The employed version is a downgrade for you
Cutlers advertised roughly £27,500, and we already established that as self-employed it's worth about £22,000–£24,000 as a proper job once holiday, pension, sick pay and notice are priced in. That's a reasonable first proper sales job for a 21-year-old. It is not a number that solves anything in your house — the target is +£50k/yr, and it would eat 40 hours a week that DoctoriumGP and the six Money Plan lines currently need.
So: do not chase advertised sales-executive vacancies at small dealers as the main play. They're in section 09 as a fallback and as market intelligence, not as the strategy.
The agency version is a genuinely good fit
What you actually described — "I could sell your stuff for you at a price" — has a name and a legal structure: you'd be a commercial agent. Self-employed, carrying one or several principals' product lines, paid commission on what you bring in, working your own hours from wherever you like.
Why it fits you specifically:
- You can carry three or four principals at once. A salaried sales exec can carry one. That's the entire arbitrage — you're not competing on hours, you're competing on breadth.
- Your background is genuinely commercial, not retail. 30 years running transport operations, 150+ vehicles across five depots, Group Ops Director, TM CPC since 1994, then founded and ran PHW Services to £3M. You have bought from these dealers. You know what the buyer on the other side of the desk is worried about, because for three decades you were him.
- It's compatible with the existing work. Mornings stay with DoctoriumGP. Agency work is judged on results, not attendance.
- The downside is capped. A dealer saying no costs you a phone call. It doesn't cost you a resignation.
The thing you're underrating
You said you'd sell more caravans than Henry. Probably true on the conversation. But a dealer principal doesn't buy conversation, he buys a track record in his product — and in caravans and cars you haven't got one, while Henry now has two years of it. In commercial vehicles, trailers, plant and anything an O-licence holder buys you've got thirty years of it. That's not a small difference, it's the whole difference between a cold pitch that gets a meeting and one that gets a polite no. Pick the sector where you're not bluffing. Section 04.
02The legal edge nobody in the showroom knows about
This is the single most valuable thing on this page, and almost no small dealer principal has heard of it.
The Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993
If you are self-employed, with continuing authority to negotiate the sale of goods on behalf of a principal, you are a commercial agent under these Regulations — and a set of rights attaches automatically, whether or not anybody writes them into a contract. The headline ones:
- Compensation or indemnity on termination. When the principal ends the arrangement, you are entitled to a payment. Unless the contract explicitly says "indemnity", the default is compensation — which is valued as what your agency was worth to a hypothetical buyer at the point they killed it.
- Commission after termination on transactions mainly attributable to your efforts during the agency, and on repeat orders from customers you introduced.
- Minimum notice periods, rising with length of service.
- These are mandatory. A principal cannot contract out of them to your disadvantage.
Read that again in commercial terms: the customer base you build has capital value to you, not just to the dealer. That is the opposite of the employed model, where you build them a book and walk away with nothing.
Three caveats — get these wrong and it doesn't apply
- Goods only, not services. Selling trailers, caravans, plant, vans — goods, covered. Selling finance, insurance or a service contract on its own — not covered. Structure the agency around the metal.
- "Continuing authority" means an ongoing arrangement, not a one-off introduction. A single "find me a buyer for this digger" finder's fee isn't an agency.
- The Regulations are under active review. The Government consulted on deregulating them under its Smarter Regulation programme. Check where that's landed before you rely on the compensation right as a selling point — the day-one commercial logic stands either way.
How to use it — and how not to
Don't open a cold call by telling a family dealer about statutory compensation rights. You'll sound like a claim waiting to happen and the call ends there.
Do know it, so that when you get to a written agreement you know what you're signing, you don't accept an "indemnity" clause without pricing it, and you understand that walking away from a principal after two years is not walking away with nothing. Take proper advice before signing anything — this page is orientation, not legal advice.
03What it actually pays
Two completely different commission bases, and confusing them is how agents end up working for nothing.
| Model | Commission base | Published benchmark | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer / supplier agency | % of net sales value | 8–16% of net sales for independent reps; high teens for niche capital equipment; 5–10% where the principal carries the marketing cost | You represent a maker or importer into a territory. Highest rates, longest lead times. |
| Dealer / retail agency | % of gross profit per unit | US RV benchmark ≈ 20% of net profit per unit; retail vehicle trade generally works on a share of the deal's gross, not the ticket price | You sell someone else's stock off their forecourt. The dealer will never pay you a % of a £30k van. |
Worked example — illustrative only, not a quote
A UK caravan buyer documented a dealer buying at £14,500 and retailing at £19,650 inc VAT — a margin of roughly £4,300 on the unit. Apply the 20%-of-profit benchmark and the agent's cut is around £860 a unit.
These are arithmetic, not forecasts. One forum-documented deal is not an industry margin, the 20% figure is a US RV benchmark not a UK one, and no dealer has quoted you anything. The number that matters is the one the principal writes down, and getting it in writing is the whole negotiation. Use this table to know when an offer is insulting, not to plan a household budget.
The three things to nail in any commission conversation
- Base: percentage of what, exactly? "Gross profit" needs defining — before or after the pack, prep, warranty, transport and finance clawback? This is where dealers quietly take it back.
- Trigger: paid on order, on delivery, or on the customer's cleared funds? Push for delivery. Accept cleared funds. Never accept "once we've had the finance payout and reconciled the month".
- Territory and exclusivity: if a customer you introduced walks back in twelve months later and buys from the showroom, do you get paid? Under the Regulations you may well be entitled to. Write it down anyway.
04What to sell — ranked for you specifically
Ranked on one criterion: where does your actual history mean you're not bluffing?
Commercial vehicles, trailers and plant
Tippers, curtainsiders, plant trailers, telehandlers, mini diggers, groundcare kit. Buyers are operators, farmers, contractors and O-licence holders — the exact people you spent thirty years being.
Your edge: TM CPC 1994, 150+ vehicle fleet across five depots, Group Ops Director. You can talk plating, maintenance intervals, O-licence undertakings and whole-life cost. A 24-year-old sales exec cannot. This is where you're the strongest person in the room, not the newest.
Horseboxes and leisure trailers
Ifor Williams and equivalent — the Cutlers category. Lower ticket, higher volume, heavily relationship-driven, and the dealer network is almost entirely small independents.
Your edge: towing knowledge you already own, plus family equine and farm connections. Weakness: smaller unit margins, so volume has to carry it.
Caravans and motorhomes
Biggest tickets, most established independent dealers within 30 minutes of Hatton, strongest local density of any category on this list.
Your edge: geography and gravitas. Weakness: no track record in the product, and Henry is in this exact market. Going into Cutlers or Burton Caravan Centre behind him is a conflict you don't need. Treat caravans as the second sector you add, not the first, and stay off his patch.
High-ticket B2C — hot tubs, garden rooms, boats
Easiest agencies in the country to win, because these firms take almost anyone on commission-only.
Which is precisely the problem. Easy to win means low value and high churn, and none of your thirty years counts for anything. Skip unless the first three all fail.
05The proposition — what you're actually selling them
You are not asking for a job. You're offering to convert one of their fixed costs into a variable one.
The one-sentence version
"I'll bring you business you haven't got, and you only pay me out of the margin on business that closes. If I bring you nothing, I cost you nothing."
That's the whole pitch. Everything else is detail. A small dealer's biggest constraint is that a salesperson costs £25–30k plus employer NI and pension before they sell anything, and the risk of hiring one who doesn't work out is what stops them growing. You are that risk removed.
The three things that make you not just another commission-only chancer
- You bought this kit for thirty years. Say the numbers: 150+ vehicles, five depots, TM CPC since 1994, founded and ran a £3M business. You're not learning their customer — you were their customer.
- You're bringing net-new demand, not sitting on their forecourt. Critical distinction. You are not there to take walk-ins their existing staff would have closed anyway — that's channel conflict and it's the reason most of these approaches get refused. You're there to work outbound: businesses, fleets, farms, contractors, repeat buyers who've gone quiet. Say this explicitly and early.
- You run a proper prospecting system. This is where AI genuinely helps — but pitch the outcome, not the tooling. A dealer principal does not want to hear about your AI. He wants to hear: "I build the list, I work it, and nothing I quote goes cold without a follow-up, because I've got a system that won't let it." That is true, it's what your setup actually does, and it lands. The moment you say "leveraging AI" you sound like every other cold caller he blocked this year.
The ask — keep it small
Don't ask for an agency agreement on the first call. Ask for a 90-day trial on one product line, on a defined commission, with no exclusivity either way. It costs them nothing to say yes to, and it gets you inside where you can prove the number. Formalise the agency after the first two deals land, when you have leverage.
06The email and the phone call
Amber text is a placeholder — fill it in before sending. Never send one of these with a blank in it.
Subject: Bringing you business you haven't got — no cost unless it closes Dear [first name], I'm local to you — Hatton, just off the A50 — and I've spent thirty years on the buying side of your business. I ran transport operations at Group Ops Director level, 150-plus vehicles across five depots, CPC since 1994, and then founded and ran my own business through to around £3M turnover. I'm now working as a self-employed sales agent, and I'd like to sell for you. The offer is simple. I work outbound only — operators, farms, contractors, fleets, and past customers who've gone quiet. I don't touch your forecourt and I don't take enquiries your own people would have closed anyway. You pay me a share of the margin on what I close, and nothing at all if I close nothing. What I'd suggest is ninety days on one product line, a commission we agree in advance, and no exclusivity either way. If it doesn't work you've lost nothing but a coffee. Could I have twenty minutes with you in the next fortnight? I'll come to you. Kind regards, Ade Whetton [mobile] · ade.whetton@phwltd.com
Subject: A salesman who costs you nothing until he's sold something Dear [first name], I live in Hatton, about [X] minutes from you, and I've been in and around vehicles, towing and transport my whole working life — thirty years running transport operations, the last stretch running my own business. I'm setting up as a self-employed sales agent and I'd like to work for you on commission. I'm not asking for a job or a desk. I'd work outbound: past customers who bought three or four years ago and are due to change, local businesses, clubs and groups, and the enquiries that came in, got quoted and then went quiet. You'd pay me a share of the profit on what I actually close, and nothing otherwise. Ninety days, one product line, a number we agree up front, no exclusivity. If it earns you nothing it costs you nothing. Would you give me twenty minutes? I'll come to the site, whenever suits. Kind regards, Ade Whetton [mobile] · ade.whetton@phwltd.com
To whoever answers:
"Morning — could I speak to [principal's name]? It's Ade Whetton."
(If asked what it's about — do NOT say sales.)
"It's about a commercial arrangement, he'll know what it's regarding once I've had thirty seconds with him. When's he usually about?"
To the principal — the opener:
"Thanks for taking the call, I'll be quick. I'm local, Hatton. I spent thirty years on the buying side of your trade — ran transport operations, 150-odd vehicles, five depots, then my own business. I'm working now as a self-employed sales agent and I want to sell for you.
The reason I'm ringing rather than emailing is that the offer only takes one sentence: I work outbound, I don't touch your forecourt, and you only pay me out of the margin on what I close. If I bring you nothing I cost you nothing."
Then stop talking. Let him fill the silence. Whatever he says next tells you which objection in section 07 you're dealing with.
The close — always the same:
"Give me twenty minutes on site. I'll come to you. Is next week or the one after better?"
Sequencing
Phone first, email second. These are family firms of five to thirty people where the principal is on site and answers his own phone. An email into info@ dies. A call at 8:30am on a Tuesday gets him before the day starts. Email is the follow-up that confirms what you said, not the opener.
Walk-in beats both for the four or five closest to Hatton. Turn up mid-week, mid-morning, ask for the owner by name, and if he's not there get his name and mobile and ring the next day.
07The five objections you will get
08The target list — 60 named businesses
Built from manufacturer distributor networks rather than job boards, because that's where the independents are. Every one is a real trading business, named, with a base or a territory. Nothing here is advertising a vacancy — that's the point.
How to work this list
- Start with the eight Tier 1 cards below. They're the ones where geography, sector fit or business model give you an opening line nobody else has. Don't spray the table.
- Get the principal's name before you dial. Companies House officers list, the About page, or ring and ask reception who owns the business. Thirty seconds each, and it roughly doubles your hit rate.
- Deliberately excluded: the big groups — Motus Commercials, TC Harrison JCB, Watling JCB, Impact Handling. Corporate structures, regional sales directors, procurement processes. You said no BMW-world and you were right: they won't do a handshake agency and you'd be dealing with a middle manager protecting a headcount budget.
- Verify before you send. Addresses and territories are as published on company sites and trade directories at the time of writing. Confirm on the call — nothing kills a cold approach faster than getting their own patch wrong.
Tier 1 — ring these eight first
Don Amott Leisure Kingdom
Walk inWhy first: they're in Hilton, you're in Hatton — same DE65 postcode district, minutes apart. Sixty-plus years, family name over the door, big enough to have real margin and small enough that the principal decides. "I'm your neighbour and I want to sell for you" is an opener nobody else on this page can use.
Robert Lee Plant Ltd
Best sector fitFour counties, one family firm, selling into agriculture, construction, groundcare, equine, recycling, demolition and landscaping. A territory that wide always has ground nobody actively works. Opening question: "which part of your patch gets the least attention?" Everything you know about operators, plant and whole-life cost is live here.
Mercia Marina / The New & Used Boat Co
Walk inThe one nobody would have thought of, and it's five minutes from your house. Same DE65 district again. Very high ticket, entirely relationship-driven, and they already run a brokerage model — they sell other people's boats for a cut, so you don't have to explain the concept of commission to them. Boat buyers are typically 55+, cash-rich, slow-deciding and want somebody who'll actually ring them back. That's you.
Bob Holmes
Remote-friendlySells nationally from one yard, which means the sales function is a phone, a website and a relationship — not a forecourt. The most remote-friendly target here, and the one where "I'll work outbound from home" is the natural shape rather than a concession.
Blackwood Leisure Vehicles
Database angleTwenty minutes away, family, workshop-led. Exactly the scale where a salesperson is unaffordable as a hire and attractive as a commission. Angle: they're service-heavy. Their workshop database is full of people who bought years ago and have never once been asked whether they're ready to change. That's a pile of warm outbound sitting unworked, and it's a specific, provable pitch rather than a vague offer.
Butler Reynolds Ltd
CallDerby head office, two depots, four-and-a-half decades, and an all-makes used operation — which means margin flexibility and a buyer base of contractors and operators rather than retail walk-ins. Squarely your people.
Muldoons Fork Lifts Ltd
CallMaterials handling is the least glamorous category here and possibly the best fit. Every warehouse, every distribution operation, every depot you ever ran had forklifts — you know exactly who buys them, how they're specced, and what it costs when one's off the road. Family firm, brand-agnostic, no corporate layer.
HFB Trailers
CallThe Cutlers category done properly: Ifor Williams main dealer with an agricultural arm. Towing knowledge plus farm and operator background, in one place. Roughly an hour away, so pitch outbound-led with site days rather than daily attendance.
The full list
Sorted by category. Fit is scored on one thing: how much of your thirty years is directly usable in front of that customer.
| Company | Base / territory | Sells | Fit | Route in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trailers & towing | ||||
| HFB Trailers | Leek, Staffs ST13 8RH | Ifor Williams main distributor, ag trailers | High | Phone — Tier 1 |
| Indespension Derby | Ascot Drive, Derby DE24 8ST · 01332 348555 | Trailers for farm, council, plant, commercial, domestic; parts, towbars | High | Walk in — 20 min. Branch of an 18-branch group, so check who has authority |
| Russells | Yorks, Notts, Derbys, Leics, Northants | Ifor Williams plant trailers + agricultural & groundcare | High | Phone — five counties, ask which is thinnest |
| RH Commercial Vehicles | Tuxford, Newark · Notts, Leics, Derbys, Northants, Peterborough | Brian James trailers + commercial vehicles · 40+ years | High | Phone — CV and trailer crossover is your sweet spot |
| StarTruck Trailers | Notts, Leics, Derbys | Ifor Williams box trailers — sales and hire | Medium | Phone — small, hire-led |
| Scott Trailers | Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire | Ifor Williams main distributor — sales, service, spares | Medium | Phone |
| T & A Trailers | West Midlands · family-run since early 1960s | Large stock, new and used Ifor Williams | Medium | Email then phone — 60-year family firm, be respectful of the model |
| All-Fit | Lichfield, Staffordshire | Authorised Brian James dealer, wide stock | Medium | Phone — 35 min |
| Barnwell Trailers | Cambs, Northants, Leics, Beds | Sole Ifor Williams distributor for four counties | Medium | Email — edge of range |
| Morris Bufton & Co | Welsh borders | Ifor Williams main distributor, 80+ trailers in stock | Low | Email only — too far |
| Cutler's Sales & Hire | Barton under Needwood, Burton DE13 8BN · near A38/M6/M42 | Brian James dealer, family-run, sales and hire | — | HOLD — Henry. Right size, right sector, wrong time |
| Plant & construction machinery | ||||
| Robert Lee Plant | Staffs, Shrops, Cheshire, Derbys · family since 1992 | AVANT dealer; Bobcat, GEHL, Messersi | High | Phone — Tier 1 |
| Bob Holmes | High Offley, Staffs/Shrops border · sells UK-wide | Used excavators, screeners, telehandlers, dozers | High | Phone — Tier 1, remote-friendly |
| Butler Reynolds Ltd | Head office Derby · 2 depots, East + West Midlands · 45+ years | Bobcat dealer; all makes used — JCB, Kubota, Takeuchi, Yanmar, Volvo, Doosan, Terex, CAT | High | Phone — Tier 1 |
| Comvex Plant & Machinery | Derbys, Leics, Lincs, Northants, Notts, Staffs, Rutland | Mini and midi diggers, excavators | High | Phone — seven counties, nobody covers seven counties |
| Midlands Equipment Ltd | Belper, Derbyshire | Excavators, dumpers and associated plant, construction and agricultural | High | Phone — 30 min, small enough that the owner answers |
| Avon Equipment Sales | Midlands · 20 years | Wacker Neuson main dealer — excavators, dumpers, rollers, telehandlers | Medium | Phone |
| Double M Plant & Tool Hire | Stafford | Excavators, dumpers, rollers, telehandlers — hire-led | Medium | Phone — hire-led means less sales margin to share |
| J & J Plant Ltd | Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire | Micro to 2.7t diggers, tool and machine hire | Low | Email — hire business, thin sales function |
| Stirlin Plant | Lincolnshire | Compact plant | Low | Email — edge of range |
| Agricultural & groundcare | ||||
| B & B Tractors | 4 depots · Notts, S Yorks, Derbys, Staffs, Warks, Leics · family since 1991 | Massey Ferguson, Fendt, Valtra — sales, service, parts | High | Phone — six counties, family owned, exactly the profile |
| Henton & Chattell | London Road, Nottingham · 80,000 sq ft | Kubota ag and groundcare for the East Midlands; garden machinery wholesale and retail | High | Phone — recently appointed to a new Kubota territory, so actively building coverage. Best timing on the list. |
| Buxtons | Coppice House, Teddesley, Stafford ST19 5RP | Official Kubota machinery | Medium | Phone |
| Paul Brereton Ltd | N Staffs / Shrops / Cheshire borders · M6 J14–15 | All makes used — New Holland, Case, John Deere, JCB, Amazone; tractors, telehandlers | High | Phone — all-makes used dealers have the most margin freedom |
| Farol | 6 branches incl. Newark, Notts | Main John Deere agricultural and groundcare | Medium | Email — large, structured, may have a sales hierarchy |
| GGM Group | Multi-site | Kubota groundcare, professional turf machinery | Medium | |
| James Wilson & Co | Midlands | Used tractors — Massey Ferguson, New Holland, John Deere | Medium | Phone — small used dealer, easiest yes in the category |
| Stephen Roberts Tractors | Midlands/borders | Tractors and farm machinery | Low | |
| Commercial vehicles & materials handling | ||||
| Muldoons Fork Lifts | Derby · family, est. 1992 · Derby, Notts, Leics | All-makes forklift sales, hire, service — brand-independent | High | Phone — Tier 1 |
| Elite Material Handling | Notts, Derbys, S Yorks · 01773 787159 | Independent forklift sales, maintenance, repair | High | Phone — independent, three counties |
| Angus Lift Trucks | Derby, Matlock, Ripley, Ashbourne, Ilkeston, Swadlincote, Burton | Forklift sales and hire with finance | High | Phone — their coverage map is literally your doorstep |
| East Midlands Forklifts | Loughborough, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby | Forklift sales, hire, training, parts, servicing | Medium | Phone — training arm may also interest you separately |
| Multy Lift | Derby and Nottingham | Forklift sales, hire, servicing | Medium | Phone |
| Maun Motors | 1 mile off M1 J28, Derbys/Notts border | Used vans, minibuses, trucks; self-drive hire | High | Phone — used CV sales is a direct read on your fleet years |
| Mertrux | Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Mansfield · founded Burton 1971 | Mercedes-Benz and FUSO trucks and vans | Medium | Email — franchised, so likely a sales manager not a principal. Worth one try on the used side |
| L Townend Ltd | Three generations | Lightweight high-strength steel tipping bodies | High | Phone — bodybuilders sell to operators, not the public. Pure B2B, your exact buyer |
| Ingimex | Telford | UK's largest LCV bodybuilder — 3.5t dropside, tipper, Luton | Medium | Email — larger, but a manufacturer agency here would be the highest-value on this page |
| Bodycraft | Midlands | Curtainsiders, box vans, flatbeds, dropsides, Lutons | Medium | Phone |
| Bodywork Solutions | UK | Curtainside, dropside, Luton, box — 3.5t to 26t | Medium | |
| Caravans, motorhomes & leisure | ||||
| Don Amott Leisure Kingdom | Eggington Rd, Hilton DE65 5FJ · est. 1963 · 48 acres | Caravans, motorhomes, campervans, accessories, workshop | High (local) | Walk in — Tier 1 |
| Blackwood Leisure | Castle Gresley, Swadlincote · family | Motorhomes, caravans, sales + workshop | High (local) | Phone — Tier 1, database angle |
| Kimberley Caravans | Nottingham (est. 1981), Chesterfield, Darlington | Coachman, Swift, Xplore, Compass, Adria, Bailey — one of the UK's largest | Medium | Phone — big enough to have process, small enough to still be family-led |
| Spinney Motorhomes | Staffordshire branch | Swift, Bailey, Compass, Coachman motorhomes | Medium | Phone |
| Lowe & Rhodes | Staffordshire and Cheshire | Award-winning Swift motorhome dealer | Medium | Phone |
| Motorhome Depot — Anslow | Anslow Business Park, Burton · husband-and-wife franchise | Motorhome brokerage | Check | Establish the model first. They broker on commission already — either the best fit here, or they'll want a franchise fee. Never pay to become a salesman |
| Glossop Caravans | North Derbyshire · family, 50+ years · sells UK-wide | New and used caravans and motorhomes | Medium | Email — over an hour, so pitch remote outbound |
| Grantham Caravans | Retford branch | Swift, Coachman, Moto-Trek, Knaus, Weinsberg, Mclouis Fusion | Medium | Advertising a sales vacancy — approach as an agent, not an applicant, and see which they'd rather have |
| 4Eva Young Camper Hire | Ashbourne, Derbyshire · family | Camper hire | Low | Phone — hire not sales, but 25 min and worth a conversation about conversions |
| Burton Caravan Centre | Burton-upon-Trent | Used touring caravans, valuations | — | HOLD — Henry's market |
| Horseboxes | ||||
| Staffordshire Horseboxes | Staffordshire · 20+ years building, 40+ years with horses | Horsebox manufacture | High | Phone — manufacturer, so an agency here is a proper territory, not a forecourt job |
| GC Horseboxes | Leicestershire | Horsebox conversions, finance, maintenance, custom interiors | Medium | Phone — family equine connections are relevant here |
| Central England Horseboxes | Kidderminster, Worcs · 100+ boxes a year | New and used horseboxes, major dealer | Medium | Email — volume dealer, so a real commission pool |
| Southwest Horseboxes | West Midlands · 20+ years | Coachbuilt equine transport | Low | |
| First Horseboxes | Family-run, 20+ years | Buying, selling, refurbishing new and used | Low | |
| Marine — the overlooked one | ||||
| Mercia Marina | Findern Lane, Willington DE65 6DW · 01283 890 888 | New boat sales and brokerage, moorings, services | High (local) | Walk in — Tier 1, 5 minutes away |
| The New & Used Boat Co | Based at Mercia Marina, Willington | Narrowboats, widebeams, Dutch barges · ~35 on site, viewings 7 days | High (local) | Walk in — already a commission brokerage, no need to sell the concept |
| Barton Marina / Shobnall | Barton-under-Needwood & Burton | Moorings, boat sales and brokerage on site | Medium | Visit — verify who handles sales; 20 min |
Cutlers themselves
Obvious thought, bad idea for now. If Henry gets the job, you approaching his employer as a competing salesman is a mess for him and makes you both look small. If he doesn't, it's a warmer call. Either way, wait until it's resolved. Nothing on this list is worth going in over the top of your son. Same for Burton Caravan Centre.
Two adjacent plays worth knowing about
- Manufacturer agencies beat dealer agencies. Selling for Ingimex, Staffordshire Horseboxes or a trailer maker into a territory pays 8–16% of net sales rather than a share of one dealer's unit profit, and the Commercial Agents Regulations bite hardest there. Harder to win, worth several times more. If a dealer conversation goes well, ask who their manufacturer's area rep is — that's the introduction you actually want.
- Asset finance introduction, as an add-on only. Lenders pay introducer commission on business asset finance — trucks, trailers, plant — and it's built into the lender's pricing rather than added to the customer's rate. Your fleet background makes the conversation natural. But: consumer credit is FCA-regulated (section 11), so this only works as unregulated business-to-business lending, through an established broker's permissions, and never as your opening pitch. Park it until you have a principal.
Extending it further yourself
The pattern that generated this list: take a manufacturer, open its dealer locator, filter to within an hour, and every result is an independent business with a defined territory and a principal who answers his own phone. Ifor Williams alone has around 57 UK main distributors. Not yet worked through: JCB attachments, Kuhn, Amazone, Stiga, Husqvarna professional, Manitou, Merlo, Thwaites, Hyundai CE, Isuzu Truck, Iveco, plus every marina between Burton and Nottingham. Say the word and I'll run the next sixty.
09Where the advertised roles actually are
The fallback track. Worth knowing, worth setting alerts on, not worth building the plan around.
Live at the time of writing
- Grantham Caravans, Retford branch — sales person, main dealer for Swift, Coachman, Moto-Trek, Knaus, Weinsberg and Mclouis Fusion. Roughly an hour from Hatton.
- Field-based Area Sales Manager roles in the holiday-home and leisure sector — territory ownership, on the road, relationship selling. This is the advertised category that most resembles what you actually want.
- Park Holidays UK — recruiting into their sales processing team; largest caravan operator in the south of England, so geography is against you unless it's remote.
Listings go stale within days. If a link is dead the employer and the route in are still right — ring the site directly.
Standing searches to set up
On Indeed, Totaljobs, Jooble and DWP Find a Job — email alerts, not browsing:
- "area sales manager" + trailers / plant / commercial vehicle / groundcare
- "self employed sales agent" + midlands
- "commission only" + capital equipment / machinery
- "business development" + transport / haulage / fleet — where your CPC is a differentiator rather than a curiosity
The agent networks — useful, with a health warning
- AgentBase — UK sales agent recruitment specialist, membership around 10,000 self-employed commission-only agents. The most established.
- Sales Agents UK — browse opportunities and contact principals directly. Free registration.
- CommissionCrowd — matches principals with commission-only agents; has live capital-equipment and asset-finance opportunities with OTEs quoted around £60k.
- Sales Agents Plus — background reading on how the agent/principal relationship works. Worth an hour before your first call.
The warning: a large share of what's listed on these platforms is low-quality churn — telecoms, energy switching, merchant services — where "uncapped commission" means an unpaid job. Register on all four, set alerts, but your good outcomes will come from the cold approaches in section 08, not from a listing. Published figures put top commission-only field agents in strong sectors at £50–80k; that's the top of the distribution, not the middle.
10Week one
All of this counts toward the 25-actions-a-week rule. Calls, emails and meetings booked all count. Building this page didn't.
ring anyone
The only number that matters after week one
Not how many calls you made — how many principals agreed to a meeting. Ten calls into small family dealers with a genuinely no-risk offer should produce two or three. If it produces none, the problem is the opener, not the market, and we rewrite it. If it produces four, the problem is that you'll be tempted to say yes to all of them — take two, prove the numbers, then add.
11What kills this
Five things. Two are fatal if you ignore them.
1 · The FCA problem — read this before your first call
Anything touching consumer finance is regulated, and the trade is more nervous about it right now than at any point in twenty years. In March 2026 the FCA finalised its Motor Finance Consumer Redress Scheme (PS26/3), covering undisclosed broker commission on agreements from April 2007 to November 2024, with firms required to issue final responses by 31 July 2026 and an industry-wide redress figure in the billions.
Practically: dealers hold limited permission credit broking authorisation, or act as appointed representatives / introducer appointed representatives of an authorised firm. You cannot discuss, recommend or arrange finance unless you are registered under someone's authorisation. That registration is the principal's job and it takes time.
The line to take: "I introduce the customer, your authorised people handle the finance." Say it before you're asked. In this climate, a self-employed salesman who volunteers the boundary reads as competent; one who's vague about it reads as a liability.
2 · Commission-only means £0 for the first two to three months
High-ticket sales cycles are long. First conversation to cleared funds on a trailer might be weeks; on a machine it's months. Whatever the commission structure, plan on nothing landing until roughly month three, and budget on that basis given the household position. This is the strongest argument for carrying two or three principals from the start rather than one — but also the reason not to give up on the Money Plan lines while this builds.
3 · Channel conflict is the most common refusal
Most dealers' first thought is "he'll take deals my staff would have closed anyway." Kill it in the first thirty seconds with the registered-prospect rule in section 07, and concede every grey deal without argument.
4 · Self-assessment and the January bill
The same trap flagged in Henry's brief applies to you with bigger numbers. Self-employed tax isn't taken as you go, and the first payment includes a payment on account for the year ahead. Put roughly £1 in every £4 aside from the first commission and don't touch it.
5 · The time it actually takes
This is not passive. Two principals worked properly is a genuine 15–20 hours a week of calling, quoting and following up. That has to come from somewhere, and the honest question is whether it comes out of the six Money Plan lines. The case for doing it anyway: it's the only line on the table that pays cash for effort within 90 days without needing Gemma's sign-off, a restoration, or a regulator. The case against is that it's another half-finished thing. Two principals, worked properly, or don't start.